Cluster Problem?

[eddie eastwood]

Hi all.

2006 Focus Ghia Saloon  1.6 petrol.

I have this problem.

A few weeks weeks ago the instrument panel and center console, heater area, all three knobs, illuminated  back lights stop working. Tried a used, but guaranteed as working, main light switch. Both this and the old one have headlight leveling and the dimmer function, the illumination lights on both work. With the used one those illumination lights did work a couple of times for about ten minutes each time, but no longer do so.

All the instrument panel initial  warning lights appear to be ok as they should be just before stating up, as does the handbrake, oil, engine management ABS battery warning lights when those go off. Over the last couple of days the green one that show the headlights/side lights are on, no longer shows although the blue one for the main beam does.

Is this indicative of the infamous cluster problem fault?

Any and all help gratefully appreciated'

Thanks

Eddie

[dezwez]

Try pushing the plugs in on the bottom of the fuse box they sometimes work lose and cause all sorts

of problems

[eddie eastwood]

Done that and checked for moisture as well as checking any fuses that seem to relate to lights.

Thanks anyway

[Tdci-Peter]

2 hours ago, eddie eastwood said:

All the instrument panel initial  warning lights appear to be ok as they should be just before stating up, as does the handbrake, oil, engine management ABS battery warning lights when those go off. Over the last couple of days the green one that show the headlights/side lights are on, no longer shows although the blue one for the main beam does.

Is this indicative of the infamous cluster problem fault?

It does not sound like a cluster (IC) fault to me, unless it is just the illumination input.

The IC has no inputs for indicators or main beam, so it must get this info from the BCM (GEM or passenger fusebox) via the MS-CAN bus. And these work ok, I assume. So it is using this bus ok. Also all the engine stuff is ok, so that is the HS-CAN bus working ok.

The light switch has an electronic PWM output for all control illumination, including the heater panel, the IC, and most other buttons. The IC has this as an input, so will use it for its illumination, and may use it for the lights on indicator.

It sounds like a wiring fault or short circuit somewhere is disrupting the PWM signal from the light switch. Since the replacement worked for a few minutes, it may be damaging the light switch. But it could be any of the controls that this signal goes to, or any of its wires.

While the IC could be the fault, it is just as likely to be any one of all the other controls. Or more likely, in the wiring. I think I would disconnect the light switch, and apply 12v (from a current limited power supply) to the illumination pin on the harness connector. Then look or excess, or very little, current draw, and see what lit up.

This signal is pin 9 on the 32 pin IC connector, pin 9 on the light switch connector, pin 3 on the heater panel connector. It also goes to the cigar lighter / power point, and lots of other places. So with rather a lot of hard work, you could test for continuity between these points.

The pic below is part of page 73 of the wiring schematic here: http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=42087

[eddie eastwood]

@Peter

Thanks for that info, will have a look at that.

[Tdci-Peter]

2 hours ago, eddie eastwood said:

Thanks for that info, will have a look at that.

The picture above is not itself much help, I could not get a decent resolution shot of the whole page from the 130 page PDF.

There is a lot of info on these schematics, and they are general to many variants, so some details will be irrelevant, and maybe some wrong or missing. They probably also look a bit confusing or intimidating to anyone not used to them, but they contain a lot of info about how things work, and what is connected to what.

I am not 100% sure the Illumination signal is 12v PWM, it could be 5v PWM (enough for LEDS), but I very much doubt it, it would need a few extra components in the lightswitch then. So if I was injecting power into that signal line, I would start with 5v.

Unplugging each fitting, and testing, or buzzing through all the wiring would be hard work, and probably mean dismantling half the fascia, which is why I suggest the power injection method. But from what you say, it does look like the fault must be in that wiring somewhere, unless you happened to have two duff light switches in turn!

If you can't access the PDF, or if the drawing is unclear, ask here!

[eddie eastwood]

@Tdci-Peter

Roughly to left of center there is by the looks of it a module/plug with the number 85 by it. Do you know if this is one of the modules/plugs at the back of the fuse box on the passenger side

 

[isetta]

I don't know what the light switch is like in these. does it have a separate dimmer for panel illumination ?   I recall in my old mk1 focus the panel illumination lights would play up and a fiddle with the dimmer wheel would fix it each time (assume the dimmer wheel had bad contacts in it)

[eddie eastwood]

18 minutes ago, isetta said:

I don't know what the light switch is like in these. does it have a separate dimmer for panel illumination ?   I recall in my old mk1 focus the panel illumination lights would play up and a fiddle with the dimmer wheel would fix it each time (assume the dimmer wheel had bad contacts in it)

Hi isetta

Yes it does, no amount of fiddling with the dimmer switch solved the problem with either main switches I have.

[Tdci-Peter]

4 hours ago, eddie eastwood said:

Roughly to left of center there is by the looks of it a module/plug with the number 85 by it.

I can't see a module with 85 by it on page 73.

Is it that multi-legged spider near the middle that has S5 (looks like 85) next to it?

If so, that is a massive splice, or just a joining of wires. These things are a Ford abomination, hidden away in the wiring loom, with no way I know to locate them. Though I expect other car makes have them too.

The fuse box on the passenger side is called PJB (Passenger Junction Box) on these drawings, there is a bit of it near the top of the page. Also the fuse numbers are for the Mk2A, and F103 should be F49 on the Mk2 Focus. This fuse powers all the switch illuminations, and also the side lights & number plate lights.

FJB is the Engine bay fuse box, and these fuse numbers seem to be the same for the Mk2 & Mk2A.

If the switch illumination on the light switch itself works, then it must be getting power from F103 ok, and its earth connection via Pin 10 would seem to be ok. So it still looks like it is that S5 splice and all its surrounding wiring & connections, where the problem.lies.

 

[eddie eastwood]

@Tdci-Peter

Thanks again for that info, I have passed it on to the mechanic/sparky, not a Ford one, looking at the problem.

[eddie eastwood]

This problem turned out to be that the cigarette lighter illumination connector was touching to earth, it had no bulb in it anyway because the bulb holder was knackered and would not hold a bulb.