Hi everyone,

I am new here and would just like some advise about what my possible options are.

So..I have a Focus Mk2 (2008) - It had a faulty instrument cluster (would throw an engine fault/power steering fault/reduced speed mode/etc..). If i pressed on the cluster, the faults would go away. 

Anyway - last week i just brought a 2nd hand cluster from eBay (there was no listed faults with it) and fitted it this weekend. 

Now, the car wont start. When i turn the ignition on the PATS flashes frantically for a minute and then gives me error 15 (1:5). Which i think means the Key is no longer programmed to the PATS. 

Another side note that might be important - a few months ago, the key fob "died", took it to a ford garage and they said there was no signal coming from it, tried a spare battery and still nothing so .. £180 to get it fixed. I didn't get that fixed but.. While trying to trouble shoot a bunch of things - we put a new battery in the fob over the weekend and, its working fine (it locks/unlocks the car remotely) 

 

However, i called an Auto-locksmith, explained the situation to see if they would come out and get the key re-programmed. They have advised that, as ive swapped the Clusters over, il need to get the replacement Cluster programmed to my ECU and then have the keys programmed but, as the car is now immobile - id need to swap back to the old cluster in order to get the car back up and running. But also said that, i may have corrupted my ECU by putting this replacement Cluster in (?!) .. so swapping back to the older Cluster may not even work as well..

 

I have also been advised to not swap back to the old Cluster and to just have the Key re-programmed. 

 

What on earth can i do? Currently the Car has the replacement Cluster still installed - but i have no idea where to go from here..

 

I hope that all makes sense?! 

 

Thanks for reading

I'd get it to somewhere where they can recode your ECU and Keys. Thats the only thing thats gonna fix it.

Thanks for the speedy reply. Ive spoken to a Ford garage and advised what ive done.. All they have quoted so far is £114 for "investigation" labour, just to take a look. 

That sounds like its going to cost a lot. 

If you haven't programmed anything, you can just put your old cluster back in and it should work as before.

29 minutes ago, dreaddy said:

Thanks for the speedy reply. Ive spoken to a Ford garage and advised what ive done.. All they have quoted so far is £114 for "investigation" labour, just to take a look. 

That sounds like its going to cost a lot. 

You could use an independent garage/Ford Specialist, that would be cheaper.

Like Iantt said, if you've not started reprogramming, you should be able to put the old one in.

 

When mine went my mechanic took my IC apart and sorted all the dry looking solder joints. - Good as new

1 minute ago, Jon84 said:

You could use an independent garage/Ford Specialist, that would be cheaper.

Like Iantt said, if you've not started reprogramming, you should be able to put the old one in.

 

When mine went my mechanic took my IC apart and sorted all the dry looking solder joints. - Good as new

I have looked about to see if i could find someone who would repair my original one but - all i found was online repair services which involved sending the Cluster away.

The guy that helped me swap them over works for a mechanic college - they have some laptop which we used to check the faults on my original cluster before i realised the cluster was faulty - he thinks that will be able to re-programme the key to the new Cluster. 

The Ford immobiliser system needs a matched ecu and cluster to work so the replacement cluster needs pairing to the ecu.
I believe the keys are paired to the cluster so will most likely need rebonding.
A mobile auto locksmith with a decent IDS system should be able to sort it out easily.

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