I've got a old friend thats having problems with his mk2 focus car (he's a pensioner) He's been told things like It's his starter motor needs replacing, It's this, or It's that, by the likes of the AA and other professional mechanics when all he's getting Is the common dash connection faults like > will not start, cluster failure, limp mode & either no fault codes or strange fault codes! I will try help the old lad out this weekend free of charge of course, I've reworked Vauxhall cluster's in the past so should be okay. Thank you to OEM Denied Performance for helping me to learn something to help some old friend of mine, people like you are legends 👍
Great video Jamie. I thought there would have been more components to re-solder so this is nice and simple. The hardest part by the looks of it is pulling the damn thing apart ... lol
So pleased to eventually find my way to this video after much searching... The Wifes car has already had the accel pedal replaced at a cost of £300 approx... ford were quoting £800 + vat just for the instrument cluster part...just crazy money for a problem that clearly should not be there!
Excellent stuff. I fixed mine a couple of weeks ago when the cluster went into full Christmas tree light syndrome. Fortunately I have a lot of soldering experience and gear, but it can't be emphasised enough that it's very important to examine the connector block soldering with a magnifying glass or a USB microscope for accidental shorts before re-installation or else there is the potential to ruin the cluster. nb. for those not confident, then in the UK at least there are several companies to whom you can send the cluster and they will test and fix it for a set fee. Compared to what a garage cost it's cheap, and removing the instrument cluster is a two minute job.
@@AlanBaker-l8k I just remelted it and added a little more of some old tin/lead electric solder. I suppose if I'd used a solder sucker first it would be bettet, but as the car is 15 years old, I figure it will last. If not, it is an easy job to repeat.
Thank you very much for your great video manual that fixed my problems with the car: acceleration reduced and engine malfunction alarms,dropping of rpm and speed needles,ESP,engine unit warnings. I found that solder on 5 of 32 pin contacts on the circuit board of the cluster were cracked...
Worth watching alone just to see how to remove connector when taking out cluster from car! I have no soldering skills but posted it of to be properly done, nice to see what the repair consists of...
Great repair job I did this years ago on a focus its terrible the way things are designed now a day . Thanks for sharing as I had forgotten all about it as I had a stroke some time ago and the memory aint great
Brilliant video, my needles aren't quite right now 😂 but that's a relatively minor issue I can fix another day. Seems to have sorted it for me. Thanks so much for sharing the knowledge.
Thanks for the video, it gave me the confidence to go ahead and try soldering for the first time. It worked and solved the malfunction problem. However the backlights for the clocks and the ignition button are remaining illuminated constantly even when the vehicle is off and locked. Could this be another broken solder on the circuit board or do you think it is being caused by another issue. I do have some water ingress.
Ive got a MK2 RS and in the bundle of receipts that i got with the car is an invoice for the instrument cluster repaired. I take it this was likely what was repaired.
I've seen a lot of video's on this problem, but yours is by far the most comprehensive, I've got to do mine tommorow, fingers crossed. I'm using solder paste for the 1st time, what are your thoughts on it
@@OEMDeniedPerformance nice one, im thinking of trying this on my car ive got engine malfunction etc so even if its not the cause it could help eliminate one of the potential causes and wont cost me 100s to do myself :)
@@shinraninja yeah its worth doing even if you don't currently have any problems as at some point you will. Whenever we strip them down to do a SMD light colour change we just redo that connector at the same time for that reason
After welding and putting it back, my gas pedal won’t work, and the dashboard screen says engine malfunction. Do you think it could be fixed just by resetting the errors? I don’t have the device and tried undoing and redoing the battery but it didn’t change anything…
Hey thanks for sharing this. Just replaced my LCD as the other one failed due to heat. My only issue. The temp is permanently fahrenheit???? Set to metric in menu and reading KMS. Seen this before?
Had anyone experienced the C1288 ABS pressure sensor code as a result of the instrument cluster problem? I've replaced the ABS unit to no avail, the esp light remains on. I've also got the U1900 and U0155 codes which point to the instrument cluster but don't have any other symptoms showing. I wonder could the brake sensor fault be related?
so long as you push them to their resting point before removal and mark that spot or photograph it then when refitting you do the same again it will be the same. If you get it wrong you can refit the car without the front cover on then use a scan tool to read live data from the ECU and adjust accordingly. Do 2 a week on average myself without issue. Speed will always read slightly higher than a real speed when compared to GPS - they are like that out the factory.
Having issues with my st 225, engine system fault messege on, sometimes the throttle doesn’t work at all and when it does work car has not boost and only revs to 3.5k.. also the rev counter needle almost vibrates and makes a strange sound when ignition turned on.. cluster fault you guys think? Cheers from uk
Have this same issue with 3 clusters seems to be the connector as when I wiggled the connector block the dash switches on and off and when held in a position it doesn’t give the fault any ideas?
Had a few issues on my mk2 ST and the symptoms all pointed towards the cluster so being a solderer i decided to do it myself,totally desoldered the pins and put new solder on.seems to have done the trick but am i imagining my cars running a lot sweeter and more responsive? Anybody else had this happen?
pretty normal to run better. One of the faults that usually occurs is throttle position. When the reading isn't correct, the ECU only uses the single reading instead of multiple so after you do the repair it goes back to using more than 1 and the car is a lot more responsive as a result :)
Just bought a focus 2008 facelift version and the traction control light is on (meaning traction control is turned off) put odb reader in and got a U0001 no other codes and nothing for traction control not working… think it’s could be a cluster fault? Thanks in advance! Good stuff!
@@OEMDeniedPerformance thank you for quick reply… only reason I’m thinking it’s the IC is because the code I get (U0001) is to do with the high speed can communications bus it says loss in communication… which I’m guessing is one or more of the pins that to be soldered… so from what I’m seeing would you try your trick first with cluster or take it garage to be properly scanned? Thanks again man!!
@@sarcrife7904 yep Christmas tree effect all lights on and flashing if your cars doing that time to get that cluster out got mine fixed for £80 locally to me hasn’t let me down it’s been nearly a month and put 50/100 miles on car a day 🤞🏼💪🏽
I’ve just changed my alternator on my st225 mk2 from a 120amp to 150amp but now I’m getting steering assist failure after 2000rpm power steering stops working. Plus hardbrake and esp light comes and stereo goes off. Could this be my problem or is the 150amp to powerfull.
hey mate im about to do this today i got everything i need - i took the cluster board out is there anyway i could massively fuck this up and destroy it? i mean it seems fairly simple to solder steady had dab solder on and wipe off after
Make sure soldering iron is at a decent temp so that when you make contact with the pins the solder melts pretty much instantly. If its not hot enough itl take longer and you can heat up a pin too much and damage the board.
What can I do if I've followed this repair but my needles are not reading properly? Is there a way to calibrate them? Clearly I've not put them in the right spot but I tried to be as accurate as possible
do you think my issue could be my st needing this cluster repair? drove about a quarter mile today and as I shifted into 3rd gear it literally just died. tried to restart but got nothing.. pushed it off the road and when I turn the key I get an "esp systems fault" for 2 secs, then "engine systems fault". Still getting power to Windows, radio, lights etc but nothing to the engine. can't even get an obd on it as it won't load.. reckon this could be a cluster fault? looks a fairly easy fix if so!
I would check connections on the BCM thats located in the passenger footwell as instrument cluster faults dont normally have an impact on windows, radio or lights but all of those go through the BCM
@@OEMDeniedPerformance no no, the windows, radio etc were okay. Sorry may not have been very clear in my comment but I meant that the power to the engine died but was okay to the windows etc. Ended up having a blown fuse 75 but need to figure out what caused it to short in case it happens again
mine is lighting up the screen but not displaying the mileage or any other data just a blank lit up orange/redish screen do you think this could be due to the solder ?
Ford list all wiring diagrams individually relative to sensor or solenoid being looked at so there isnt a pinout diagram as such for any modules sorry. When we do testing on PCMs we reference Autodata as they show a pinout for PCMs as a list but not sure if they do the same for instrument clusters
Shattered I seen this after replacing my battery, throttle body, accelerator pedal, and then giving up and paying ford to ultimately get the cluster replaced :(
I've got a old friend thats having problems with his mk2 focus car (he's a pensioner) He's been told things like It's his starter motor needs replacing, It's this, or It's that, by the likes of the AA and other professional mechanics when all he's getting Is the common dash connection faults like > will not start, cluster failure, limp mode & either no fault codes or strange fault codes!
I will try help the old lad out this weekend free of charge of course, I've reworked Vauxhall cluster's in the past so should be okay.
Thank you to OEM Denied Performance for helping me to learn something to help some old friend of mine, people like you are legends 👍
where are you based.
Great video Jamie. I thought there would have been more components to re-solder so this is nice and simple.
The hardest part by the looks of it is pulling the damn thing apart ... lol
So pleased to eventually find my way to this video after much searching... The Wifes car has already had the accel pedal replaced at a cost of £300 approx... ford were quoting £800 + vat just for the instrument cluster part...just crazy money for a problem that clearly should not be there!
I'VE got the same problem with my1.6 petrol c max.iwill give it a go.thanks for the video.and instructions.
Excellent stuff. I fixed mine a couple of weeks ago when the cluster went into full Christmas tree light syndrome. Fortunately I have a lot of soldering experience and gear, but it can't be emphasised enough that it's very important to examine the connector block soldering with a magnifying glass or a USB microscope for accidental shorts before re-installation or else there is the potential to ruin the cluster.
nb. for those not confident, then in the UK at least there are several companies to whom you can send the cluster and they will test and fix it for a set fee. Compared to what a garage cost it's cheap, and removing the instrument cluster is a two minute job.
Did you take the solder off or did you put new solder over existing solder?
@@AlanBaker-l8k I just remelted it and added a little more of some old tin/lead electric solder. I suppose if I'd used a solder sucker first it would be bettet, but as the car is 15 years old, I figure it will last. If not, it is an easy job to repeat.
I`ve just followed the instructions which were very helpful, fingers crossed that the fault is cured. Many thanks.
What kind of solder did u use ? I must fix but there so many solder to choose among
has the issue been fixed?
update?
Thank you very much for your great video manual that fixed my problems with the car: acceleration reduced and engine malfunction alarms,dropping of rpm and speed needles,ESP,engine unit warnings.
I found that solder on 5 of 32 pin contacts on the circuit board of the cluster were cracked...
Worth watching alone just to see how to remove connector when taking out cluster from car! I have no soldering skills but posted it of to be properly done, nice to see what the repair consists of...
Great repair job I did this years ago on a focus its terrible the way things are designed now a day . Thanks for sharing as I had forgotten all about it as I had a stroke some time ago and the memory aint great
Thanks Jaime, great help, my PFL clocks were showing jibberish running across the screen, very similar process on the PFL.
Brilliant video, my needles aren't quite right now 😂 but that's a relatively minor issue I can fix another day. Seems to have sorted it for me. Thanks so much for sharing the knowledge.
Awesome video,,, very easy to follow especially for someone like me who dosnt know cars at all,,,, sorted all my problems !!!
Greatly appreciated!!!!
And I agree with you
Just done one myself, thank you for this video...just saved a small fortune
brilliant video cluster was slightly different but easier to dismantle soldered has recommended all works ok
I did mine a couple of months back, this video made it easy and saved me a packet, thanks. 😀
You are the best. I had to replace the LCD in mine and was dreading doing it.
Watched this vid and I was like that’s easy as, and it was.
Where did you get the LCD? I Broke mine putting the thing back together
Thanks a lot! That seems to have solved the problems!
Going to try this on a mk1 ford kuga, have the same issue, hope it work
Great video always wondered where the issues are on these.Nice one.
Worked great. Thanks.
Thanks for the video, it gave me the confidence to go ahead and try soldering for the first time. It worked and solved the malfunction problem. However the backlights for the clocks and the ignition button are remaining illuminated constantly even when the vehicle is off and locked. Could this be another broken solder on the circuit board or do you think it is being caused by another issue. I do have some water ingress.
Where is the water ingress? I've not come across that particular fault myself before. If the water is on the BCM then yes that will cause it as
Had this issue about 6 months ago, paid over $1000 to fix it. Wish I saw this video earlier so I could do it myself
Ive got a MK2 RS and in the bundle of receipts that i got with the car is an invoice for the instrument cluster repaired. I take it this was likely what was repaired.
yes mate. Im yet to have to do anything else to these repair wise and have done god knows how many of them over the years now
Very good video well explained how to rectify a common focus issue can you fix mine please 🙏
I've seen a lot of video's on this problem, but yours is by far the most comprehensive, I've got to do mine tommorow, fingers crossed.
I'm using solder paste for the 1st time, what are your thoughts on it
when you heat existing solder to put additional on to it would that not loosen the pin on the other side the solder isthere to hold?
no, the pins are attached to the multiplug so they wont just fall out.
@@OEMDeniedPerformance nice one, im thinking of trying this on my car ive got engine malfunction etc so even if its not the cause it could help eliminate one of the potential causes and wont cost me 100s to do myself :)
@@shinraninja yeah its worth doing even if you don't currently have any problems as at some point you will. Whenever we strip them down to do a SMD light colour change we just redo that connector at the same time for that reason
Did you have to take old solder off or just add new solder to existing solder?
Very interesting, wish I saw this about 4 years ago, had to pay ford's £600 for a new one
ouch!
Great Video Thank you
even gies temp of solering iron! legend
After welding and putting it back, my gas pedal won’t work, and the dashboard screen says engine malfunction. Do you think it could be fixed just by resetting the errors? I don’t have the device and tried undoing and redoing the battery but it didn’t change anything…
thank you so much 🙏
Hey thanks for sharing this. Just replaced my LCD as the other one failed due to heat. My only issue. The temp is permanently fahrenheit???? Set to metric in menu and reading KMS. Seen this before?
Worked it out. Hold set when you have temp displayed. Once again thanks for sharing this.
Will this also fix the lcd not working issue?
Hi we're are you working from
Did you have to take the old solder off first?
Had anyone experienced the C1288 ABS pressure sensor code as a result of the instrument cluster problem? I've replaced the ABS unit to no avail, the esp light remains on. I've also got the U1900 and U0155 codes which point to the instrument cluster but don't have any other symptoms showing. I wonder could the brake sensor fault be related?
Sure hope that's the only place for bad solder connections.Will report back after doing.
How do the gauges remain accurate after removing the needles? That’s always been my worry.
so long as you push them to their resting point before removal and mark that spot or photograph it then when refitting you do the same again it will be the same. If you get it wrong you can refit the car without the front cover on then use a scan tool to read live data from the ECU and adjust accordingly. Do 2 a week on average myself without issue. Speed will always read slightly higher than a real speed when compared to GPS - they are like that out the factory.
Having issues with my st 225, engine system fault messege on, sometimes the throttle doesn’t work at all and when it does work car has not boost and only revs to 3.5k.. also the rev counter needle almost vibrates and makes a strange sound when ignition turned on.. cluster fault you guys think? Cheers from uk
Yeo sounds like it mate. Got nothing to lose by doing the repair anyway as they all seem to play up at some point
@@OEMDeniedPerformance thank you will get it sent off and be back with an update, great informative video 👌
Did this solve your problem mate?
Done mine the other day
Common fault with lead free solder
Have this same issue with 3 clusters seems to be the connector as when I wiggled the connector block the dash switches on and off and when held in a position it doesn’t give the fault any ideas?
thats what this repair video covers - the solder on circuit board for the connector goes brittle and cracks.
Had a few issues on my mk2 ST and the symptoms all pointed towards the cluster so being a solderer i decided to do it myself,totally desoldered the pins and put new solder on.seems to have done the trick but am i imagining my cars running a lot sweeter and more responsive? Anybody else had this happen?
pretty normal to run better. One of the faults that usually occurs is throttle position. When the reading isn't correct, the ECU only uses the single reading instead of multiple so after you do the repair it goes back to using more than 1 and the car is a lot more responsive as a result :)
I have an iron that says max temp 450 degrees Celsius is this too hot?
I would use a max temp of 380c, preferably 350
Just started happening to my car, wish I could do this to save a lot of cash
Just bought a focus 2008 facelift version and the traction control light is on (meaning traction control is turned off) put odb reader in and got a U0001 no other codes and nothing for traction control not working… think it’s could be a cluster fault? Thanks in advance! Good stuff!
you need to read the ABS module for stored DTCs. Tune handsets and cheaper scan tools will only communicate to the PCM (engine ECU)
@@OEMDeniedPerformance thank you for quick reply… only reason I’m thinking it’s the IC is because the code I get (U0001) is to do with the high speed can communications bus it says loss in communication… which I’m guessing is one or more of the pins that to be soldered… so from what I’m seeing would you try your trick first with cluster or take it garage to be properly scanned? Thanks again man!!
@@OEMDeniedPerformance she done the old cluster of death on me twice today time to get it repaired ! Bet traction control will stay on! 🤦🏼♂️
@@datwinz3927 did all warnings flash?
@@sarcrife7904 yep Christmas tree effect all lights on and flashing if your cars doing that time to get that cluster out got mine fixed for £80 locally to me hasn’t let me down it’s been nearly a month and put 50/100 miles on car a day 🤞🏼💪🏽
I’ve just changed my alternator on my st225 mk2 from a 120amp to 150amp but now I’m getting steering assist failure after 2000rpm power steering stops working. Plus hardbrake and esp light comes and stereo goes off. Could this be my problem or is the 150amp to powerfull.
Just tried turning all lights and heating on seems to work perfectly. I’m stumped 🤔
@@st225_dom check connections in body control module - passenger footwell
hey mate im about to do this today i got everything i need - i took the cluster board out is there anyway i could massively fuck this up and destroy it? i mean it seems fairly simple to solder steady had dab solder on and wipe off after
Make sure soldering iron is at a decent temp so that when you make contact with the pins the solder melts pretty much instantly. If its not hot enough itl take longer and you can heat up a pin too much and damage the board.
Where can you get the replacement screens for this dash?
Thanks.
we just usually rob them out of scrap base model vehicles.
@OEM Denied Performance thanks I've found new screens on ebay. Thanks for the videos they have helped me out massively 🙂
Keep up the great content 👍
can you tell me if the mileage is lost after this operation? or do the cluster needs to be reprogrammed or calibrated?
it will stay exactly the same, no recalibration or programming needed. Just do the solder repair, refit to vehicle and enjoy being fault free again :)
What can I do if I've followed this repair but my needles are not reading properly? Is there a way to calibrate them? Clearly I've not put them in the right spot but I tried to be as accurate as possible
send us an email and can send you pics of where they should sit at their resting spot. info@oemdenied.com
do you think my issue could be my st needing this cluster repair?
drove about a quarter mile today and as I shifted into 3rd gear it literally just died. tried to restart but got nothing.. pushed it off the road and when I turn the key I get an "esp systems fault" for 2 secs, then "engine systems fault". Still getting power to Windows, radio, lights etc but nothing to the engine. can't even get an obd on it as it won't load..
reckon this could be a cluster fault?
looks a fairly easy fix if so!
I would check connections on the BCM thats located in the passenger footwell as instrument cluster faults dont normally have an impact on windows, radio or lights but all of those go through the BCM
@@OEMDeniedPerformance no no, the windows, radio etc were okay. Sorry may not have been very clear in my comment but I meant that the power to the engine died but was okay to the windows etc.
Ended up having a blown fuse 75 but need to figure out what caused it to short in case it happens again
mine is lighting up the screen but not displaying the mileage or any other data just a blank lit up orange/redish screen do you think this could be due to the solder ?
@@liamkilleen6603 it it a PFL (key start) or a FL (push button start)
@@OEMDeniedPerformance its a key start 2009 ,thank you
Did you use flux on the joints?
not for this no. If it goes gunky we use a solder sucker to pull all old solder off then redo
Nice one buddy, care to share the pinouts for this cluster? Thx😉
Ford list all wiring diagrams individually relative to sensor or solenoid being looked at so there isnt a pinout diagram as such for any modules sorry. When we do testing on PCMs we reference Autodata as they show a pinout for PCMs as a list but not sure if they do the same for instrument clusters
My st is giving me hell with this cluster problem..can u help
which part are you struggling with?
@@OEMDeniedPerformance the cluster runs fine an give errors..
@@paulreddy664 need more info mate - what are the errors. Probs best to email us info@oemdenied.com
Wake wake wake waka
Ford Mondeo mk3 speedometer not working do same job it will ok
Im not sure sorry, only work on the sports models
Shattered I seen this after replacing my battery, throttle body, accelerator pedal, and then giving up and paying ford to ultimately get the cluster replaced :(
I'm sorry to hear that man :( Got sick of hearing people having them replaced at great cost which is why uploaded the video.
@@OEMDeniedPerformanceLegend you are
Ha
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