Gauges not working?

WAYNE012

MEMBER
2004 FORD FOCUS
1.9L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
14,100 MILES

Gauges including speedometer has been erratic last year or so. Sometimes turn key on they come on but when I start the car they quit. Coasted down a long hill recently put in neutral shut car off turned key on everything worked but when I started car eye gauges and speedo quit. Repeated several times did the same thing each time. Cleaned plug in on speedometer cluster doesn’t do anything different.

Sunday, August 17th, 2025 AT 7:26 AM

1 Reply

AL514

MECHANIC
5,499 POSTS

Hello, I have seen these Fords with cracked solder joints on the cluster circuit board where the harness connector is plugged in. Some have had a lack of solder right from the factory, the cracks can be difficult to see, but when the board gets warm the crack can open up and close back up when it cools off. In most cases re-soldering the connector pins on the cluster circuit board has been a successful repair. No need to program a new cluster or any of that. You can also inspect the circuit board for any capacitors that have leaked or anything really looking out of place. I use a magnify camera or glass to inspect the circuit boards for the Cluster. On a couple of them, just tapping on the top of dash causes some effect to the cluster which gives reason to pull the cluster and check it visually.
Did all the lamps quit working as well, or just gauges?
And does this vehicle have an Aux Cluster or just the one main cluster? Service info shows some models have two.
Another thing is will a scan tool communicate with the cluster?

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Sunday, August 17th, 2025 AT 10:50 AM