Instrument dials weirdness

[Tom _M]

Noticed yesterday as was driving along that the dials on my 07 Focus suggested I was redlining the revs, doing 90mph, was brimmed with petrol, and overheating. None of these were so... Seems as though the dials still do respond sort-of, but the ‘resting’ position has been reset. After turned of yesterday checked again today, and they seem to have relaxed back a bit, but not where they should be (this is with engine off but key turned:



All dash lights seem alright, as does little display screen. Any thoughts?

[njw1]

Have you tried disconnecting the battery for a while to see if they reset?

[GreenV8S]

Are these dials analogue or digital? If they do a sweep at startup, they're digital. Rev counters and speedos in particular usually seem to be digital in modern cars, but it's still possible yours are analogue.

If the affected dials are all analogue, you may have either an earth fault or an instrument voltage regulation fault. A ground fault seems more likely.

ETA: If you can make the dials twitch by turning electrical loads on and off, that's further evidence that they're analogue.

[Tom _M]

njw1 said:

Have you tried disconnecting the battery for a while to see if they reset?

Gave it a go and seems to have sorted it! Wiped my radio presets, but I’d rather that than something more problematic. Will see if plays up again. Thanks

[AW10]

Worth checking your electrical system voltage when on the move - you might have voltage spikes playing havoc with the electronics.

[Tom _M]

How might I go about that? One thing that has happened now is a bit of a weird dark patch on one side of the little LCD screen, so god knows. The dials work fine now though!

[Oldandslow]

I have a dim memory of Focus instrument clusters having an issue with cracking in solder joints. Fine when new but then with a decade of vibration cracks develop and electronic weirdness follows. I think people were doing repairs similar to the Playstation YLOD.