Need help with electrical problem

sounds like you got a cluster going bad,know this sounds stupid but they go bad and cause all kind of problems that a scan will not pick up.

Ok, I’m a little new at the do it yourself car repair. Can you tell me what a cluster is, where I can find them, and can they be replaced? And Thank you for replying.

cluster is the part where the speedod,gas guadge are easy to remove can get at salvage yard,it has to be same modle engine trans as yours.

Sounds like the exact same problem that I'm having with my '04 Focus, including the alternator light at idle, engine sputtering, starter failure and total cluster and radio failure, all at once. I haven't had a chance to troubleshoot, but the first thing I want to look at is an internally shorted battery which could draw down the alternator output.

very true.

I checked the battery and found it completely dead - the little charge indicator was RED not green as I thought earlier in subdued lighting. As soon as I hooked up my charger and the charge built up a little, everything started working again, including instruments, radio etc. After the charge builds up fully, I'll check the alternator output. I may have a bad alternator or a loose connection to it which I have heard is common in earlier Focii.

i would like to know the update on this post , did replacing the cluster work ... i have an '08 focus but this sounds exactly what i went trough with my focus .

i changed the alternator as well and switched trough a couple of batteries

i want to see rpm. signal

Hi guys my ford focus have a electrical problem, the doors don't open with the remote control and I have a light always going down. I see you guys understand a lot about it. Thank you for replaying.

i had to replace the alternater nack in november, we got a really bad snow storm here in michigan not to long ago, i went out to start my car to go to work and my car was dead, it would click over like it wanted to start, so a friend amd i went to napa and got a new nattery, we changed it over and i drove it about a mile down the road when i noticed the battery light was on, i thought it was a flook and just drove it to work without a problem, after work i stopped for some food and i was waiting in the drive through, when my radio died, i panicked and shut the car off, bad idea, it wouldnt start... I called my wife and i drug her but out of bed so she could come give me a jump, well while i was waiting, i figured i hope back in my car and try starting it again, it fired back up without a problem, so i called my wife and told her to go nack to bed, oh before i forget....before the car died a little yellow light for abs cme on to....but anyway, on my way home the battery light stayed on....whats the deal with that??????

Sounds like a bad alternator to me. The new battery gave you good juice.. for awhile but wasn't charging. Letting the batter rest (during the brief shut down) let the battery rebuild some juice.. only to die again later.

This isn't really pertinent info but these cars are known to have a TON of electrical issues. If you own one, I suggest joining a Focus online forum and getting familiar with these heaps.

I got my "heap" free with nearly 300,000 miles on it and very little trouble. Now that's some amazing heap.

Hjju

My 2006 Ford Focus has an electrical problem of sorts and I was hoping somebody might be able to identify it. The car starts up as long as I start it within a short period of time, but if I leave it parked overnight, the battery goes dead and I have to charge it. The alternator and battery have both tested fine but, according to my mechanic, something in the cars system is drawing power from it when it is off. He pulled all the fuses one at a time to identify the system and could not. He said that it is drawing in a pulsing fashion. The electricity is not be drawn from the battery in a steady amount but ranges from 40 miliamps to 1.6 amps. Does anyone know what it is?

I really wish I would have seen these posts before I bought my 07 Focus. My battery light started radomly going off about a week ago. Today when I was coming home from work, my ABS light came on and my radio stopped working. By the time I got home all of my dash warning lights and turn signals were not working. I turned the car off and tried to turn it back on again and the car will not turn over. Just bought it 6 months ago and warranty is done, so I'm on the hook for any repairs. If I would have known about this problem I wouldn't have bought this vehicle. Now I'm stuck with a car loan and an unreliable car. I thought going with a Ford would be good, apparently I was wrong.

I am having very similar issues. Except... My car doesnt start at all and has not for weeks. One day my battery light came on ,and the next day im driving it fown the interstate and cluster in the dash went out, my lights began to dim(it was 2 am) as i was getting off the next exit to investigate it kept kicking off but would kick back on (probably only because it is a standard , and if the wheels are moving the engine WILL kick back on.. ) had it been an automatic it probably would have died altogether. But it kept kicking on, my gauges are going crazy spedometer going 0 to 140 to 0 to 140 and all the gauges doin it together. When i got to the exit it died as soon as i slowed. We pushed it to the gas station. While waiting on help we tried push starting it but it just kept dying. Tried jumping it it did the same thing . ended up replacing the battery (which wasnt bad) the next day i dropped a new alternator in it (i shouldve tested it first bc that wasnt it either..) And now ive replaced the cranksaft ventilation hose but i think thats unrelated the prongs just broke off . im so fed up, the gauges still jump , the battery is losing power quickly but even charged all the way up it cranks but wont start. I have considered my timing being not right or the fuel pump but the symptoms just dont sound right.. Im starting to think it will just be an endless search for a bad wire. Please help!

I'm seeing alot of questions abou this electrical problem and have to wonder why Ford has not done a recall. My problem turned out to be the alternator, I replaced it and am hoping that solves the problem. So far it seems tobe working but I've only had it back for a week. I will post again if I run into more problems.

I have had all kinds of "out of the norm" problems, my sister-in-law has a 2001 ford focus the battery light is on vut battery and alt have tested good. Looked at tge wiring and found 2 bad spots and rhat has been fixed, but problem still exists. Some mornings i go out and car wont turn over, but has enough power to cut lights on. Again battery and alt tested good and went over wiring and corrected all bad places. Reads no prob when scanned. I am stumped, does anyone have any suggestions of what to try next

My 2000 focus randomly dies while I'm driving it. No warning,no lights come on in the dash,nada. It just stops. It fires right back up afterwards but otherwise it's a deathtrap. I'm thinking/hoping it's an alternator/alternator wiring issue but who knows.

I have a 2001 focus and the alternator has been slowly going out over the last couple of years. A couple months ago I was sitting at a light with the lights on because it was dark. I went to take off and I heard a loud pop, and the car totally died. Can't figure out what went out. Any suggestions?

I'm not a mechanic but I do help build cars. A lot of your issues sound like a loose ground wire. If it's not that , I would check the serpentine belt. If it was just crazy dash lights and gauges, it would be your cluster gauge unit or a bad fuse.

the alternator blew the ignition switch which killed the car. got it fixed but thanks for the response

I know this sounds very crazy but I have a 2000 ford taurus and car startedeasy every time the I would go down the road couple miles the lights would get dim.cluster would go crazy then the car started running very crappy then it would die and not start.if I waited 20 mins it would fire right up..turns out it was a battery drain fuse.it's a relay under the hood in the battery distribution box.hope that helps someone.

Battery light kept coming on 2001 focus I got for my daughter. The alternator was bad so got a used one. Drove fine for 100 miles or so then dash instruments dies but could still rev the engine. Then the car would die and re-jump itself as I was going down the road. One of the times it died I was at a light so got push started and made it home. Now it has intermittent times it starts and dies, just sitting. Would it be most likely arcing on the back of the alternator connection I've read of? We didn't put any grease over the connection as suggested.

What did Ford do with their biggest mistake??? ............... they circled it. ;) on that note, something similar to this is going on with my '03 Ford Focus right now and I'm hoping to find some suggestions here as it's currently stuck on a canyon road until I can figure it out... Car has always been pretty reliable with the exception of ignition lock cylinder (or whatever it's called, I'm no car expert.) Instead of replacing it, a friend of mine suggested removing a tumbler since that was the problem, the key would not catch the tumblers correctly or something along those lines, and since there were several tumblers in there, it would temporarily fix the problem, which it did but about 6 months later, the problem came back. Instead of removing another tumbler, I decided to google it and learned that all i needed to do was bang on the key while it was in the ignition with a hammer (or I now just use back of my lighter) and it would catch the tumbler. Although it's a little embarrassing how I have to start the car, it works without fail every time. But now the problem is much more serious, and I'm at a loss for answers. Two days ago I was on the interstate going 70mph and my car decided to, quite literally, turn itself off. All the lights inside and out of the car dimmed to about 50%, nothing happened when i pushed the accelerator and the car coasted until it reached about 10mph. At that point the car started to "jog/jump" its way to a stop at which point all the lights on the car including dome lights and all gauges dropped and went out. Although the airbag light on the dash came on momentarily, no other lights nor check engine light came on. Pushed car off the interstate and replaced the battery the next day. Started up fine with new battery, went home, about 5 hours later car wouldn't start. I popped the hood to check battery connections and as I did that, the lights, radio and air conditioning began working, car still not starting although tried to turn over once, second attempt didn't even do that much. Looked at the new battery, everything seemed OK? Dropped the hood and tried again, car started right up. --- But while driving it shortly after this, it began acting up again. When going slower than 15-20mph or at a stop light, the battery light (red) would come on, flickering.. and the car would attempt to die. But as I pressed on the gas and accelerated, it would act normal again and battery light turned off. I was able to put the car in park and "flirt" with the accelerator while at stop lights to keep it from dying completely for about 20 miles and then again, gauges and lights stopped working, car still running for about 1/2 mile and then jumped/jogged until dead. Battery light came on momentarily then went off, airbag light came on and stayed on. The connection on the negative side of the batter was loose and I was able to "jimmy-rig" it to get the car to start a couple more times but that only helped it run maybe 1/2 mile or so before dying again and after I got the appropriate size wrench to tighten the bolts on the cables, the car was even more difficult. Attempted to jump start it and nothing - thinking its most likely electrical or alternator? Alternator connection? Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks for reading and best of luck to all you Ford owners out there! I feel your pain! ;)

Morning guys may b this mite help Some one, firstly I am no car expert I own a Ford focus 02 did almost the same thing dash went dead while driving mo gages nothing ko odo meter fuel gage everything dead no dash lights the whole cluster unit as I figured out now that's what u call it was dead, but my car was fine tho idled revs picked up everything else working perfect just no dash action weird, nothing registered @ ford they checked everything fuses wires, relays told me it was an electrical fault sumwhere, I took my car home my buddy suggested that we remove this unit thing that we did very eazy to my surprise like 4 screws that's it plugged the unit out 1 plug @ the Back then for interest sake we removed this white cover it has @ the back just so we could she the circuit board if u can see if sumtin burnt or not we noticed small bulbs in this unit figures it's the gages then I took them out 1 by 1 I noticed the one behind the odo meter was black all the others looked OK went to the shop got this 50c small light bulb fitted it everyone was saying never never that can't cause all ur gages to die ND your whole dash to be dead I plugged the unit back in and the whole thing was alive I actually shouted couldn't believe my eyes not saying this is the problem but this mite help Some one that has a similar problem a small little flippen light bulb I thing it's the way the circuit is Desinged when one of the lights that light up ur dash pops ur whole unit becomes void, have a great day.

I have a question, I had a 2006 Ford focus. The engine light stayed on while driving. My mechanic reprogrammed the computer. It seemed fine. On the fifth day I was on Eastern boulevard turning into the place where I live, when my car just died. I noticed that before it died it started going real slow. By this time the police came and set up flares so I wouldn't get hit. Some man stopped and gave me a hotshot. It started but died. I should say before it died nothing came on the dash board. He gave me another hotshot and got it running. He drove it over to the 7 eleven and left it running. The police came to the 7eleven and told me to follow them to my apartment. The man that helped me was to follow me. Well when I got in the car and bairley touched the gas peddle the car mad a noise and jumped and just took off. I couldn't stop it so I turned the wheel so I wouldn't hit the police car. My car jumped the curb and hit the wheel of a big truck The police said they thought my car malfunctioned. Can you please tell me what you think.

Im curious same thing going on with my ford focus well the dash board is going constantly and turning off .odometer going up and down dome interior light coming on too .Battery light stays on .and I had the instrument cluster just replaced 2 days ago and its still doing it .my dome light has never been so bright .please Help thank u

Oh and I'm a passenger in my car rite now radio is going on and off .I have a 2007 focus .

If your Ford focus acts up and the dash board fails please do not try to drive it.I have no idea what is wrong with it, but I almost got killed. When I tried to drive mine after a hot shot it just took off and I couldn't stop it. The police were there and in their opinion the car malfunctioned. Please be careful. My car is totaled but at least I am alive.

Can someone help me? I have 2005 Ford Focus I have been having problems starting it. No warning lights are on. Have taken it to Advance, Auto Zone, Ford, AAA everything checks out. I can be driving down the road at times car jerk. Sometimes when go to crank car will not crank I can try to tighten and shake cables/wires connected to battery and go turn ignition it starts sometimes have to repeat 2 to 4 times before start. I personally think rhe problem is conected to the battery because the radio and clock come on after starts. Sometimes I have to do that process everytime I get in car to go to work, back home, church etc. Then sometimes do not have the problem for few days even weeks at a time. Either way it go when start up car the clock/radio stalls to light up/come on. I do not listen to radio no more so it comes on by itself when come it comes on clock resets to 12 and radio come on automatically to am station with static basically radio and clock reset self as if just put battery in

I had a similar problem with the dashboard that became crazy, starting on and off by his will. I change it with a new one and now everything is ok.

@George-a new dashboard? I replaced the alternator (with a used one) and it didn't help, replaced with a new one and that worked.

Just curious if anyone has found the problem. I'm having simular issues. I've had people tell me it's an electrical issue in the shifter. Also tI pull fuses 36 and 50. Something I just noticed is that the factory radio can be turned on and off while car is off and key out of ignition. I'm sure there something there. Tracing down this battery draining issue pretty tough. I do know I have noticed also at a lower charge on the battery the less the alternator wants to work. And because of the battery being low your dashboard being run from a computer it will flicker the lights and gauges spaz out.

Can anyone help, we have a ford focus and the heater blower panel lights do not work and the lights on the steering wheel also don’t work BUT when the indicator is turned on they all start to flash on and off. HELP whats gone wrong.

Ok what is the 7 wires that In a connectors on the left side of the steering wheel call my wires came out but I don't know what the part call hello please

Well let's see if anyone can help me. My Ford Focus 2003 has been having acceleration problems for the past months or so. It stalls then jumps when it reaches a certain speed then all is well. Recently, I started hearing weird zapping noises coming from in front of the car but thought that it was a couple of wires that were dangling in front. Now to the good part, a couple of days ago while I was driving, the battery light suddenly went off and the steering wheel became very tough and rigid to maneuver bit I continued driving it like that until I got to work, about 5 miles or so, where I left it until I got off work. I checked the power steering fluid, full, I put in 2 quarts of oil and some water which it needed. The wheel was still tough to manage and I started to notice that the lights on the dash board were dimmer than usual. As I took a short cut home, the car began loosing power quickly so I stopped it before I turned off completely. Called a tow truck and brought it home. When I was going to take it to the mechanic I noticed that he had left it in N but didn't think much of it. Now the battery has been charged but it still won't start. What could it be? Starter, Alternator, Broken belt, Power steering pump or something electric then... SOMEONE HELP!

Michy0318 check your belts....everyone else...I cleared most of my problems by running an extra ground directly from the negative battery terminal to the rear engine lifting lug location...there was no bolt in the hole so I stole it from the front lifting lug. My belief is that the poor grounding system the Focus uses, bolts through painted holes, alters the feedback the alternator uses to figure how hard to charge the battery

I have read all comments above, but my 2013 Ford Focus as electrical issues, started the other day driving down the street and all of a sudden my whole dashboard + Navigation screen all blacks out all gauges, (speedometer gas gauge cooling gauge and RPMs) all STOP NOT WORKING and this evening I noticed when the is parked and locked the gauge lights are the only thing still on. If tried to turn off all switches, but no success....Going to my mechanic tomorrow. PLEASE HELP IF SOMEONE IS EXPERINCING THE SAME, I HAVE BEEN RESEARCHING BUT NO ANSWERS... THIS SUCKS PAYING FOR SOMETHING THAT'S A PIECE OF S&*$!

check the earth connection behind the dash board, it might be loose, My 2003 ford focus had simular problems and I found it to be a bad earth connection, it going for 500 000km and stil going strong.

I have a 2010 ford focus and my right front blinker doesn't flash on the outside but I get a fast flash inside the car and my traction control comes on at random....has anyone experienced the same issue and how did you resolve it

I have had my 2008 Ford Focus for 9 years. I have loved this car and have maintained it by the book. Now when I get in to crank it , sometimes it will crank and others it won't or it can take up to 8-10 times to get it cranked. The battery is only 2 years old and came from Ford with about 6 years left on it. I have had a new started put in several times and it is not the starter. I had the battery checked and they said that it was fine. I don't have issues in the dash board with the lights coming on. The A/C works fine. The Radio works fine and I don't play it when driving seldom. I don't have the issues with the lights or turn signals. Can someone tell me what to do as I need my car to be dependable. Up until now I have not had problems and this is a real problem as I never know if I can go somewhere and if it's going to start back.

My Ford Focus from 04 switches on just fine but when trying to shift into drive it won't budge. Same with the windows or air conditioner, just dead. I used the bypass button with a spare key to move the shift into drive and use the car but no idea why this is happening. Radio and most electrics work, but windows and aircon are dead. Can anyone help ? The Orange engine light is on though I doubt that's related to the electrical fault.

I wanted to talk a little about the weird electrical issues I've had on my 2007 Focus. About two years ago, it started killing alternators. It would start with the alternator kicking out while driving, with it working normally after a restart. Eventually, the alternator would simply die and not work at all. A volt gauge in the car indicated that the system electrical voltage would approach or exceed 15V. Turning on headlamps or hitting the brakes would cause the voltage to read substantially lower. My solution was to disconnect the computer control line to the alternator - this line allows the computer to adjust the fields of the alternator in response to load (I think...) which, in theory, should save a bit of gas, as the alternator isn't providing as much resistance to the engine during no-load conditions. Normally, this happens automatically with a standard alt, but who knows what Ford was thinking. Here's the caveat: The alternator doesn't provide any charge voltage until the engine RPM exceeds 2200 - after that, it works fine for the duration of the drive. Shut the car off, need to do it again. The battery lamp in the instrument cluster also turns on, so this required me to open the cluster up, cover the battery lamp with electrical tape, and button things back up. I took the opportunity to calibrate the speedo while I was in here (remove the needle, push back on slightly, go drive somewhere with a GPS w/speed indication, and nudge the needle until it's correct. Don't try that unless you're really confident and have a long empty stretch of road. 35MPH was my calibration point.) The other caveat: Not all alternators will turn themselves on at 2200RPM, some actually need the computer control to turn on. It's a crapshoot which one you get, but I used NAPA's slightly higher amperage alternator designed for the automatic transmission car. Here's my theory. The computer is reading the voltage somewhere, probably inside the cabin and probably getting some sort of feedback from the alternator's control line. Since the alternator's control line isn't providing anything, the battery lamp comes on because the computer thinks the alt has died. I believe that as the car has aged, the resistance of the connections between the engine and cabin have increased slightly, so any load coming from inside the car drops more voltage that it should - I can get a drop of 1/2V or more with the headlamps, and I can get the voltage to approach 13V if the defogger runs. I believe the computer sees this low voltage as a problem, and keeps kicking the alternator's control up, the alternator voltage soars, and it burns itself out early. While I can't confirm this, I do know there is some sort of high-resistance connection between inside and outside the cabin, so that's my best guess.

I have the same problem in 2018 on my Ford Fiesta 2013. For my the only person on this forum that fixed the problem was GuruWKFW3. I will try this solution and will post of it gets fixed

I'm also having issues with 2005 ZX3 Focus. Smelled and saw white wisps of smoke coming from behind the steering wheel/dashboard area. Car wouldn't turn on and brake lights were behaving wrong, wouldn't shift out of park, weird stuff. Found some wires were missing insulation and touching (shorting) in the rubber covered flexible tube going between hatchback door (top) and back roof of the hatchback. That part has stress everytime the trunk is opened, so it makes sense it would fail there. But that short apparently melted wires together in the steering column somewhere. Now after paying $500 to auto electrician to rewire the steering column, car runs ok for 3 months. Another smoke/melting wires in the steering column event, and I'm back to the electrician. Looking for how to find the short and rewire myself this time.

I had the similar issue on my Ford Fiesta 2013. The only true answer to solve this problem is about the heart connection but lets take into account that there are at least three earth cables connected to the chasis. The one that gave me better results is the instruments earth. Those are two cables behind the battery connected to one metallic piece soldered to the main chasis. The comment that gave me confidence was the one from GuruWKFW3.

Hi I have a 2007 focus odometer light staying on all night and battery flat in the morning, pulled all fuses 1 by1 the only thing that drops the amp draw is the f3 fuse in the engine bay but I can't find out what that supplies I Know it's the fuse box inside but I already checked all those fuses any ideas it's driving me nuts

Hello am kb .my ford focus back light is putting water in the back and working nice no problem,so help

Hi, I was just reading through this entire post from the start, I own and love my ford focus collection 2001, had it for 17 years. Decided to add what I experienced and the two things that changed everything that was strange or intermittent or dangerously random. For just one example, I was travelling at 70 mph on the outside lane of a 3 pane motorway, when suddenly, without warning the orange engine light came on and the whole car instantly shut down, soooo dangerous, how I managed to coast the car in front of the other two lanes of fast moving traffic and get to the hard shoulder is beyond me. There wasn't an ounce of power anywhere in the car when the engine light illuminated, it ceased, and the remaining momentum is what moved me across the other to lanes to finally stop on the hard shoulder. I sat in the car and tried to start it a few times but it was dead, I googled for a while then tried to start it again and bingo! So off I went. Anyhow, some of the other things that randomly and at times persistently kept occurring was the way the front lights kept playing up, blowing, burnt wires, strange both lights on dropped, then one would go on full beam, all sorts of crazy combinations where happening. So, the first thing I did was check every single earth cable and check all of them at the points that they are in contact with and secured to the car body. Some definitely needed to be undone, cleaned right up, or in some cases , replace the connector on the end of the earth wire, also clean the area on the car that it fits into, some may even need to be treated for signs of rust . To cut a long story short the car was bought by my parents in 2001 I got it in 2003. Around 2009 my battery gave up. At the time I happened to be near a friend who had a yard with old car parts and the like so I asked if he had a spare battery, he did, we took out the old Motorcraft battery, and this is important to remember, that Motorcraft battery here in the UK at least, came off the production line with that actual Motocraft battery in its engine bay. So, you'd probably be right in thinking that if Ford made it with that battery being its first ever battery then that's the way to go. It would appear not. Soooo, back to taking out the defunct Motorcraft battery and just bunging in any old battery I could lay my hands on at the time, it worked straight away, even though it was quite small, I closed the bonnet and thought no more about it untill 2016/17. Throughout those years, I had periods of no problems or unpredictable light shows, but then it all started happening again, with or without the engine light coming on, the car would just suddenly stop for no reason and after a while , no more than 10 minutes and it would start again, until nthe day that as I mentioned at the start, engine light on, car has immediate total power loss and shuts down. Well, It was back then that I realised I was going to need to look alot further into this peculiar and deadly behaviour with my much loved Focus. What I discovered somewhere on the internet was roughly due to how all the electrical components of the car are designed to work specifically with a calcium battery, can't remember of all the technical stuff now but something to do with voltage rings a bell, but what I'd read made 100% total sense to me. I ordered the calcium battery online got delivered,next day I think it was installed it in the car, and started it up and it was like a new car, so far all the strange behaviour, much more than I've written here, has stopped completely and the satisfaction of having such a powerful immediate response when I turn the key is a massive comfort and it has ironed out many odd things. Am sure a quick Google about calcium batteries and the Focus will give much better information about its benefits

I bought focus 2006 1.6 it was starting before but after long time trying to start it, mechanic came and diagnose the problem, immobiliser problem, i took the key to locksmith and test it, they said the key i 100 percent ryt, the car now is not starting at all, dazhboard on, no crank, red dot light blinking

I have a 2011 ford focus it was running just fine then my boyfriend touched two wires together and it died now it tries to start but wont turn over before that it ran just fine can somebody help me please

Sir please help me my car ford focus model 2007 my car problem Rpm metre car Kay open metre power on and kay off automatic power not working clock time and metre Display

can somebody help me please I keep seeing people in the back seat of my ford focus, has anyone else had this problem, only happens when I drive past a cemetery , which is every day as I have to pass one going to work.