Davehal9000 Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 I bought the car for a friend, to help her out after she and her boyfriend split. Test drove the car, looked OK, handed over the cash, but it died on the way to her house. All accessories died, but ran. Didn't take long before it took a while to get it started. She blamed it on a bad battery. She eventually replaced it, not doing much good. She and a mechanic friend found if you smacked the instrument cluster, it would start. No need to worry about any real diagnosis, not until I'm three states away when the car won't start and nobody else to call. Followed the advice here, looking like a bad solder job in the cluster. Her circle of friends weren't convinced, but nobody would do anything to find the real problem. Finally for her to let me send the cluster off to get resoldered across the state. Once they got it, she had beat the cluster up so bad it was better off replacing it. Took about 10 days to get the new cluster. They get it reprogrammed and mail.it out. The postal system loses it. She had tried driving it without the cluster, but the lights flashed rapidly and never cranked. A month without the car, i drove across state and got the old cluster yesterday. Hooked the old cluster up, no attempt to crank. She had disconnected the battery due to the flashing, so it's possible I didn't get enough of a charge. The symptoms I see now are the flashing of the flashers, rapid flashing antitheft light, and the wipers going at a slow rate, even when off. Had worked on it yesterday after six hours on the road, in the rain, waking on crutches, so I wasn't functioning as I should have. Can give better feedback later on today. Hopefully they find the new cluster sometime this year. I'm ready to call in an airstrike... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davehal9000 Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 Came over to give it another try. The antitheft light was blinking slowly, and the flashers were blinking. No crank. The electronics say there are zero miles until empty. This may be factual, knowing her... Any suggestions on what to look for in getting this thing started? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WKelley Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 It's likely in theft mode along with whatever the original problems are. It's a 3000lb brick. You need to find someone that has dealer level scan tools to hopefully get it out of theft mode and then maybe you can flash the cluster to work. Messing with the cluster was a BAD idea, they have to be flashed to the car properly or theft mode just kills it dead. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davehal9000 Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 The folks who I took the cluster to are professionals. They know what they are doing. I think the current problem is that when I asked to get the old cluster bad while USPS searched for the lost replacement, they gave me the wrong "old" cluster, meaning someone else's. The shop had told me the old unit was in such bad shape, it would be cheaper, better, to buy new. They did so, programmed it, and USPS lost it. The old cluster they handed me was in much better shape than it should have been. I wasn't familiar enough with the old to know what damage was present, but the owner doesn't think this one was hers. Would the wrong cluster, not programmed to the car, do this? Have filed an insurance claim with USPS. Will buy another and press on. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WKelley Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 You need to figure out if it is in theft mode, which it likely is. You cannot just drop in a programmed cluster while it is theft mode, it will not fix it if that is the case. The theft system looks at the key, the cluster and the module itself to decide what to do. Once it is tripped, it is not a simple task to get it out as you need a higher level scan tool to get into the modules. Remotely programming modules is not an exact science, there are lots of problems that can happen. Try and find someone local. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davehal9000 Posted April 17 Author Share Posted April 17 Filed a lost parcel claim on Saturday. They found it Monday. Wasn't an issue until USPS was about to pay out some money. Installed the new cluster. Fired up the first time. Haven't had a problem since. Will let her run it a few days, and if the trend continues, will get it all pretty again and call it good. Automotive Circuit Solutions of Marshfield MO is the company who did the work for us. Definitely worth a shot if smacking the dash has become part of your car starting on a Ford Fusion! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WKelley Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 Great news! Glad the original showed up and worked first time, it can be a nightmare when something goes into theft mode. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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