Hi all, first time posting and hoping someone can help me with fixing up my son's first car a low millage Skoda Fabia Mk1 from 2002. Fixed all the main bits needed for the MOT but the instrument cluster is only occasionally working. When it works and does not work seems a bit random and cannot figure from that any consistent reason why.

 

The mIllage, tripometer and clock is showing always which makes me think it is not a power issue but the guages and any warning lights are only occasionally on (picture attached). I have tried taking the cluster out and letting it dry naturally in case it was a mosture issue and changed the fuses.

 

I have seen a lot of threads with potential areas (including earth points,soldering some of the points and having to replace the instrument panel) but could do with some help in pinpointing this from others experience or hoping there is a simple fix!

 

thank you in advance

Sometimes when the solder joints are cracked the imobiliser doesn't work, so the car starts and turns off. 

Does your fabia start and run normally? 

No issue with the immobiliser or it cutting out simply the dials not working. Clock and tripometer not affected! 

Mine did that, just needed to reflow the solder joints on the main connector and it cured the issue.

It is probably just the solder joints, or some corrosion in the connectors. 

You can test the instrument cluster through VCDS, the indicators, needles, displays,... 

If you know how to solder here is a tutorial it is in czech BUT in the video there are pretty well translated subtitles on the bottom, no automatic translation. 

If you are going to resolder it, I would reccomend replacing the electrolytic capacitors too, they could have leaked out on the board already, so thet needs to be cleaned up. THE CAPACITORS ARE RATED FOR A HIGHER TEMPERATURE than some cheap standard ones, so buy the right values from a good manufacturer. Make shure they are approximately the same size as the old caps so they fit with the covers on. 

Before removing the old caps mark their polarity on the board, photo everything. 

Be carefull with the lcds, and don't mix them up. 

Before resembling make shure there aren't any solder bridges nor shorts on the board, if there are any you can use a solder wick or something similar. And wear gloves so there aren't any fingerprints inside the cluster. 

Hope this helps. 

 

Just now, Adinko said:

It is probably just the solder joints, or some corrosion in the connectors. 

You can test the instrument cluster through VCDS, the indicators, needles, displays,... 

If you know how to solder here is a tutorial it is in czech BUT in the video there are pretty well translated subtitles on the bottom, no automatic translation. 

 

If you are going to resolder it, I would reccomend replacing the electrolytic capacitors too, they could have leaked out on the board already, so thet needs to be cleaned up. THE CAPACITORS ARE RATED FOR A HIGHER TEMPERATURE than some cheap standard ones, so buy the right values from a good manufacturer. Make shure they are approximately the same size as the old caps so they fit with the covers on. 

Before removing the old caps mark their polarity on the board, photo everything. 

Be carefull with the lcds, and don't mix them up. 

Before resembling make shure there aren't any solder bridges nor shorts on the board, if there are any you can use a solder wick or something similar. And wear gloves so there aren't any fingerprints inside the cluster. 

Hope this helps. 

 

Of course there is a risk of damaging or destroying the cluster! 

Thank you all so much, I will give it a go. Need it fixed for the MOT!