Dashboard on the blink

[Merlin5]

I've booked my car at my regular garage to be checked out tomorrow. There's a problem with my main dashboard computer in my old 307 HDi.
Last night, these warning lights, including ESP, came on and stayed on, with the stop light flashing.





I continued my journey, got there, turned the engine off, went to do some work, came back to my car half an hour later and all was normal again on the dash and stayed normal as I returned home. It was fine this morning too on my next journey.

On my way home this evening, a few minutes into the journey, the same lights came on again, plus all my mileometer readings had now gone, just dashes, plus the low fuel light was now flashing, even though I have well over a quarter of a tank. Then about 20 or 30 minutes later, the water gauge, rev counter and speedometer stopped working. I had no idea of what speed I was doing anymore, so drove slowly. Left and right indicator arrows were not showing up on the dash either, but I checked outside the car and the indicators were all working.

Got home, turned off the engine and lights. These dashboard lights remained on. Went into my house for a few minutes, came back to the car to drive it to the garage in my street, and the dashboard was again completely back to normal. Even the mileage readings were intact.

I've had intermittent problems like this before. After my alternator was replaced a few months back, the battery warning light was still coming on. But after a few days, it disappeared.

Can I be optimistic and hope it's just a loose connection somewhere? I've got three long journeys tomorrow, saturday and sunday, and have had to make contingency plans in case I don't get my car back for a day or two.

At the moment, it seems to go back to normal after switching off and waiting. I could risk using the car, but I'm just worried that it might go kaput altogether and I'd be left with no speedometer.

 

[Merlin5]

Had similar issues on a Pug 406 & it was the solder on the back of the instrument cluster cracking in various places.

Ah, maybe it's that then. Is it a difficult/lengthy/expensive job for them to get access to the cluster? Soldering should be easy enough for them to do though, if it is that?

 

[Merlin5]

Mechanic just rang me and asked me if the cluster had been repaired before because it had been glued in and was difficult to remove. I said I wasn't aware of any cluster repair and I've had the car since 51000 miles in 2007. He said some solder was cracked on the back which they've now resoldered and needs me to take the car and use it to see if the problem is fixed. He said he had a similar problem on a 206 the other week and soldering fixed it. He said if it mine still does the same thing, then we'll sort out a second hand cluster on monday. So I'm going to go pick my car up and hope for the best!

 

[Merlin5]

Take a Sat Nav/phone with GPS and a speed app with you for the journey. If the speedo stopped working then at least you can tell your speed from that (it's what I had to use on my old car)

Hah yeah, I thought to do the same thing. I use google satnav built into my phone but it doesn't register speed. Any app I can download to show that?

 

[Merlin5]

Had similar issues on a Pug 406 & it was the solder on the back of the instrument cluster cracking in various places.

You were correct, sir, soldering seems to have fixed it! Not a single error during several long distance journeys over the weekend.

Also, my fuel gauge is working consistently now. All the time I thought a sensor was dodgy in the fuel tank, but it was the cluster not working properly.

Only 40 quid for an hours labour plus VAT at my local romanian run garage. They've done some pretty decent work for me at good prices over the last year.
When most garages are charging in excess of £70 to £80ph, these guys are staying competitive and always able to take my car to look at the same or following day.