My father bought this car new in 2004 I acquired it 1 month ago in November with only 45000 miles on it, he gave me the car all of a sudden with no prior warning the speedometer did not work showed flat 0 all lights on dash on as if you just started the car the only gauge that worked was the fuel gauge . I took it to O'Reilys auto parts because they have a handheld dianogist tool I thought maybe I can get some idea as what's going on. It showed it was a fuel something (could be fuel pump) but showed some module or fuse problem or sending unit I don't remember but the guy there knew a shop that does good electrical work so I was able to take my car right over .. after all the checking he did he came up with instrument panel which is a 710$ fix but I declined it after reading all the similar complaints and after such work was done the problem returned almost right away after speaking in length with the guy Tomy who was amazing (passionate about his work) He took apart the dash and did some wiggling of wires and there is a wiring harness attached to a lot of wires that attaches to the instrument panel he detached it and reattached it making sure it had good contact there's also a circuit board but that would take a lot of time to check al the contacts .. for the most part it's working for now not saying the same thing did'nt happen on my way home from his shop, it did but only for like 30 seconds and it resumed normal again, the problem is not fixed but there is an indication it's either the circuit board, the wiring in the harness or ???? or anyone's guess at least I got a electrical guy who listened about all the consumer complaints and didn't jump to conclusions it's the instrument panel cluster module or whatever it is really called. He also said it was difficult to diagnose it because the instrument panel wouldn't foul up long enough to get a good code by all accounts I had thought alternator that was my first worry because I drove a ford passenger van for 10 years that did the same thing when the alternator was going bad the only difference was this 2004 focus didn't power surge as it idles dip and dive with lack of power it's the only difference .. I do like a challenge so I will repost as this situation is fixed I have every intention of having the problem resolved Personally it's hard to say oh okay it must be the instrument panel cluster !!! I would have believed it to be the fix had I of not read all the post about the same exact problem other Focus owners have been through with that not being the fix to that problem ...