Stilo dashboard problem

Hi wonder if anyone can help, my husband's Stilo was working perfectly until we went on holiday for 2 weeks. On our return my husband went to drive it and found that the dashboard was completely blank apart from 2 warning lights (ABS and ESP I think). Everything appears to be functioning correctly eg indicators, lights, etc and the car is driving perfectly but we are just not getting any response from the dashboard readouts eg. rev counter, milometer, clock, indicators, etc, etc. Fuses have been checked and nothing there. It has been into Fiat and they have said that it requires a new part (not sure exactly what but it costs £350.00 and takes about half an hour to fit) - also, it can't be fitted by our local garage as the part is coded. Having had a similar experience with Renault diagnostics when they replaced an airbag computer for what turned out to be a broken connection I just wondered if anyone had any thoughts/advice to offer.

not sure ho to solve but im sure your not driving the vehicle with it being a brake problem?????????

no, it's not a brake problem, garage have already checked, it's just that these are the only 2 warning lights that appear to work

i once repaired a dashboard with similar failure by removing oxidation on the printed circuit board , near the microprocessor.
I was only noticable with a magnifier glass but enough to shorten pins of the cluster and causing trouble as you described....
You might have a look before you buy a new unit - i guess there is also the possiblity to buy a reconditioned one but often you have to ask for that option as a lot of dealers prefer to sell a new one instead of the reconditioned unit.

The part you mention will be the cluster that they want to replace. You mention it is coded which i believe is true as it has to be proxy aligned to the body computer of the car using an Diagnostic Examiner. Most small garages won't have the examiner to do this process which means you'll have to use dealer or an independant Fiat/Alfa specialist who have the Examiner equipment, where abouts in the UK are you?

As yellowstilo says it may be an oxidised connection causing issues but i wouldn't know where to start with checking that i'm afraid.

There was an issue on Ford Focus' where the clusters kept failing and dealers replaced with brand new units at cost to the consumer, Watchdog found people that had cleaned the circuit boards and connectors and got the cluster working again with no future problems. If you know someone with the expertise it may be worth a try

I had similar problem - except I didn't get the ABS/ESP warning lights.
Speedo blank, Rev counter blank etc. I know you said the fuses OK but did you check them or was it the garage. All I did was push every fuse in the fuse box below the steering wheel and everything OK since.

I'll certainly give that a try although it wasn't the Fiat garage that checked the fuses it was just my local garage....nothing ventured, nothing gained though