2002 Ford F150

I'm having an issue with the instrument cluster in the truck. There will be times when it operates fine without issues then it will act the way it does in the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slcj1M9fyfk

It will do this on it's own at time whether I'm in motion or at a stop. It is very sensitive to vibrations or small "taps" as you can see in the video. I already have a new battery and have clean connections at the battery as well so I'm eliminating that as the culprit. I have taken the cluster completely out and took it apart to see the circuit board and there's not anything I can tell that is wrong. Even the cold solder joints for the odometer part are still in good shape. I've checked the connector that plugs into the cluster and I'm not seeing any backed-out terminals and when checking for power and ground while moving the connector around I never lost continuity.

I'm running out of ideas unless it is something inside the cluster that's got a short and I'm not seeing it. This is getting really annoying having this happen while going down the road and not to mention that when it does go "un-responsive" before I've had a chance to start it then it will not start at all.

Interesting....I have torn my truck apart from tip to tail and have never run into that issue. Sorry you are having it. Hopefully one of our techs will come along with a solution for you.

Chrono558 said:

not to mention that when it does go "un-responsive" before I've had a chance to start it then it will not start at all.

Click to expand...

don't have any answers for you but the above comment makes me wonder if it might be part of a bigger issue. Have you had any other problems/issues.

Time for you to get some diagnostics done. The start function runs through the instrument cluster. Problem is, it also runs through the pcm. Possible wiring issue,poor grounds.

The last month before finals in a college is not the best time to do automotive projects..... Anyways, I was finally able to track down a wiring diagram for the instrument cluster and I believe I've come up with a way to do some testing.

From what I can tell there are 3 power wires that come from the central junction box (hot in run, hot at all times, hot in start or run) and they are grey/yellow, red/white and red/light green respectively. I can also see 2 ground wires coming from the cluster (pink/orange that terminates at G201 Left front footwell and a black wire that terminates at G200 Lower right kick panel). What I plan to do is to back probe these wires and monitor the voltage with a volt meter and see if I'm getting a dropout on the power or ground or both and go from there. Right now I'm just trying to isolate the area that's causing the issues whether it be wiring or the cluster itself. When I have some time in the next few weeks this is what I'll start working on.

I would suspect grounds....

But that's my personal experience with a different make of vehicle...

I have a similar problem with my 02. My odometer comes and goes. When it first started I could tap on the dash and some times it would come back on but not now it just comes on and off whenever it wants. My thermomteter and compass in the roof console has just quit never to return. Any clues?

all the 10th generations ive had the odometer flickers on , ive gotten used to it over time ...... its very common. It doesnt hurt anything when its off

I know it's a little late to be updating this thread but I'll share the end result.

The truck did end up stranding me with a no-start condition. The new thing the cluster was doing now was instead of showing the mileage it would just show a series of dashes "------" which I believe means that there was a communication problem between the cluster and the PCM. I did check the PCM relay and it was working fine and my scanner was able to communicate with the PCM so I was fairly confident that it was in the cluster.

After having it towed to the dealership they pretty much confirmed that the cluster was fubar'd. A new cluster and a grand later and it she lives once more. I "patted" the William Tell Overture on the dash and no spazzing out. So hopefully I'll be set for quite a while.

sucks it left you stranded, glad to hear you got it fixed.