Greg you are them man!
I owe you several beers.
Mine started going out about once a week it wouldn't com one for a few miles or until I taped on it. Talked to my boss whoe rebuilds salvage F150's and he told me he had this and it cost him $600 for a new cluster from the dealer. Called the dealer and same answer "only known cure is new cluster for $600."
Disappointed I was just going to live with out an odemeter if it did go out. I knew it just had to be a short because I could sometimes get it back by tapping on it. Then I seen this thread!
Same soldier joint and it was very easy to see with the naked eye. right side of the post had pulled away from the sodier. Drop of sodier, put it back together and hasn't even flickered in the last month or so.
Thank you!
BTW the light switch on my 2000 has a slot for a small screw driver at the bottum to pop it out. I wrapped the screw driver with masking tape to keep from marring the dash.