Intermittent Odometer - A Repair

[Hawkpilot]

I removed and repaired mine, and even though I forgot to disconnect the battery first (Doh!) nothing bad happened and the truck works fine. The only thing was that the trip odometer reset to "0", but all I lost was mileage data for that tank of gas. The regular odometer was unaffected and no starting trouble.

[jdell74]

HAWKPILOT, you have the same year as mine (2000 F150)? and your truck has the ignition key with the chip/code in it. it was no problem to do this job yourself, if this is the case then i have a project to do. is it true this is an easy job for a DIYer?

[Hawkpilot]

Actually I have a 1999 (see the info block in the top right of my post). But I don't think the design changed between the two years. I have the PATS key, yes. And if you can use a soldering iron, it is a DIY fix.

If you are uncomfortable using a soldering iron, you could likely take your cluster to a tv/stereo repair shop and have them re-flow those joints for a couple of bucks.

I looked at mine under a microscope and saw that the two pads on either end of the row were the only ones that were cold joints (i.e. cracked), but I went ahead and soldered all 8 or 10 (I don't recall) pads that connect the odometer sub-board ribbon cable header to the main printed circuit board.

The photos near the top of this thread shows exactly what is going on.

[BLUE20004X4]

It is a great fix, had to re-do and still once in a while have it die, but 95% it's on. I've done it twice now and it's easy as hell.

[jdell74]

well you guys talked me into it. i will give it a try this weekend if i have time. just have to get a solder pencil and a mag glass. just as long as the key issue is no problem, what do i have to lose? thanks for the advice, i will get back to you to let you know how it went.

[jdell74]

by the way, any special kind of solder pencil?

[Hawkpilot]

A cheap 25-30 watt will do.

[jdell74]

well, i had the day off and i took on the instrument cluster job. as of now it is working so we will see if i fixed it. that was an easy job, almost a full 2 hours from start to finish. and to think of paying ford to do the job for $600 like they wanted. thank you so much for the great help and greg for his excellant pics and easy fix. i will let you know how things go.

[hammerheadbravo]

Hello everyone. I recently purchased a 1999 F150 supercab for my daughter for her first vehicle. Doing what Dad's do for their little girls, I set about fixing anything that was awry after the purchase. I found the forum doing a google search for the odometer blackout.
After reading this thread I decided to give it a try. All I can say is wow! What an easy money saving fix this was! The dealer quoted me $380 for a new cluster to fix the problem. Instead thanks to all who previously posted, it took me about an hour to remove, repair, and reinstall with a total cost of about $5.00 for some solder. Thanks again ...my girl thinks her Dad can fix anything...lol.

[Larry227]

Just wanted to say thanks for this thread. My 2000 F150 odometer has been acting up a bit the last couple of months and today I fixed it as described here. I only saw one cracked connection but went ahead and redid them all. I used one of those Cold Heat soldering tools and just a touch of very thin solder and it worked great. It was a quick and easy repair thanks to this site.

[JFamor]

I have a 1999 4.2 V6 XLT and the odometer started acting up about last January 07. Found this thread and did it yesterday (had to ask a TV repair shop to do the actual soldering, paid 20Pesos or 0.42cents for all 9 points)

To Mr. Greg Upton: a case of San Miguel beer pale pilsen is waiting for you in Manila, Philippines

[notasinger]

A huge thank you for this post. This problem has been driving me nuts for a couple of years. I struggled with the light switch, finally found the release pin on the left hand side, but all in all this was a very easy fix. For all the newby's like myself, I had never soldered on a circuit board in my life and accomplished this without any issues. I love this forum since it has saved me a lot of money. THANK YOU contributors one and all.

[M125X]

Great topic!

[PA_Hemi]

New member here, but I have a (hopefully not stupid) question...

I'm close to buying a 99 Expedition that does the exact same thing described here. Any guesses if it's as easy to fix - or if it's the same problem?

Great thread again.

Mike

[coreyva]

PA_Hemi, I have a 99 expy that I just did this repair to. I would imagine the issue you have would be the same.

Thanks to Greg for the great writeup.