First off, I know what you are all thinking. OMG this dude is trying to scam somebody!! Actually no, not at all. I have a 2006 F-150 STX, you know, plain gauge cluster with no Tachometer. I'm the original owner of the truck and the lack of the tach has always bothered me.. Now, 10yrs later, used replacement gauge clusters are finally cheap enough for me to justify replacing it..

So, I bought a gauge cluster on ebay, out of the same model year truck, but this is the XLT gauge with a Tach, and it has about 7000 more miles on it than my truck.. I'm NOT going to spend the money on having someone reprogram it, that would cost more than this entire project so far...

I watched a youtube video (non F-150 related) where some genius kid reprogrammed the odometer chip in his car when he replaced the gauge cluster.. Now, to do this he had to locate the chip where the mileage was stored, he then de-soldered it and made some circuit to reprogram it... Now, I cant do all that... But it got me thinking, im pretty handy with a soldering iron, I have even soldered a few circuits in my day...

So why cant I just remove the chip from my old gauge cluster and install it in the new one? Has anyone tried this? Does anyone know what chip stores the odometer reading in this gauge cluster? I did a search and couldn't find anything..

 

I thought it was in the PCM, part of the operating system.

 

It's in the cluster.

There's a much better chance you'll ruin the new cluster trying to put the EEPROM back on the board. The work is extremely finicky, so unless you're really comfortable de-soldering and re-soldering on PCB, I wouldn't even attempt it.

You'll find the EEPROM directly attached to the LCD (2 traces I believe). You can trace it from C220(b) if memory serves there's a black and a white wire for the CAN bus, the PCM sends the signal up to the cluster to tell the control circuit to increment the register in that EEPROM. The microprocessor will be the first stop, then the EEPROM which I BELIEVE is a separate component.

With some strategic breadboarding of the 'old' cluster, you'll be able to see the signals coming in and the odometer incrementing. Since the value is overwritable by the VDM/ICS, you can probably mimic the signal and set whatever you want once you see how it's set.

OR

Pay the $50 or $70 to an independent shop that has Ford tools. Maybe a case of beer, maybe free with a "tune up" -- go talk to them.

 

7000miles is pretty much nothing on a 10years old truck.
won't give you a penny more or less when selling it.

I wouldn't bother trying or paying anything to have it adjusted.

 

That had crossed my mind... In fact, the truck has had 33s on it almost it whole life so it technically has more miles on it than the Odometer reads anyway...

Another thought, It may be easier just to store the tach away for a year until the odometers matches and install it at that time.. I don't ever really plan on selling the truck anyway, but you never know.. I also don't want to do something that would be considered illegal or ruin the trucks value..

 

Can you show me from this view which chip stores the odometer reading?