I have an 04 f-150 crew cab. The illumination that displays my temp, milage, and direction (north, south, east, west) is not lighting up? All my guages and dials in the dash are working fine and lighting up, but that little rectangle box that displays what I mentioned above doesnt light up! i only have 70,000 miles on my truck and i thought it was odd for this to happen. What would cause this and what do i need to check/do to fix it?? Thanks!

 

Here are some pics of the back side of the cluster .... see the gray and black button looking things .. those are the light bulbs







Hope this helps you!!

 

I decided to reinstall my old xlt cluster and remove the bulb behind the lcd display, i replaced it with another bulb from the cluster to test this .... and what do you know it works the lcd lights up ... here are two pics both with the headlamps on .. you can see in the first pic no illumination to the lcd and in the second pic it lights up





this is an easy diy fix!!

 

2 screws on the lower panel under the steering column.... 2 more screws on the panel around the cluster ... both panels have a snap in fasteners on them holding them in on the top ... i think there are only 4 screws holding the cluster in the dash... two wiring harnesses on top ... i am making this sound way harder than it is ... should only take you 10 minutes to pull the cluster out of the dash ... if i knew you where interested i would have taken more pics on how every thing is held in ... sry

just found this .. much more indepth than i was and it has pics
https://www.f150online.com/forums/ar...y-install.html

 

oh yeah almost forget, the lcd does not illuminate until the ignition is on !!!

 

I know this is a 5 year old thread but THANK YOU!!!
Very easy quick change out.
BTW, I went to my local electrical supply and ordered the lamps, #74 miniature lamp, bought a box of 10 for 4.95