Man this is a great write up. Ive been wanting to fix mine, but I thought I might have to trace the wire all the way back through the dash if that didnt work; basically Ive decided never to take an f150 dash all the way apart again.... haha (I know Ford always puts extra pieces in the dash than what is actually needed right?). But now I cant wait to get out to the garage this weekend and actually fix it. Great job!

 

What if the display is lit, but the temperature reads 140F?

 

I take it that it isn't really 140 degrees outside? In that case you have a problem with the sensor, I think it is located behind the grill.

 

You can always add one of these w velcro strip (sits nice) at the narrow channel,
right above airbag, right under passenger side dashboard ... slot there ... run wire out door and out into truck body. ...worked for me! (cheap too)

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-temper...004759&sr=8-21

http://www.amazon.com/CONCEPT-XT-OUT...=pd_sbs_misc_4

http://www.amazon.com/Slimline-Out-T...004847&sr=8-22

... enjoy!

 

Patman - You are my hero. Since I got my truck a month or two ago, mine hasn't worked. I haven't missed it, but I like to have everything work on my vehicles, so it's driving me nuts (ya, call me OCD. LOL)

So, I appreciate the write up. I have a bigger "gun style" soldering iron, but now this gives me an excuse to finally go out and buy a smaller "pencil type" soldering iron to do this.

I'm also one of the ones that have the moonroof with the map lights in the upper console next to the temp/compass readout. So, I'll just pull it down and see what the deal is.

Thanks again for taking the time out of your day to post something like this up to help others. Very cool.

 

For those that have the moonroof version, pull down on the whole unit - do not try to pry out just the center section - it is screwed into the main housing. There are 4 clips - just try to get behind the unit with a screwdriver then pull it down.

By the way, both of my 510 transistors were bad - one had fallen off completely and the other was only hanging by one side.

Also the truck has lived it's whole life in Florida, so I believe the hanging upside down in the heat theory combine with cheap solder.

Once I figured out how to get the unit loose, the repair only took about 15 minutes - absolutely great advice!

 

I forgot to reply to this after I fixed mine.

If you have the moonroof upper console, it's held by 4 metal clips. I just carefully put a screwdriver into each corner and carefully pried it down and it popped the metal clips out of their holders in the roof.

After that, I carefully disassembled the unit (it's pretty straight forward if you look at it) and then found out one of my 510 resistors had an end up off the board.

So, I just heated up the original solder, carefully pushed the resistor back down with a very small screwdriver and then I resoldered it with some very fine electrical solder, just to be sure.

Put it all back together and poof, it works just fine. I was thrilled.

 

I appreciate all the great info. I can't believe this thread is over a year long, crazy! I have an 03 F150 and the temp is always about 10-15 degrees colder than actual outside temp (no matter how long the truck has been on). The compass works fine. Do you think it's a bad sensor? The one under the hood next to the headlight? If so do you know where I could pick one up and if it is easily installed? Could it be anything else? Thanks a lot!!

 

Mine was dead for a while. The board is not sold separately; Ford wants 220+ to replace the entire console. So I took it apart to check it out and it intermittently lit up. I figured it was a broken solder joint since I could make it light up by twisting the board. I resoldered connections, but couldn't figure it out until I read your article. That resistor was raised about a micron on one side. Kudos to you for finding the culprit, and thank you very much.

-randy

 

Does anybody have a wiring diagram of the overhead console, I am adding one in my XL, I know there are 2 wires going to the sensor behind the grill, but there are more I know, the console is from a 01 going into a 98. my chilton manual doesn't even mention anything on this at all.... thx

 

Great write btw....thx for sharing this great info!!!

 

I have an '02 Lariat with the electronic climate control that shows outside temp. Does this mean the temp will never show on my overhead console or is it because of the powered rear view mirror? Any assistance would be appreciated. I so don't need a powered rear view and would be happy to replace it with a regular one.

 

Just make sure that you all resolder the resistor onto the board. I just heated mine up and added a dab of solder on one end the first time I did mine and it worked for a little while, but just died on me again the other day. :-(

So, I'm going to have to pull it back out and resolder the whole thing to get it in there right this time and have it stay. :o

 

I procrastinated almost a year, thinking those 510's were "pinned" to the circuit board... and I didn't want to mess anything up. 2 days ago I figured what the heck, it doesn't work now so what harm could it do? So out I went to get a soldering iron and solder. The 510's basically just sit on top of a flat solder platform

Needless to say... it's working like a charm !!!

Thanks One More Time Patman

 

For those of you that want to see pics of this thing in a 2003 supercrew with moonroof, here it is. I had this problem summer of 2010 in Miami, FL when temps were really high and sure enough one of the 510 resistors lifted off the PCB.