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.

 

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?

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

by the way, any special kind of solder pencil?

 

A cheap 25-30 watt will do.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

Great topic!

 

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

 

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.