Greg,

Thanks--had been dealing with issue for some time--it actually started while my 99 F-150 was still under warranty when it would go off so quickly I thought I was imagining it. Of course, once the truck was out of warranty, it got much worse.

Anyway, after having printed your instructions I had reason to take the lower dash cover apart (turn signal flasher) and decided to tackle the instrument cluster. Not bad. I work in a two-way radio shop and one of our techs quickly found the cold solder joints and touched all of them up.

 

Hi Everyone,
I tried the directions from Greg but struck out on the solution. The control panel was similar to the picture and there were 5+1 spots we sottered. Has anyone else out there with a 2004 had a similar scenario? (and of course Ford wants to just get me to order a whole new panel for a minor cost of $450+tax and labor)

 

Sounds like you have a 2004 from the 11th. generation of the F-150 (2004-2008)? I had an '06 with the odometer problem and I gave up when I realized it wasn't matching up with the repair instructions posted here for older models.

The only other repair solution I was given was to start calling around to salvage yards to try to locate a replacement dash cluster -- but I struck out trying to find one that matched. (The F-150 has a little bit different variations of it for all different trim lines, and I had a basic "XL" version.)

I don't think I've seen a single post in this thread from someone with a 2005-2008 model who succeeded in fixing this problem with re soldering the board?

I wound up trading in the F-150 a few weeks ago anyway, on a Jeep. It was a pretty decent truck, but I had the V6 and it really lacked power, and STILL got pretty bad gas mileage. Problems like this one (that wound up costing me close to $500 at my Ford dealer to fix, since "that's not technically covered under your extended warranty") and the A/C that failed due to a compressor leak they couldn't fix without replacing the whole compressor housing helped my decision to part with it.

Good luck though!

 

srtech 777- if you're still around, I can tell you where the "dinger" is. It's in there, you just have ta dig for it.

 

This is undoubtedly the best info I have gotten from the internet. Took me 45 minutes start to finish. Fantastic!

 

Yeah I have a '05 as well with the V6 thinking I would save gas as well. Boy that was a mistake. Other than that I love the truck. I have tried all the suggestions here aside from actually taking my dremel tool to cut away part of the plastic so I can get to the plug.

The odd part is that my odometer hasnt worked at all in over a year, but then while I was out of town for work my truck sat in the airport parkign garage for about 3 weeks. When I came back and started her up it actually worked for that entire day. Go figure

 

I had the same prob with my 06 f-150, well I wired in a hot wire from the battery going to a cap dome light. While doing that I cleaned up the battery and all connections coming off of it, including the small post coming off the hot clamp (that's where I ran my hot off of) and soon as I finished I started the truck up and my odometer was back on after a year of being off. Hasn't flickered in over a week. This is what fixed my odometer, try it on yours. Our 04-08 f-150s don't have the same fix as the 97-03. I tried everything and this is what fixed it, go figure. Hope it helps someone.

 

Looks like this thread has saved a lot of people a lot of money... I just bought a 2001 f-150 from a guy yesterday only to find out about the intermittent odom problem afterwords. didn't take me long to find this thread though. Took me about an hour in the middle of the night with a flashlight to take apart and put back together. I took a few pics that show a closeup of the problem solder joints. Keep in mind these are nearly impossible to detect with naked eye. I used magnifying glass, and then macro camera. Thanks Greg for the original post!![IMG][/IMG]

 

Whatever backyard supplier Ford has farmed the assembly of the odometer and instrument cluster to needs to find another line of work.

 

Hey Greg, I just finished your procedure on my 2001 F150. You made it such an easy process. I too was completed in about 1.5 hours and had the same pin cracked. I had considered taking it to the garage until I saw your thread and procedure. I really appreciate the detailed step by step listing.
Have a great day.

 

I just wanted to post that I did this fix to my 99 about 4 months ago and it fixed it perfectly.

 

Thx this post was so helpfull. It tool a little while but if I had to do it again I could do it in half the time. Once again thx for the post. It was extemely helpfull.

 

I had done this to my 99 at one point (probably about a year ago) and it worked fine for awhile, but once again it's flashing on and off and displaying numbers matrix style, or not lighting up at all. Time to rip the dash apart again. I suppose that means I can put back the one bolt I had failed to put back when I put it back together the first time. (oops!)

This topic was extremely helpful the first time though! Getting the dash apart can be a little tricky!

 

Fixed mine today. Its been acting up for 4-5 years in my 99 XL ext cab, and driving me crazy. I cant believe I haven't cracked the lens on the speedometer from all the times Ive tried to get it to come on by tapping it. Only took me an hour to fix too.

I get a mileage reimbursement and I need to track my travels- its been very difficult.

So glad to have found this thread.

 

Has any tried to fix a newer F150 Intermittent Odometer problem? I have a 2006.