Bought a 2006 f150 screw last week. Driving it home and the Gauges went crazy. At about 5 miles the speedometer,tachometer and the odometer went out. I think oil pressure went out too, maybe engine temp, the fuel gauge worked though. The check engine light came on the AC started to blow warm. Got to my parent house every thing still out pulled the keys out of the ignition open the door and the radio would not turn off and the dome lights not working. Hours later I left and after 1 mile the Batt. light came on at a stop sign. Pulled out onto a main road and started to here a grinding noise(sounded like 4 wheel drive or fly wheel trying to engage) then poof all the instruments that went out before went out. Came to a red light then Batt. light turned on then all the gauges popped on. Did that same thing all the way home at every light. When stopped every thing worked when I would go I would here that grinding noise then poof out it goes. Pulled in the driveway every thing started working then I noticed the volt meter was 3/4 so I gave it some gas and the volt meter spiked to almost 100% then poof out every thing goes. I took it to the dealer and they said the alternator was only putting out 10 volts. So I got a new alternator and though that was probably the problem, nope. Picked the truck up and 5 miles later poof every thing goes out but the Batt. light never came on before it went out and no grinding noise but the door ajar sound was a constant beep and radio went out this time and every thing else that went before went out. Every thing came back on about 20 seconds later. The guy I bought it from said you had to slam the door sometimes to get the dome light to turn off. So back to were I was. I was wait for it to go out again and the second it went out I hurried and opened the door a slammed it as fast as I could and every thing came back on instantly? Got back home not a single issue. Called the mechanic at the dealer and he said he would look at it for free. That was 2 days ago and he cant get it to act up. It did rain the night before I bought it. Told the mechanic to run it through the car wash and then see if it would act up. I'm waiting for the results as I'm typing.
Has anybody had this happen to them. I read other thread about water getting thru the wind shield and getting the GEM wet but from what I under stand is that the 2006 does not have one and I know the fuse panel is on the passenger side.

I'm confused and I thought by telling my story here to you professionals I might be able to get rid of my Gremlins. Do you guys think a driver side door ajar switch not working right could cause all that? The old owner did replace the electrical panel on the drivers door. Or maybe a module, a ground wire?
Hopefully somebody know something.

 

I had the gremlins for a few months and after having the instrument cluster out I believe it was 4 times and going over it with a fine tooth comb, I finally fixed it. (Yea, believe it or not all that stuff goes through the back of the instrument cluster) The next time it happens try a good flat hand slap on top of the dash directly above the odometer. If one doesn't do it, try another. If it does fix it I'll tell you what fixed mine.

 

Brilliant Code58. Yep, I just have to give it a love tap and it comes back on. Ok so what the fix?

 

Hey Code I'd like to know too.

I don't have any problems (at least with the truck HA HA), but my daughter had a van with simular issues. I never got it worked out and she sold it and it still bugs me that I was close but no cigar to fixing it.

Just drop me a PM with the short version. My curiosity has the best of me.

Thanks, Jim A.K.A. jgger

 

It's a looooooong story but I have posted about it here and have sent boring detailed step by step acounts to several by PM. Without going into the long version, the thing that finally did the trick was removing the face of the spedo and removing the LCD (I believe that's what it's called) and faintly tweeking the long legs that go into the printed circuit board, for better contact. I deduced after many hours of head scratching and examining every square molecule of the board and contacts (and a whole LOT more) that when I flat hand slapped it above the Odo (LCD) that it ALWAYS got it's act straightened up. No matter what was acting up or how many things were acting up, it always straightened things out, for hours, days or a couple weeks. There is more than you can ever imagine that goes through "Grand Central Station" on the back of that board and probably especially the big chip in the center of the board. Problem is, it's all signals to tell something to work and the micro amperage is so low that it takes a perfect contact to pass the signal along. What even "looks perfect" is sometimes not. There is a lot that is even passed through that "message center" and therin lies the problem. The "tweeking" of the long legs on the LCD was to give them better contact in the tiny receptacles they plug into. Think of it as a faint curve to the legs. Hope this helps someone. A new cluster for $4-$500. generally does the trick, if your budget can handle it. That's been at least 1 1/2 years and the bliss was worth the time (and no $)

 

Odometer went out about 5 days ago and the slap to the dash board wasn't working.
So today i decided to take the cluster out and looked it over and couldn't find anything wrong with it so i did what code58 said and slightly bend the needles so the plugs get better contact. Odometer came on and has been on all day, no weird funny stuff going on with the other gauges, works like a champ. Job took me only about 20 min. if I did it again maybe 10 min. Thank you code58 for saving me time and money and a lot of brain damage. Again,THANK YOU!

 

Utah,
When you say the "needles on the plugs" do you mean the 2 plugs at the top corners of the cluster or the needles on the odometer LCD? Told you it was a long and boring story and it was. I 1st "tweeked" ALL the needles on both the top corner plugs as well as using a small amound of spray "contact cleaner and lube" on them. That lasted for a little while but the ONE thing that finally cured it was the tweeking of the long needles on the LCD. I believe I also gently "scrubbed" the needles with 0000 steel wool. A lot more to the story but I've TRIED to keep it focused on what actually CURED the problem. IF it ever returns I do have a next step in mind. I firmly believe it's not generally defective parts but the transmission of signals through contacts made to high production automotive parts standards rather than Space Shuttle standards.

BTW, I used a tiny metal tube from a ball point pen to tweek the fine "needles" so that I had good control over just how much I tweeked 'em.

 

I bent the pins that make contact for the 2 plugs on the corners. I used a small allen wrench and slid it in between the 2 rows of pins so I was bending 4 pins at once.
The odometer went out and couldn't get it to come back on but as soon as I hooked it back up after bending them it came on right away and the door ajar doesn't keep harassing me when I leave the door open. Its got to be the bending of the pins or the pins are oxidized. Sliding the allen in between the pins may have scratched them enough to make contact. I hope that was it.

 

I don't think it's oxidization (though that possibility exists in the right climate) because mine looked pristine (my truck has low miles and is in So. Cal. dry climate) but rather the fickleness of the micro amperge of the strictly signal aspect of what travels through the pins. Not much wonder why computer contacts are always gold plated. I examined EVERYTHING with a 10X headset until I was cross-eyed. (x4)

 

For 3 years I had to do the flat hand slap on the dash to get the gauges working again. Finally I got sick of it (gauge cluster was going dead 3-4 times everytime I started the truck). I sent the cluster to Stene's Speedometer in Altoon, WI to check it out - Stene fixed some broken solder joints in the cluster, haven't had any problems since. Cost me $115 with shipping.

-2006 F150 XLT SCab