My F250 finally bit me in the bu##

shum02 wrote:

Redcatcher70 wrote:
After 15 years and only 85,000 miles my F250 hit me in the wallet this week.
All the dash gauges, radio, door locks and window buttons would just stop working. It is an intermitted problem, sometimes while driving or at start-up. My local general mechanic ran the diagnostic test, checked all fuses and relays. Decided it was a short somewhere and he did not want to tackle the job. Bit the bullet and took it to Ford dealer Service Dept. After a day and a half of checking and researching, they decided the circuit board on the cluster panel was bad. Ordered a new board, should be here in about four days, another day to install and program, total of about $1000 dollars. Can't complain, the truck has served me well and other than regular maintenance it has cost me zero to own. This is a 2004 F250, XLT crew cab, with the V10 gasser.

Not to rain to much on this but it's not uncommon in Fords and just about any other OEM to have cluster issues. Had this happen to my truck. Found a local guy to do it for $100 cash here in the Toronto area. Dash Medics is another online company that does it as well. Removing and installing the cluster takes about 15 minutes and the only tools required are your fingers.

When I took my cluster apart to replace the odometer gears and paint the needles bright orange on my old Dodge I found 2 fractured solder points on the circuit board. Hit them with the solder gun before putting it all back together and works perfectly.