Ground Issue on Cluster

[tb30570]

Hello

My gage cluster works sometimes and other times I need to punch it for a few minutes before it decides to start working again. The tachometer, speedometer, fuel gage & odometer all operate intermediately. Usually I just punch it until the speedometer works for a little while, then I set my cruise control and forget about it.

I'm guessing there is a loose ground or two in the circuit board. Does anybody have good pictures where extra grounds can be soldered on w/o frying the boards?

[tb30570]

Does anybody know what the part number is for a 1999 instrument cluster is? Are 1999-2003 instrument clusters interchangeable?

I found some on sale on ebay, but not sure which models will work. The Motorcraft web site is not very helpful.

2FMZA5145XBA04830

[tb30570]

I purchased a cluster from a 2001. It looked the same externally, but when I installed it the fuse tripped.

There are three circuit boards on the inside of the clusters. One under the gages and two sandwiched on the back side. The outer board on the back side was about half the size on the 2001 compared to the 1999. The board under the gages was different on the 2001 due to an additional "check gas cap" light. The center boards looked identical on both the 1999 and the 2001.

I installed the 2001 center board in the 1999 cluster and reinstalled the original cluster. All the gages work fine now and the fuse doesn’t trip.

Thanks for all your help.

[BroncoJoe19]

LOL... as I was reading through your thread, I was thinking about asking you if you started getting the feeling like you were talking to yourself?
I'm glad you got the issue worked out, and that you took the time to write up your findings so that your experience may be helpful to someone else.