Intermittent Odometer

[Carrick Crocker]

Sometimes the odometer is lit and sometimes it isn't. Any ideas out there?

 

[Plati]

On my 2003 XLT ... there's a small green alphanumeric display with odometer, outside temperature, & compass reading. Same with yours? Do they all start and stop at the same time?

Have you tried moving the brightness roller wheel that controls all the interior lights?

 

[1955moose]

The odometer on/off deal with early Expeditions is due to a failing solder joint on the back of speedo cluster. Their are videos online if your talented, and choose to do repair yourself. Or if you can remove the speedo cluster, you can send it away to have it repaired. Third option is find a shop that can pull it and do it all.

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[Carrick Crocker]

Thanks 1955moose! I figured it was something like that.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Yep. Did mine twice. The first time I did only the joint that looked cracked. Didn't fix it. The second time I did them all. Works fine now.

 

[Carrick Crocker]

Thanks ExplorerTom!

 

[Bain64]

Thanks for asking the question, my 2003 is doing the same thing. Guessing this is the referenced video

 

[1955moose]

Carrick, one thing you might try to buy you some time. My 2000 was doing the on/off thing like yours, when out of a hunch I tapped lightly with my finger at the odometer numerical part, and bingo it came on, and has stayed on for over a week now. Eventually I'll have to pull it to fix, but its working for now!

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[ExplorerTom]

Moose- i would tap and pound on it for months with varying degrees of success. Got to the point where it wouldn’t respond and had to pull it.

 

[Plati]

I had a TV like that. At first I would jump on the floor to get the picture to work but that started being painful. Then I would pound my fist on the table it sat on but that started being painful. I changed to using a rubber hammer instead of my fist, eventually I had to retire the tv.

That first flat screen cost $3k.
Just bought a Westinghouse 4K LED 55" at Target for $249
............... closeout pricing

 

[1955moose]

That made me laugh about the rubber hammer. You still had 3 different weights of steel hammers to go. You'd think a soldered joint should last the life of an appliance, or in this case speedo. But alas were not living in the 60's or 70's anymore, where Fords motto about quality being job one. I used to love the Ford twin I beam commercials that showed an F100 pickup bouncing between light bulbs, and none broke with sticks mounted on the fenders. Wonder if that speedo worked after that stunt.

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[Plati]

....You'd think a soldered joint should last the life of an appliance, or in this case speedo. But alas were not living in the 60's or 70's anymore, ...

That "pin soldered into a through hole of a pc board", with a cold solder joint failure really is 60's technology OR earlier. Luckily that whole pc board has been shrunk down to an single chip or less or a newer vehicle. I used to work on computers where the Ethernet interface was a 2 board (Versabus) set. Nowdays ... one tiny chip and it does whole lot more!

 

[StarWatcher]

My 2000 Expedition odometer display got so bad it was off far more than it was on. There are several YouTube videos that cover the repair. One Saturday morning I parked the Expedition in the garage. I put a box fan behind the front seats blowing forward and set up my iPad in the front passenger seat on the YouTube video I liked best. Had lots of cold drinks handy. Took my time and did the repair. Didn’t have any dash rattles once I was finished. Patted myself on the back and enjoyed the rest of Saturday.

 

[pdqcarrera]

Has anybody received a quote from a shop to perform the fix? I'd be curious what hours they'd estimate/bid. Our 2000 Eddie Bauer odometer finally quit 100%. My DIY days are dwindling and I've never liked under/behind dash work.

 

[ExplorerTom]

You can get to everything from above while sitting normally in the driver seat.

 

[StarWatcher]

Has anybody received a quote from a shop to perform the fix? I'd be curious what hours they'd estimate/bid. Our 2000 Eddie Bauer odometer finally quit 100%. My DIY days are dwindling and I've never liked under/behind dash work.

I asked a shop what the repair would be several years ago. They have to replace the whole instrument cluster. They told me the part alone was over $700. I don’t know whether you can find a shop that would disassemble the dash and just do the soldering. Would require several hours of labor. I think I did the total repair in about 3 hours. I took my time and checked the video, etc. - certainly much slower than a pro could do it.

It’s not a difficult job to do. No under dash is required. You can do everything but the soldering from the comfort of the drivers seat. I did the soldering on a table. Keep the video handy and take your time. Just be sure to organize the parts as you remove them so you know what does back where. Be careful with soldering. It takes just a touch. You don’t want to overheat components.

 

[1955moose]

It's about 2-3 hours total. Problem is like starwatcher stated, most shops want to R&R complete cluster, they don't want your vehicle sitting while sending out for resolder. And resoldering there, would take a understanding owner unless they've done it before. Most shops these days want in/out. Do your homework, find one that will. Maybe an electrical repair, like computer, or TV/stereo could handle the solder part. Anything can be negotiated!

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[ACEXPY]

Mine does it too. Living with it but if it stops coming on entirely then guess I'll have to fix it. Can't afford that type of shop bill but not comfortable taking dash apart either. Ugh.

 

[poorboy1964]

It is pretty easy to take out I did mine Sat. and it was out in 15-20 minutes it was so easy i did the overhead display right after it

 

[ACEXPY]

Yeah my overhead display been out since I got the truck. If I fix the odometer then I will have the confidence to try to do overhead also.