No instrument cluster illumination

[1955moose]

That's what I thought, he blew something. Do you have fuse and relay diagrams, I don't


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[Bedrck47]

Stamp and I both have complete wiring diagrams for the expeditions from 1997 thru 2007

 

[Bedrck47]

You asked Did you check the panel dimmer switch to make sure it is on

He replied, Yes I did, everything else seems to dim like normal but still nothing in the cluster.

And as I said if half of the cluster was ok before he removed the cluster and now none of the lights work in the cluster then something went wrong in the reassembly. JMHO

 

[1955moose]

There you go super duty, looks like stamp posted a wire schematic for you. Good luck.


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[1955moose]

Don't you sometimes wish we were in same town like old days to figure out where your buddy or yourself messed up?


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[Bedrck47]

That would be nice as sometimes when dealing with problems on the forum and with people miles apart it is tough to know what they did or didn't do and what they tell you and don't tell you. Had a problem with someone the other day that had no lights in the inst. cluster. Was trying to walk him thru the problem and was having him check fuses and then some other items. Wasn't having much luck. Was just about to have him check the dimmer switch and all of a sudden he comes back on with a big DUH guess what? the dimmer switch was in the off position. I can imagine how he felt when he found the switch was off but I do give him credit for letting me know the results I asked him if he had children thinking they may have been playing. BTW it was his wife's expy and he could only assume that she had moved the switch.

 

[1955moose]

I remember about twenty years back I was doing front brakes on a Datsun 280 z. Rebuilt front calipers, turned rotors, etc. couldn't get air out of system after. Had three of my smartest mechanic friends over trying to figure out why. 2 large containers of brake fluid later, I figured out I put left caliper on right side. Bolted up fine but bleeders were facing down, not up. I figured out by just reversing them. We all looked at each other and said what the f!


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[stamp11127]

Yes there are simple troubleshooting steps to follow. The first is to determine everything that has failed - it may be more than just the cluster lights. Once you know that and the logic the system uses you can then pinpoint the failure.

First thing I would check are the bulbs in the cluster.....the system may be working fine and the bulbs are bad.

 

[superduty4x4]

Sorry for leaving you guys hanging on this, I've been distracted with the holiday and a million other things going on.
To answer some of the questions, all fuses related to the instrument cluster are fine. As far as I can tell all the indicator lights in the instrument cluster work fine, dimmer switch works fine, steering wheel/radio/climate control etc. all dim correctly. The courtesy lights, mirror lights, everything else on the vehicle seems to be working fine. Still no instrument cluster illumination. I thought I had found the right bulbs to replace the burned out ones in the cluster today but found out that the bulbs I bought locally weren't the right ones. I have checked fuses ad nauseum, there are no bent or pushed in pins in the 2 connectors on the cluster... I'm completely stumped right now.
I think I have a total of 4 bad bulbs out of 11 in the cluster, but no moving them around or switching where the burned out ones are gets the cluster to light up.

 

[1955moose]

You can apply 12 volt to 1 terminal of bulb, ground to other. If their good they should light. On a multiple filament bulb touchground to base of bulb positive to each filament should light if good. Your problem is likely something else, as swiapping around bulbs made no difference


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[stamp11127]

Sent you the diagrams.

Check continuity from pin 10 - black wire / plug C220a to G200 ground (with the plug removed from cluster). Ground point is usually behind the kick panels. Do Not probe any pins on the connector other than the ground.

Sending another diag procedure. Totally unbelievable in the razzel dazzel bs to change the intensity of a light bulb compared to the old days.

 

[superduty4x4]

Got the diagrams, thank you. Gone are the days of simplicity where you had a variable resistor that would increase/decrease output to the bulbs to control brightness, now we have a fancy PWM controller that does a bunch of smoke and mirrors nonsense to accomplish the same thing but takes 40 bazillion feet of wire and complex circuitry to do it!

One other thing I should add is that I do have the AutoEnginuity scan tool with the Ford enhanced package, I should probably hook that up and see if it can tell me anything.

 

[superduty4x4]

stamp11127, any idea if the AutoEnginuity scan tool will run the tests described in the diagnostics stuff you emailed me?

 

[stamp11127]

Doubt it, but you can check the harness for continuity on the specified pins and specific ohm readings when given.

 

[christoner2002]

Can I ask what is the part number for the bulbs? And where did you end up finding the correct ones at?

 

[superduty4x4]

I wish I could tell you, still trying to sort this mess out.
I did call Ford, they only want $42 per bulb. Even the parts guy laughed.

On edit, looks like it's a #74 Sylvania bulb- http://www.expeditionforum.com/f41/instrument-cluster-bulb-15801/

 

[Skauber]

42 bucks for a bulb? What, does it have a 24k gold filament and sapphire crystal glass or something?

lol, better buy Sylvania ones, you get them in pack of 2's for 4 bucks.

 

[Skauber]

On that note, here in Philippines I asked how much they wanted for a new head unit. It's the premium "audiophile" 6 cd indash changer thing. They only wanted 5750 US dollars for it, the parts guy had to swallow before saying it and looked at me with disbelief.. hehe.. He called the people responsible for pricing which confirmed it...

 

[superduty4x4]

Just trying to make sure I find EXACTLY which bulb I need. I live in a small town and its a one hour drive each way to the big city with decent parts selection. I'm not at all confident new bulbs will fix my problem but finding another cluster is going to be difficult and expensive.

 

[Skauber]

Best way to do that, remove a non-essential bulb and bring it to the store so you can use it to compare. They look like the sylvania #74 bulbs but i cabt say for sure