My '78 had a switch for the cargo light - wouldn't come on until U turned it on - My 90 model it came on with the door open...

 

Now that you stirred my rapidly fading memory cells, I remember that my 70 had a pull switch for the cargo light. It had a light in the switch to show that the cargo light was on.

 

My gauge lights are not on during the day. I can't read my speedometer or gas guage. I put a GPS on my dash for my current speed. My dash lights on my '55 Ford were a lot better than the dash lights on my 2011 F350.
My Ford dealers can't help.

ken

 

I'm with you Troverman, I just got a 2013 F250 XLT and I can't tell when lights are on or not-- it is still summer here so I haven't even had it out at nite yet. I guess I will have to have a late nite ride with my best bud and see what we can see!

 

So .... I sent a terse email to the Ford Owner website and griped about not being able to turn my gauge lights on when I wanted them on and received a reply that indicated that they haven't tried to reproduce the problem.

I got the following instruction (passed from one of their "Technical Subject Matter Experts" (that's the actual job title!) that said
" .... you should try to adjust the lighting using the dimmer switch first. The lighting level of the panel is determined by the dimmer switch when auto lamps are used. If you switch the headlights on during daylight conditions the panel will not change even with the dimmer switch. It is best to just use the auto lamps feature and adjust the lighting to desired levels using the dimmer switch. 　
Thank you for contacting Ford Motor Company."

I wrote back and told them to go sit in the cab of one of their current production F250s without the "LCD Productivity Screen" and try to turn on the gauge lights during day light. I then advised that the gauge lights will not work unless you put a dark towel over the light sensor on the dash board.

I also included the URLs to several of the threads on this website - including this one.

Hopefully, they'll actually try it out and understand what we're talking about.

I'll advise if I hear something useful back from them.

 

Thanks Dave - hopefully you hear something from them. This is a pretty ridiculous setup in my opinion. And even though some of us have the Autolamp feature where we can cover the dashboard sensor, I never found a way to do it on the models without Autolamp. Not being able to see your gauges is a safety issue.

 

I am interested into what or if they respond.

 

Well ... I got a very corporate fluff communique from Ford in response to my email :

and

and

blah, blah, blah ...

Finally : Kinda dodgy, so I wrote them back (again) and told them to go sit in a SuperDuty that did not have the "LCD Productivity Screen" and try to get the gauge lights to turn on during daylight hours and when they can't get the gauge lights on, then throw a towel up on the dash board and cover the light sensor.

I doubt they'll admit that there's a problem but, who knows; maybe someone will actually show a little interest.

 

Funny seeing this come up............. I have a larait with the screen in the dash. Heading out to go camping last weekend, as it started to get dark, I turned the headlights on (I have auto lights, but don't use them), and was really struggling to see the gauges. Realized I had my sunglasses on still...............took them off, still couldn't see them well. Fooled with the dimmer and turned the dome light on a few times. I never noticed it before last weekend, but haven't driven it since. I was heading west and into the sunset, don't know if it was just a eye adjustment thing or what, but it sucked.

 

Do you have the 4.2" LCD display in your gauge cluster - or - the smaller, approx 2" high information display? My understanding is that the trucks with the large display and Truck Apps didn't have the gauge light problem.

I've got the smaller, standard info display in an F250 XLT and no go on the gauge backlights if the dash sensor detects too much sunlight.

It's really noticeable when I'm driving under a dark rain cloud - even the gauge needles illumination is turned off - when I first noticed this, I thought I had blown a fuse. Then, I thought I might have some sort of malfunction but then I read about other SuperDuty owners on this website having the same problem.

This can be dangerous if you're trying to verify fuel or temp levels and the lights go out .... what a dumb idea. I wonder what Ford was thinking.

 

Here's the last reply I got from Ford (see below). Their tech expert is advising that there is " no way to deactivate the cluster lights being adjusted by the sun-load sensor input. " ... although I told them I got the desired results by throwing a towel over the light sensor.

This is just really dumb ....

[Begin Message]

My name is Vanessa and I am also from the Ford Customer Relationship Center (CRC). I am writing with reference to your follow-up email regarding your 2013 Ford F-250.

I understand that you are inquiring of a way to turn your instrument cluster’s backlight on your vehicle permanently.

To provide you with the most appropriate response, we have re-escalated this to our Technical Subject Matter Expert (Tech SME). However, as our Tech SME advised that there is no way to deactivate the cluster lights being adjusted by the sun-load sensor input.

We apologize for any inconveniences that this may cause you.

Thank you for contacting Ford Motor Company.

Vanessa
Customer Relationship Center
Ford Motor Company



-------- [ Original Message ] ---------


I should point out that the gauge light problem exists on Ford SuperDuty trucks (as reported by owners of F250 and F350 models manufactured in 2010 & later). The condition does not seem to occur (as reported by owners) on trucks equipped with LCD Productivity Screen - only trucks with the 6 gauge instrument cluster & small, standard information screen.

I have a copy of the wiring diagrams for this vehicle and it appears that the gauge illumination is moderated by and computer (MICRO) controlled FET that activates/deactivates a gauge illumination power relay.

At the very least, it would be useful (and safer) to have an option that allows the owner to disable this computer moderated behavior and allow the gauge backlights to illuminate when the parking or driving lights are turned on by the driver.

In the mean time, is there a way that I can turn this off permanently so I don't have to keep throwing a towel up on the dashboard whenever I drive in dark rain clouds?

Thanx,

Dave

 

Here's how I would approach it with Ford...

If the larger LCD trucks have their dash lights on all the time, and the smaller LCD trucks do not, then ask the TSMEs to provide a schematic or an explanation for the differences. Besides the displays being different, what else is different? A different style sensor? Different programming? Different modules?

If you're not going to get them to fix it, get them to explain it so that you and others may be able to troubleshoot or find a workaround.

My two cents... Good luck!

 

I vote for Ford to update my screen to the "productivity type" and fix the problem

 

At the very least, they could offer and automatic towel thrower ...

 

After going back and forth about this with Ford a few times, they've pretty much said "Well that's just the way it is ... 'sorry, Bye".

They've created a dangerous condition by having the vehicle's computer system (designated "micro" on their wiring diagrams) shut off the gauge lights. I wonder if the National Transportation Safety Board would find this interesting? I wonder if Ford would find it interesting if the issue was to be reported to the NTSB.