Hi, I'm brand new to FTE. My first post ever....
My truck is a 2008 bare bones Ranger-I bought it brand new from the dealer all those years ago and it was the cheapest one he had at any of his locations. Flash forward to today and I still love my Ranger... But there is a new problem that brings me to you guys.

My chime stopped working. My truck used to ding at me for a variety of reasons such as seat belt not on, headlights on with no key in ignition, etc.. At first, the chime was intermittent. When I say that, I mean either it would ding-ding perfectly for a few days but then stop dinging the following day(s) - nothing but dead silence. These days the chime doesn't work at all.

I have no reason to believe that faulty switches, wiring, critical computer or electronic functions are the problem. For example, in the past if I or a passenger didn't put on a seat belt the instrument cluster seat belt light would come on and the truck would ding-ding-ding. These days if that were to happen the light comes on but there is no dinging.

The critical ding feature that brings my question to you is that the Ranger used to ding at me if I parked, took my keys out of the ignition but my headlights were on. I'd proceed to exit the Ranger but it would just ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!!!! Stupid me would realize my headlights are on. I'd turn the headlights off and the dinging would stop. I got spoiled rotten with that feature. It's not a problem at night because I can clearly see my headlights are on, but during cloudy/rainy days or morning twilight I turn my headlights on. I don't even think about it, my muscle memory makes me switch on the headlights. I feel safer that way - best to see and be seen.

The dinger not dinging now has burnt me bad-more than once. I took a date to a rainy day afternoon dinner and movie. Neither one of us noticed that my headlights were on. The date went great until we tried to start the truck with a dead battery on a freezing January day. That pretty much ruined that date. She was just glad to get out of that Ranger and finally get to her home. I work midnight shift. I leave work as the sun is barely coming up. I arrive home and its pretty much daylight so I go the in house, go to sleep, and get ready to tackle another midnight shift.... But NO.... dead battery - late for work, HR putting a report in my file that I don't show up on time.

FTE, I just want my Ranger dinger to ding like it used to long ago. It was a good system back then. Dinging meant headlights. No dinging meant peace and quiet and reliability. No problems.

I took my Ranger today, Wed, May 29th, 2019 to a new upstart Ford dealership close to my hometown (they literally just built the building a year or so ago - before they came to town the nearest Ford dealership was 60 miles away). I had an appointment, I clearly explaining my problem and I fully agreed and paid their $95 diagnostic fee.

The technicians report states (and I quote-he used all caps) "TO CHIME BEING INOP, CHIME IS PART OF INSTRUMENT CLUSTER. FORD HAS DISCONTINUED CLUSTER BUT CLUSTER CAN BE REMOVED AND SENT OUT FOR REPAIR. COST AND LABOR IS 465 DOLLARS. VEHICLE WOULD BE DOWN UNTILL <sic> CLUSTER IS RETURNED DIAG ONLY TO DAY"

Dear FTE Ranger enthusiasts, what is this tech talking about? Everything I have found here and on the internet is that Rangers (mine is 2008) have a GEM (generic equipment module) that houses the 'speaker' and the GEM is located to the immediate left of the radio in the center of the truck..

I'm ok with paying my local FORD service department 465 dollars to rip out my factory original instrument cluster and send it off for days and days of 'repairs' but the entire World Wide Web says that speaker is in that GEM module, Not in the instrument cluster. I think I paid my $90 bucks and I'm getting led down a rabbit hole by a kid trainee technician who was probably in elementary school when I bought this truck.

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'm just asking for wisdom, scorn, insight, anything you got. I can't fix a truck, but I can get close. Please advise. Sincerely

me

 

wow, and to think the ding/chime/alarm is one of the first things i disable in a vehicle.

 

Welcome to FTE.

Sounds like you've been busy searching the net for like problems.

From your work order, Post up All of the trouble code Numbers the Tech found, as they can often help focus a trouble shoot.

Seeing as you've paid the Dealer for the Tech's time to query the computer for trouble code clues, if you have any questions about what he's recorded, go back to the Dealer, get the Service Manager & Tech who's time you've paid for & query them about the trouble shoot info & if he didn't record any trouble code clues, ask them to rescan & give/show you the code Numbers his scan tool is finding.

I don't know if Ford moved the chime on later models or not, but your right that earlier models had the chime mounted on the GEM circuit board & its easy to unsolder & install a replacement, just two contacts. Any electronic tech, working on electrical things, like a ham or CB radio, computer, I phones, etc could do it if you don't want to try, so unless Ford really changed things on the later models I don't see any need to send anything off to have a danged chime replaced on a circuit board, if its still in the GEM, or been moved to the back side of the instrument cluster on later models.

If you have a good local salvage yard, bet you could come by an old 08 GEM, or instrument cluster for parts scavaging & get a working chime from it & have a Tech remove & install it for you.

Some initial thoughts for consideration, let us know how it goes.

 

I'm the same way , can't stand all the beeping.