2002 F-150 Screw

It all started with a cup of water and the dash. You can guess the rest but water spilled and ran down the drivers side of the dash. Next thing I know the odometer and overhead console are flashing then nothing.

When we got out of the truck, the headlights were also on. Ended up unhooking the battery to get them to shut off. (had to be away from truck for several hours) Hook battery back up and headlights come right back on. So . . .after looking in the manual for fuses etc, I find #3 and #6 in the underhood fuse box. Pull #3 and headlights go off, #6 and parking lights go off. Overhead and odometer come back on too. If I plug either fuse back in, those lights come back on and the overhead goes off again.

Any suggestions on what to do next? I don't really like the idea of no headlights. Everything else seems to be working fine.

 

Yup! You have just manually recreated a known issue with the windshield leaking. You need to pull the fuse panel under the dash away from the it's mount and dry it all up. The water is in behind it. If it stays that way too long, you are looking at replacing more parts. Do a search in here for "Leaking windshield". You will get the idea.

 

Thanks for the reply. Don't know if this would work in all cases, but I just ended up starting the truck and turning the heater on high on the floor setting. After about 30 minutes I turned it back off and reinserted the fuses. Must've dried up enough because we have had no further problems.