The odometer in my E350 (5.4, E40D) stops working when I get a vibration between 65-74 mph. The speedometer continues to work perfectly and all of the other gauges are fine. Every once in a while the odometer will start working again while driving, but the only thing that makes it work again every time is when the van is shut off for an extended period of time (20-30 mins). This problem started around 6 months ago, but has been happening more and more frequently. It now does this on a daily basis. I finally decided to pull the cluster tonight for some inspection. All of the connectors and wires running into the cluster look and feel good (no loose pins or anything like that). I did notice that the printed wiring on the back side of the cluster is "warped" and does not lay down perfectly flat on the cluster. I could not find any telltale burn marks on this printed section or on the green circuit board on top of the cluster.

If I knock on the clear plastic lens of the gauge cluster or hit the top of the dash with my hand, the tenths counter on the trip odometer will jump but won't start working correctly. Also, if I knock on the lens rapidly, the tenths counter will almost work normally, but again, neither odometer will start working normally.

I have looked into having the cluster repaired, but the $100+ that the online shops are charging seems a little rich for such a simple problem. I'm going to look for a used cluster with close mileage, but I need to know if this cluster is the same as those used in other Ford vehicles, such as the F-series trucks. The E-Series clusters are in short supply on ebay (there's only one and it has 305k on it). Also, does anyone have any advice on something that I could repair or replace within the cluster to solve this problem myself? I'm mechanically inclined but have never disassembled a cluster, just changed them.

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
David

 

Well I went ahead and tore the cluster apart and found that a piece of the black plastic worm gear driven by the odometer motor had broken off and fallen into the odometer gears. I got it out of there, put the whole thing back together, and it worked flawlessly for about 25 miles before doing the exact same thing over again. I now have two theories: 1) the odometer gear is obviously brittle and needs to be replaced. 2) the odometer motor has been damaged when the gears have been jammed and it now hangs up.

I don't really want to pull the whole thing back apart until I have at least a new gear to throw in there. Does anyone know where I could get a new motor for it? I've tried Google and eBay and haven't come up with anything yet. If a motor is cheap enough I'd like to replace it too.

 

You're best off getting an entire instrument cluster from another van in the junkyard, you'll find no repair parts for yours, not even the dealers repair them, they replace the entire unit.

 

Well I solved the problem and thought I would post up in case anyone else on here runs into the same thing. I ordered a new plastic worm gear from Southern Electronics out of Virginia and the gentleman I dealt with over the phone said that the motors hardly ever go bad. So per his advice, I installed the new worm gear, cleaned out a couple of leftover chunks of the old gear, put everything back together, and it has worked flawlessly for the last 260 miles (knock on wood). Beats the hell out of the $90 quotes I was getting for used clusters with mileage that wasn't even close to my 190k. Hope this helps someone else in the future.

 

Cool, can't believe you were able to find it, that's great.