Instrument Panel Lights
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Junior User
Joined: Dec 2002
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From: Deer Park USA
Instrument Panel Lights
This is regarding a 2008 F150 - STX. The light that illuminates the odometer is out. I saw the procedure to get to it on Alldata and it looks pretty easy. Next I went to the bulb chart in the user's manual and it said, for any instrument lamp replacement, see the dealer.
I called my local dealer and he said that they were some special kind of bulb but that he was out of stock. I know they can usually get these things quickly but I figured that auto parts stores would have them. It appears I was wrong. I looked on Autozone's web p-age and they show every bulb.... except instrument panel bulbs.
If anyone can tell me... what are these things and is there any place that you can get them or is the dealer the only option? The dealer quoted $6 apiece which is not a king's ransom but it does seem a little steep for a light bulb.
Anyway, if anyone can rub some of the mystery off of this I'd appreciate it....
Bob
I called my local dealer and he said that they were some special kind of bulb but that he was out of stock. I know they can usually get these things quickly but I figured that auto parts stores would have them. It appears I was wrong. I looked on Autozone's web p-age and they show every bulb.... except instrument panel bulbs.
If anyone can tell me... what are these things and is there any place that you can get them or is the dealer the only option? The dealer quoted $6 apiece which is not a king's ransom but it does seem a little steep for a light bulb.
Anyway, if anyone can rub some of the mystery off of this I'd appreciate it....
Bob
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,509
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From: St James, Missouri
If you was to take the bulb out and take it into a radioshack they could probably find you one. They seem to carry alot of random things such as that. Would probably be easier to just have the dealer order it in though. I put one in a guys truck the other day and our parts dept only charged 2.90 for the bulb sounds like a little extra markup at your local dealership.
New User
Joined: Dec 2011
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I recently had this same issue on my '04 and I replaced it with a 74LL bulb from auto zone. It is a little bigger but works fine.
This link also was a big help with getting to the bulb.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...t-working.html
This link also was a big help with getting to the bulb.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...t-working.html
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Junior User
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 71
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From: Deer Park USA
Well, at some point the world changed from the old mechanical odometer to a digital LCD odometer and that is what I have.
I found a link to another forum (for reasons of "good taste" I did not put it here...) that one fellow discovered a "cold solder joint" problem on the main PC board. He advises that this repair may not be for everyone... since it requires careful soldering skills.
What it boils down to is removing the PC Board and, where the odometer attaches there are a group of 8 or 9 (or so) wires that SOME had cold solder joints that had fractured. He heated a small soldering pencil and re-melted the solder (adding a dab as well) and the re-soldering fixed the problem. Reading on, it seems a number of the responders found the exact same issue... some on the same pin... some on other pins. But many of them fixed their problem by resoldering these joints.
Maybe I'll have a look at that.
I found a link to another forum (for reasons of "good taste" I did not put it here...) that one fellow discovered a "cold solder joint" problem on the main PC board. He advises that this repair may not be for everyone... since it requires careful soldering skills.
What it boils down to is removing the PC Board and, where the odometer attaches there are a group of 8 or 9 (or so) wires that SOME had cold solder joints that had fractured. He heated a small soldering pencil and re-melted the solder (adding a dab as well) and the re-soldering fixed the problem. Reading on, it seems a number of the responders found the exact same issue... some on the same pin... some on other pins. But many of them fixed their problem by resoldering these joints.
Maybe I'll have a look at that.
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Junior User
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 71
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From: Deer Park USA
WHOA! I didn't realize that the link WAS from this forum.... so here it is:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...lem-fixed.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...lem-fixed.html
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,509
Likes: 116
From: St James, Missouri
Do you have the green backlit odometer with the black lettering? Those do take a bulb. I have not tore into any with the message center. They are probably like the one in the link you posted. Thanks for the link looks kinda like the solder reflow fix for playstation 3's lol
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