I know this is not a new topic, but I have researched the devil out of this issue and not found an answer.

Details. 2005 F250 Super Duty Lariat, about 160,000 miles. Batteries are about 9 months old and charge up fine. Anything over 3 or 4 days of sitting especially in the cold won't start.

What I have done/tested. Disconnect negative both batteries and put a multi tester between one side, blew the fuse on my multi tester, fuse is 1/2 amp so the draw is pretty good. Got a tip from a friend to use a test light as it will hold up better and dim out when I find the issues. Also got the tip to to trip the door latch with a screw driver to disable the interior lights going off.

OK so far. The alternator is disconnected both the red lead and the plug - nuthin.
Pulled every fuse and relay interior and under the hood and replaced one at a time, nuthin.

Did it again with my wife watching to make sure I wasn't missing something.

Pulled the fuse panel link from the battery, that killed the light. Put it back on.

Pulled the fuse panal down and disconnected the line from the battery, the light went out, so the problem is something connected to the fuse panel.

One at a time I pulled the connectors off the back of the fuse panel. Got to the one really large different one and the lights went out.

Put them back in one at a time in the reverse order what I pulled them off. Went back on when I put int the plug that has the radio, instrument cluster and brakes adjuster(at least according to one diagram i found). Thought great this is close.

Pulled the fuse for the instrument cluster and nuthin, pulled the radio and nuthin. Pulled them all off again and pulled the fuse for the instrument cluster. Put all back together and no light. Thought cool put the fuse in and the light came back on, and figured pull it is and it should go out, right? Not so. Had to pull everything back of again to get it go out.

Found a video on how to pull the instrument cluster and did so. Reassembled it all again with the instrument cluster out and no light. So I thought maybe if I put it back in and pull the instrument cluster fuse it will go out after 1/2 hour 45 minutes. Nope. By the way it is the plug on the right hand side of the cluster(sitting in the seat) that I plugged in first and the was the one that lit the light again.

Emailed an outfit and described in brief what I had and he really didn't think it was an instrument cluster issue.

So after much testing and still no real clue as to the root problem I am hoping someone has some knowledge or experience of what is going on here.

 

Circuit Board Medics, call them.
Any security system? Does the interior light go out after you close the door, it's on a timer, could be that. Radio and door locks are timed as well, power for the radio shut off after the timer times out?

From the sounds of it, it's in the cluster as you had it on/off there?

 

I emailed circuit board medics with a description of the probelm. Their reply:
"Thank you for contacting us. The parasitic draw is not something we typically see on these clusters. We would love to bring in your cluster for testing to see if we can replicate the draw and get a fix for you. The intermittent problem with just your driver side power window is not something we typically see. When the cluster fails, it will cause the radio, dome lights and power windows not to function at all. We can bring it in to see what we can figure out. Let me know if you'd like to send it in for some extended testing. We look forward to serving you."

I have had the door latch tripped so the truck thinks all the doors are closed for about a week now. So no lights etc.

From another forum:
"I believe on the fords the cluster is the "gateway". this means all or most of the communications through the vehicle networks run through the cluster. With the cluster removed the vehicle is disabled."

My biggest confusion is if I unplug everything from the back of the fuse panel and leave out the instrument cluster fuse plug everything in no draw, plug in the fuse I get draw, pull the fuse again and I still get draw. So it isn't just the Instrument cluster causing the draw. It is like something originally gets power from the cluster then stays connected on it's own.

 

Here are a few things to check:
1. Do this test again:
Start a timer as soon as you pull the fuse for the cluster. Give the light 10 minutes to turn off. If the light does time out and turn off, let me know how long it took. If it doesn't turn off after 10 minutes, let me know that as well.

2. With the ignition off (key removed), turn the windshield wiper switch to any position other than off. See if that affects the test light.

 

I went out and pull the fuse for the instrument cluster and turned the wipers to on and left both like that for a little over an hour, plenty of time to let everything reset to 0. Nothing changed.

 

Which specific fuse are you pulling for the instrument cluster?

 

It is a 10 amp fuse located in position # 2. It is labeled instrument cluster.

 

Pull fuse #33 after you pull fuse #2 and see if that turns the light off.

 

Nope not even a dim. And let it sit for an hour to be sure.

 

Any new updates?

 

Been a bit cold out the last week or so -10 or so. And running out of thoughts and options. I have been thinking of just pulling all the fuses one at time and not putting anything back to see what kills it, but not with what I have been seeing so far not sure that is going to really pin point the issue either.

 

Finally got back out there and took a look again. Put all fuses back in and hooked up the test light. And this time when I pulled the fuse for the instrument cluster the light went out, took about 17 minutes(may not have been given it enough time?) plugged it back in and the light went back to bright. Could have sworn I heard a click as I plugged it back in.

If I put in and it brightens up, take it out and dims dramatically but doesn't go right out.

 

One more thing to add is that I rehooked up the Alternator while I was watching/waiting as I had disconnected it before to rule that out.

 

A light is sometimes ok looking for a dead short but you need to use an amp meter here. If the bulb is xx watt, xx,xxx, xxxx and larger loads will burn at same brightness. It's only when load is less than xx you notice bulb dim,and then it can be hard to detect. Your battery always has about .50ma load under normal conditions. You simple can't tell how much amp draw falls while looking at a light. #30/33 insturment cluster fuse is often the culprit circuit.

 

In my first post I pointed out that I started out using a an older sweep style multi tester. But it kept blowing the .5 amp fuse, which in any event a lot more than .50ma. So since it was that high a test light would hold up better to the amp draw and show significant dim when the culprit was found.