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the left half of my instrument cluster doesn't work.
the speed-o works and odometer work just fine. the right turn signal works just fine, the right signal blinks with the hazards are initiated, and the right half of the instrument panel does illuminate when the headlights are turned on.
the left half does not work, meaning the left half does not illuminate when headlights are one, the left turn signal does not work, not even with hazards flashing, and the fuel gauge does not function.
my initial thought was the printed circuit board but before i go down that road, does anyone have any quick checks i can perform to help troubleshoot?
i don't think this matters or is related but the horn does not work on the steering wheel. i tracked that issue down to the steering column not being grounded. there is no rag joint jumper.
I had some issues with lights not working. Also on half my display. I just cleaned all the contacts with a little brush and put some dielectric grease on with a qTip. Everything's works now. I would try that first.
Also. Just in case you've never disconnected one of these speedometers before there is only one specific spot to press to release the cable and it seems counter intuitive. There's a write up somewhere and if you google search it it should produce a few pictures. I figured I would mention it because it can be pretty frustrating.
The fuel gauge is another issue. If you disconnect it at the tank and ground the wire the gauge should read full. (I'm assuming it reads empty now). I'm also dealing with this problem. I tested the gauge, it worked fine. So I had the drop the gas tank and remove the sending unit. I found the problem....the float was gone. I tested the sending unit with a multi meter. You could also hook it back up to the wire harness and move the float arm, your gauge should change accordingly. I ordered a new float and filter screen for the sending unit from Broncograveyard.com and I ended up ordering a new gas tank off of eBay. I hope that helps.
You may have two problems, not one. A burned out or bad-contact bulb for your turn signal is one, the other could be the fuel gauge sender. You ma need to do both suggestions above (cleaning contacts, checking bulbs on the cluster, as well as grounding the sending wire to the gas tank sensor) to check. The easiest place to find the sensor wire is just ahead of the tank on the driver's side under the truck, look for a green wire - you can unplug it there and jumper it to ground easily.Also check the ground for the tank sensor, it is only a foot or so away and if that ground is bad, your gauge wont work.
The instrument cluster backs were made of a composition material that can TURN TODUST before your very eyes!
1981: Ford came out with hard plastic cluster backs for Econolines, these were also the "service part replacements" for the POS composition cluster backs.
Some were replaced under warranty, some were replaced "customer pay," but some were never replaced.
There are two types, with or without oil & amp gauges.
Both are available NOS and from 1981/86 Econolines with Warning Lamps, 1981/91 Econolines with Oil/Amp Gauges.
Don't know if this will help you, but I made a crappy diagram from pinning out my instrument cluster when I had it pulled. I would speculate that your ground wire (the black one in my diagram) is severed somewhere between either the right hand turn signal and the high beam indicator, or the high beam indicator to the left hand backlight (I made this diagram backwards because I was looking at the backside of the cluster). If all the other gauges work, I would agree that the Fuel Gauge issue is a separate problem, unless there's grounding issues across all the backlights to the voltage regulator.
I'm with the others in the idea: be careful because the back of the cluster is fragile, but I did have to clean up some of my PCB copper contacts to get all my lights working properly.
FYI this is from a 1979 F150 Ranger, I don't know if there are changes in years/trims. My model does have gauges for Oil/Alt/Temp/Fuel, not just lights for oil alt
All good info here. NumberDummy is not joking about the cluster turning to dust. I BARELY pulled on mine to swap a bad speedometer cable and mine did just that.
All good info here. NumberDummy is not joking about the cluster turning to dust. I BARELY pulled on mine to swap a bad speedometer cable and mine did just that.
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