Hey guys, looking for some advice on one of my dad's pickups. It's an extended cab 96 F250 5.8 auto 4x4 with power locks and windows. The truck ended up sitting for a while. I needed to jump start my Super Duty that had a completely toast battery, and I thought it would be good for his truck to run a little, so I used his to jump start my truck. I know not to do this in the future, so no need for a lecture, but 1 set of jumper cables just wasn't sending enough juice to get it running, so I hooked 2 up. It promptly started up. I'm not sure if this happened when I used his truck to jump start mine, of if it happened somewhere along the coarse of it having sat for a LONG time, but the speedometer, odometer, tachometer, and maybe some other guages weren't working the next time we went to drive the truck. Fast forward another while of it sitting, and everything is working again on its own. Another 6+ months of it sitting, and I went to move the truck last night. It ahd a very dead battery, but I got it jumped. All the guages are working now, but the odometer and tripmeter are blank. They're lit up, but don't display anything. Also, when you are rolling the windows up, once they are all the way up, but the button is still held down, the headlights dim, and the alternator guage falls really low. If I remember correctly, the power locks aren't working anymore either.
Any ideas? Looking forward to hearing from y'all!
Thanks in advance!
Courage

 

First thing I would check is the ground connections g200 and g201. There are located behind the driver's and passengers kick panels. Remove the ground bolt, inspect the wire terminals for corrosion, clean them with a wire brush and reinstall.

 

By "kick panel", do you mean the door skin? Thanks for the help, I'll do my best to check that this weekend.

 

First thing to do is get a fresh battery. Batteries that sit too long sulphate, and even when they are jumped, rarely last long. Weird electrical problems will happen with a bad battery. Start there first. Good luck!

 

The kick panels is the plastic interior panel that's next to your left foot on the driver side. It holds the hood release lever. It's held on by 2 screws and a interior fastener. Passenger side has one similar
Good luck.

 

Hey guys, finally had a chance to check those two grounds, both were shiny and clean. I still hit them with a wire brush, but no change. Everything is working now except the speedometer, odometer, tripometer, and power locks. Also, it's shifting super hard and randomly... hoping someone will know of an easy fix.

 

Your truck will shift poorly if the speedometer isn't working. You're gunna need a multimeter to solve this problem.
Remove the instrument bezel and remove the instrument cluster.
There are 2 connectors that at plugged into the back of the instrument cluster.
You need to focus on the harness connector that plugs into the middle of the instrument cluster, into the programmable speedometer odometer module (PSOM).
First test: With you multimeter, touch the black lead to pin 2, and the red lead into pin 1. You should have battery voltage with the key off.
Second test: with your multimeter, touch the black lead to pin 2, and the red lead to pin 3. You should have 0v with the key off, and battery voltage with the key in the run position.
How did you do?

 

Thanks so much for your detailed reply! It sound a little more in depth/time consuming than I was hoping for, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to check on it, but I'll try to this weekend. Any tips on pulling the guage cluster?

 

You'll need a #2 Philips and a slotted screw driver.
1. Remove the large plastic panel in front of the drivers knees.
2. Remove the little plastic inserts on the black bezel to the left and right of the steering wheel by carefully prying them out the flat blade screw driver
3. Remove the exposed screws on the black bezel.
4. Put the tilt steering wheel max down position.
5. Put the shifter in "1st" gear to get it out of the way.
6. Grab the top of the black plastic bezel and gently pull it towards the driver seat to pop it out of the clips.
7. Carefully, remove the bezel.
8. Remove the 4 screws retaining the instrument cluster.
9. Tilt the cluster to remove it from the dash. It's a tight fit.

 

Before you get too far into testing
Make sure your VSS connector wires are not chaffed or broken where the connector hits the VSS on the rear end
Then proceed

 

is it #2 phillips? I thought ford was using pozi drive since the 80s for screws other than the interior trim pieces like the ones above your head, I say that because I see them all the time and I dont recall them having a neck down in the slot

 

I know it's been a LONG delay, but life just gets in the way sometimes. I performed both tests. Test 2 worked well, and i had a volts with the key off, and 13.5ish with it on. On Test 1 though, the voltmeter kept jumping around. At one point it settled at 0 volts, and then it spiked to 11. It seemed to be most consistent though at 3 volts. Any ideas?

 

Anyone have any ideas on where I'd look first to figure out why I'm getting a fluctuating reading from pin 1? I think that could very well be the cause of my issues and want to get that resolved before I send out the psom to be rebuilt...

 

Pin 1 on what?
List the pinpoint tests you are dealing with
The VSS puts out a fluctuating AC milli voltage signal
That voltage goes up with wheel peed but still pulses or fluctuates like you are saying your signal is doing

 

The above post i grabbed explains the tests i was doing. And I'm sorry, not pin 1🤦🏼‍♂️ test one. This was the diagram I was using... thanks so much for yalls help!