I've been out of town on business for a week. I get home, jump in my truck and turn the key and all my dash lights and gauges are dead. The truck starts and runs fine, but the dash is completely out. The only exception is the turn signal indicators that do work. There are three related fuses: #4 - Power Point - instrument panel (20A); #35 - Instrument Cluster (10A) and #41 - Instrument Cluster (10A). I checked all three (OK) and went ahead and replaced them. Still no dash gauges.

 

did you check all of the other fuses?

 

Unless you got moisture in something, you may just have a bad gauge cluster.

Hootbro

 

I found the problem. Fuse #45 was blown. It's odd that the truck will run with the ignition/run fuse blown. Oh well.....at least I didn't have to buy a new instrument cluster!

 

I have been having the same problem for the past month, i have blown 6 or seven #45 fuses.

When the fuse blows the charging systems stops working.

I took it to my local mechanic and he could not find the problem so i have to take to the dealer i assume. Its just hard since im using it everyday for work. I just carry around about 20 or so fuses.

Does anyone have a clue what this problem could be, im assuming electrical.

 

Fuses are like the circuit breaker in a house tripping. Something is drawing to much current/amps causing the fuse to blow. Most car mechanics really do not understand electrical and just give up. You have to find a dealer that has an actual trained electrical/electronic schooled tech and not a grease monkey who had 1 day class on DC theory.

You have to first get an accurate diagram of you make and model. Then find were the amp draw is happening. It may be one component in the circuit or a shorted wire. Not knowing what to look for can get expensive when just shotgunning and throwing electrical parts hoping to get lucky. FWIW, most electrical parts are not returnable. The link below is a scan of what fuse 45 covers on my 2005 SD, if it helps.

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//5...09_54_59PM.jpg

 

Little Joe, Just pulled one out of shop today same problem. 03-350-SD W/6.0-Auto. The #45 fuse also feedsgrade/load (tow) switch. This one would blow fuse when shifting for park rev. found that the wiring harness at transmission connection was corr. hope this helps.

 

thanks Hootbro for the help.

Whatever the problem is i am not going to try to tackle it myself. Im just going to have to bend over and take it to a dealer.

 

I finally found the problem, thanks to the techs at my local dealer. I had my truck in there for an oil change and just wandered back into the service area to talk to them. When I told them what the problem is, they pointed me right at the culprit.

On my truck (I say that because it might be a different problem on yours), I found an itermittent short, caused by chafing, in the wiring harness for the tow/haul switch. You have to take of the steering column cover (which requires that you pull the ignition switch, not a big deal, you just need to know how). Where the harness comes out of the shifter column, it was rubbing on a sharp corner. It had rubbed through the shrink wrap on the harness, all the way though the insulator on one of the wires. I just cheaped out and wrapped it real good (the harness) with electrical tape. I also put three layers of tape over the sharp corner on the shift column. If I'm lucky, it won't happen again (I wrapped the harness about six times with tape, so it'll take quite a while to wear through).

If you need to remove the ignition switch, you have to put the key in and turn it to run (it's recommended that you disconnect the battery, although I did it with is still connected). There's a small hole in the bottom of the igintion switch with a lock pin in it. I used a small punch. Press on the pin and the switch slides right out. After I got the column cover off, I put the switch back in and turned the ignition off. Once the repair was done, I just repeated the steps to put everything back together.

Hope this helps.

I owe the guys at the dealership a couple of beers!

 

glad to hear you got it fixed. for free.

actually im surprised they didnt charge you an hour or two of labor for showing you that.

 

One of my local dealers has a two hour minumum charge, even if it only take five minutes to find and fix. Only exception is prepriced maintenance service.

Hootbro

 

Owesome info, have a 2002 F250 with same issue, if you shut the ignition off before you shift back to park could give you some extra time. Used your info and fixed in 15 minutes flat, overdrive wire loops around shifter was showing a bare wire, taped it up and on the road again. THANKS, THANKS and THANKS again for the info it was great.

Fingerhut