This is bizarre! my dash lights rarely came on, yours are always on, and the ones at the dealer are on when you want them to be on. Something weird in the Ford electrical department. Maybe those partying Dodge employees have friends at Ford!

My F150 has been awesome. Put 1500km on it this past weekend, averaged somewhere around 18mpg. Can't wait for my EcoBoost in January!

 

My lights are on as well but I found a piece of paper that I kept in the storage place on top of the dash that was covering up the sensor that is located in the middle of your dash near your window.

 

What cluster do you have, standard or the LCD message center? I'm assuming you have the LCD message center with the fancy screen cause that's the gauge cluster we have in the work truck and it operates exactly as you describe, aka gauge lights are always on.

Well I got the truck back from the dealer. They told me the same thing that it's how the truck is designed and they can't fix nor change it. They did keep it overnight to see if there was anything they could do, but couldn't come up with anything. I believe them that they're trying to help, but there's not a lot they can do. I did tell them that it's BS that two trucks of the exact same model with different gauge clusters operate differently. I told them that it would be 10x safer if the gauge lights just stayed on like the trucks with the LCD screen as the gauges themselves are hard to read in daylight without the backlighting.

They did print off this blurb from the technical service manual to explain to me the operation of the dimmer switch and the autolamps.

I interpret the last paragraph to say that the auotlamps do NOT control the gauge lights, only the message center (the MPG, odometer, radio, etc...). In that case the gauge lights should always be on when the lights are turned on either with the autolamps or by manually turning them on. Unfortunately for my truck (and it appears to be others with the standard cluster) that the autolamp sensor is controlling the gauge lights as well. It's so bad, in fact, that when I turn the head lights on during sunlight the needle actually gets really dim to the point of not being able to see it. This is dangerous in the early morning and early evening (dawn and dusk) when you need lights, yet the sun is still out somewhat. It's actually impossible to see the gauges during this time.

Either way I don't think there's anything the dealer can do. I already told them I don't blame them for the problem and that I appreciate them looking at it, but that I'm going to write a letter/e-mail to Ford explaining my displeasure with how the system works and ask for a fix. He told me it's not right that I should have to do that, and that they did everything they could, but it's primarily the design.

 

I tested this as well tonight (put a piece of paper over the sensor) and it does work by turning on the lights when in autolamp (takes a couple of seconds to work if the truck is already running). I'll have to try it during manual control of the lights to see if it leaves the gauge lights on. If this works the electrical tape over the sensor will work, but unfortunately it means completely disabling the autolamp feature, not forgetting having to "rig" a brand new vehicle to quit being stupid.

 

Damn.. This is an old thread but I have this exact same issue !
Did any of you figure out the issue /solved it ?
My 2014 has the issue too. I was messing with it yesterday. During the day I could not get the dash lights to turn on no matter what. Then later that day when the daylight started to fade all of a sudden the dash lights worked again. So at least they work at night. But still, they SHOULD work in the morning too when it's light but still a tad dark to see the gauges... and they won't work no matter what.
I am wondering if it's a software issue.?

 

welll...
Took it to a dealer who took a look at it. Didn't charge me. Came back with the same answer; This is 'as designed' and they won't fix it.
It's a software bug plain and simple. Oh well. I've disabled the auto sensing light in Forscan. This way it works as it should.
The other option is to cover the light sensor with some tape. Then it will work as designed but you're auto lights will always be on.
oh well. Stupid design.