Short
#1
Short
2003 ford windstar lx 3.8l every so often and getting worse. The gauges will all flip all the way once or twice then go normal. No lights come on and no cel is on. I did pull a fuse for the dome lights cause they would come on while driving like a door was open but wasn't. Which I don't think has any connection cause I pulled the fuse like 6 years ago and just 6 months ago the gauge thing happens. Could it be a bad instrument panel?
#2
If the instrument needles go hay wire it has to do with a little corrosion inside the instrument cluster.
I took my instrument cluster out and placed it on the kitchen table before taking it apart. It is like a layer cake held together by some screws. When you do this do not remove the needles from the instruments. They are not keyed and you will have trouble positioning them correctly.
I look the cluster apart and could not find an obvious problem. So I put it back together and the instruments worked! Pulling apart must have rubbed off enough corrosion from the pins to fix the contacts.
However now some illumination bulbs did not work. So I had to do it again and pay close attention to get every layer of the cake seated correctly.
Your dome lights are flickering because at least one of the "door ajar" micro switches are dirty. You can take the door panels off to access and clean them. Or you can turn the lights off on the dimmer switch to the left of the steering wheel. That's what I did. If I needed light I turned them manually on.
I took my instrument cluster out and placed it on the kitchen table before taking it apart. It is like a layer cake held together by some screws. When you do this do not remove the needles from the instruments. They are not keyed and you will have trouble positioning them correctly.
I look the cluster apart and could not find an obvious problem. So I put it back together and the instruments worked! Pulling apart must have rubbed off enough corrosion from the pins to fix the contacts.
However now some illumination bulbs did not work. So I had to do it again and pay close attention to get every layer of the cake seated correctly.
Your dome lights are flickering because at least one of the "door ajar" micro switches are dirty. You can take the door panels off to access and clean them. Or you can turn the lights off on the dimmer switch to the left of the steering wheel. That's what I did. If I needed light I turned them manually on.
Last edited by bluewind; 10-12-2014 at 11:50 AM.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
nfor
New Member Area
0
01-27-2006 08:33 AM