inst cluster on a 98 completely died with error mssgs

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v8only

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don't have the owners manual, and I can't find a blown fuse, my instrument cluster completely died out of the blue, no speedo, no tach, no miles, no fuel, brake light permanently on, etc....it's also popping a couple of error mssgs on the center display...something about temp sensor not readable, and speed gear not readable or something...

anyone have a clue? I "must" have popped a fuse, right?? It happened just sitting for one day, but it was raining all day, so I'm assuming a fuse popped for some reason
 
"gear display data error" is one of the messages I'm seeing.

I also checked every fuse inside the car and under the hood, and not one is blown. Any ideas?
 
I was thinking about mentioning something about a possible low voltage situation? These cars tend to do some funky stuff when their not getting enough juice. But, if you haven't noticed anything with slow, or delayed crank then I'm not really sure. Just for the hell of it, maybe check to see what the alt is putting out?

Or maybe the cluster is just trash? The gear display, I assume, is referring to the PRNDL in the center of the cluster. If the cluster is dead, then its not displaying the current gear, so maybe that's why your getting the error message, and the cluster is just done for?
 
yea maybe the cluster died....I actually have a spare cluster from a 97 parts car, glad I kept it...

I'm thinking water dripped in through the sunroof and ran down the channel or something behind the dash. IDK, nothing is wet inside, and I smell NO hint of mildew inside from the rain.
 
Maybe the cluster just went out, it happens. If you have a spare, try swapping it out. It wouldn't hurt, and would either fix the issue, or eliminate another factor.
 
hmmm...off the top of your heads, do I have to disassemble half the dash to get the cluster out?? I'm thinking of rolling outside right now to try it, but I'm not motivated enough If I have to take half the car apart
 
I haven't gone that far yet, so I'm not really 100% sure. I know the panel around the headlight controls have to come off, as well as the upper finish panel. After that, I don't remember if the screws are right there, or is there is more stuff to remove.
 
thanks for all the help.

I sucked it up, grabbed my tools, a flashlight, and headed out in the dark with my spare instrument cluster.

FYI, only the plastic surround panel in front of the cluster has to come off. Be careful with the left most part that surrounds the headlight bezel, it's a bitch to come out, and I snapped off the little light bezel part on the backside that lights up the dial :(

anyhow, 4 bolts later, slide the bottom of the cluster up, then pull out the right side, and you'll see two harnesses side by side...push a little release button on each, and they'll slide right out.

I swapped out the cluster with my spare, and much to my relief everything works!!! How about that!

To my disappointment, the new cluster has 10,000 miles more on the odo exactly than the last one...so I'm going to disassemble the old cluster and see what makes it work...see if there are fuses, see if maybe there is just a circuit panel I can swap, or at a minimum see if I can use my old odometer in the new cluster.

I'll update as I go.
 
well, at risk of screwing them both up, I took both of them apart....

it's comprised of a circuit board, that plugs into another circuit board in the plastic cluster...so I swapped the circuit board from my parts car inst cluster onto my old cluster, hoping the mileage was retained on the inner circuit board behind the printed gauge panel...

the swap went successful, however no luck. I've found that the mileage is contained on the outer circuit board, and that's the one that's fried...so I just gained 10,000 miles overnight :(....I took some pictures.

Wish I knew how to component level test a circuit board, but I think I'm asking for too much there.

here is the entire unit, and I've just popped off the outer board..it just slides off of the pins under it

Inst%20cluster%203.jpg


Inst%20cluster%201.jpg


Inst%20cluster%202.jpg
 
chris2523 said:
haha. i know how that goes.

but its not all bad. at least you can see how fast you're going now.
Click to expand...


:), yea, I guess that's true...at least it's an even 10k miles more, real easy to keep track of.....now to fix the seat motor that blew out today...
 
I hate to be the barer of bad news, but that didnt
Fix your problem, your ECU is taking a dump on you...that's EXACTLY what happened right before my wife wrecked the car when the ECU finally
Failed and the car died.

When you turned the vehicle off, you reset the computer, as all Fords clear codes when turned off. If you're running any sort of
Proformance Chip you should remove it asap

It should have thrown your CEL, and in this case when connected to the OBD port would give code "unable to
Connect to ECU"
 
Sapperfire said:
I hate to be the barer of bad news, but that didnt
Fix your problem, your ECU is taking a dump on you...that's EXACTLY what happened right before my wife wrecked the car when the ECU finally
Failed and the car died.

When you turned the vehicle off, you reset the computer, as all Fords clear codes when turned off. If you're running any sort of
Proformance Chip you should remove it asap

It should have thrown your CEL, and in this case when connected to the OBD port would give code "unable to
Connect to ECU"
Click to expand...


Hmmm...

Well I know for a FACT that the old cluster died....I swapped the two back and forth half a dozen times, and each time the old one wouldn't work, and the error codes came up on the display, then I plugged the new one in, and it worked, and the error codes went away.

So the bigger question is, are you saying the ECU could have blown the old cluster?
 
Well If the new one works and doesn't show
Codes, and the old one does, then perhaps that's your overall problem...but keep an eye out for that code to pop again...but with your gauges going all crazy..I'm still betting you have an ECU issue
 
Sapperfire said:
I hate to be the barer of bad news, but that didnt
Fix your problem, your ECU is taking a dump on you...that's EXACTLY what happened right before my wife wrecked the car when the ECU finally
Failed and the car died.

When you turned the vehicle off, you reset the computer, as all Fords clear codes when turned off. If you're running any sort of
Proformance Chip you should remove it asap

It should have thrown your CEL, and in this case when connected to the OBD port would give code "unable to
Connect to ECU"
Click to expand...
X2. Go and grab a new computer and I bet the problem goes away.
 
Looks like the clusters are interchangeable for 97 & 98. Will the clusters 96 and older work in gen II Mark VIII's?

I've got the same exact issue as V8only however, it all comes back to life when I manually turn on the headlights. So I just leave the headlights on all the time when driving. Now I'm thinking it might be the cluster. The previous owner said it went out at the same time as when the rear ballast blew up. The rear ballast must have somehow ruined the cluster.
 
Ed Hall said:
Looks like the clusters are interchangeable for 97 & 98. Will the clusters 96 and older work in gen II Mark VIII's?

I've got the same exact issue as V8only however, it all comes back to life when I manually turn on the headlights. So I just leave the headlights on all the time when driving. Now I'm thinking it might be the cluster. The previous owner said it went out at the same time as when the rear ballast blew up. The rear ballast must have somehow ruined the cluster.
Click to expand...

You need to replace the nut between the driver seat and steering wheel
 
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