Dreaded intermittent gage cluster off and on

[Mooch66]

Hello, Newbie with my first post here. Picked up an 05 Explorer and love the truck. Found out a lot from everyone here already. My problem is the dreaded and totally random turn off/turn back on of the gage cluster while driving. Does not effect how it runs at all, however radio turns off for a second or two when it does occur and also effects the windows if you are opening or closing them when it happens. Sometimes I can drive 20 miles and nothing, or it will occur non stop for 20 miles. Hot weather, cold weather no effect. As I said extremely random when it occurs. I removed the cluster a week ago, checked all connections, blew them out, etc... Drove for 5 days with no issue, thought I had her fixed, then yesterday it started all over again. Could this be related to the black ground wire issue in the door harness or is this unrelated? I hate electrical gremlins and it appears the EXPs have their share of them. Any help on this would be greatly appreciate. Sorry for the ramble, love the truck and want to fix it.

Jeff

 

[Number4]

This is typically a sign of a bad alternator. It may charge the majority of the time, but when it suddenly doesn't produce the proper voltage, the radio and cluster will cut out.

 

[Mooch66]

Seems odd, but I'll check it tonight with the trusty multimeter. Any idea what the alternator should be putting out? 13.5 volts or something like that I think. Thanks for the reply. I'll let you know what I find out.

 

[Number4]

13.8-14.09 is the ideal range.

At times, it may go above 14.09, but should adjust down. Just like with a load, it may dip below 13.8, but the regulator should adjust it back up.

The issue you most likely have, is that it's occasionally dipping down into the 12's.

You most likely won't pick this up with your multimeter, unless you catch it at the right moment. You need something like an Ultra-Gauge, that you can have plugged into the OBD2 port, so you can monitor the voltage while driving. Others use the ELM327.

 

[Mooch66]

Well, did some checking with the multi=meter. Battery at 12.3 when not running, 13.9-14.08 when running. While it was running and had the meter on the battery, cluster did shut down and was no change at least at the battery. I'm leaning towards it being the cluster itself as it will shut down (with needles bouncing) with the key out of the ignition. Chasing these electrical gremlins are a pain in the A$$. Has anyone had this and been able to resolve it? I'm gonna be bald in a week from pulling my hair out trying to figure this out. Thanks