I wonder how my cluster has still been working?

[BrianDye]

Its been one of those days (Lazy), and I hate feeling like that so I made myself go out and do some cleanin and whatnot, then I figured id pop my cluster out and put my SMD LEDs in.

Well as in feeling behind the cluster pulling the 3 harnesses out, I notice I hear "crunching." Yes, crunching.

So upon removal, I notice the whole back of the cluster is just all bubbled up, with small red dots all over on the underside of the orange "circuit" board.

I attempted to snap a pic and a video, the pic doesnt really do it justice, and the video isnt of the best quality (From my cellphone, Epic 4G)

Im not too worried about it, since I plan on ordering a new cluster soon, and I pretty much have other ways to monitor everything (Besides my trusty real oil pressure gauge (Headunit has Nav, which shows speed, gauge pod has Voltmeter, message center has gas info, ears can hear general RPMs )

Guess thats more motivation to order my 01 Sport cluster. I was just gonna do some black overlays on mine but I refuse to do anything with this cluster now.

Has anyone ever seen something like this before? I checked for any signs of water/liquid anywhere around the area and saw nothing.

 

[BrianDye]

The early 2nd gen clusters were the teal color, and would glow blue with the SMD LEDs. I know theyre plug and play right?

Are all of my indicator lights gonna be the same? (Like when I turn my brights on, I dont want my FUEL RESET light to come on or something)


So I call the JY, and ask how much for a cluster from a 95-01 Explorer. He sounded dumbfounded and was like they fit all those years? I was like yeah, the main difference is the color on the early models, and a few of the indicator lights were different. He asked me what year mine was and I said 2000 and he said they had one with 70k, and one with 190k for 50$ a piece, and that the 99-01 is the only interchangeable ones; So I asked about a 95/96 he said $40 a piece.

 

[fbc]

I wonder if there are any aftermarket clusters for 2nd gen explorers. Maybe one that goes digital or something... that would be cool.

If i had already torn things down to where you are, I would probably go after market if there was something nice available.

 

[OneLever]

The cheap film circuit board warps over time. Mine is the same as well. No reason to replace it unless failure is evident. Or if you keep poking at it and break one of the wire strips.

 

[BrianDye]

Well I was wanting to order a cluster from the 2001 Sport but thats gonna run me about 30-40$ more, unless someone on here had one for cheap. Speaking of, I think im gonna ask ped5stang.

(Just the cluster, not the surround)

It doesnt seem like it just "warped" though, it seems like it warped, on top of liquid getting in there. (I do want a new cluster anyways, since my tach is very lazy and doesnt like to work alot anymore)

 

[fbc]

check this dash kit out..

http://www.ranger-forums.com/f34/gauges-tachometer-installation-48800/

wonder where I can track it down.. seems pretty neat. One or two of my bulbs a dead on my dash. I seems that if I have to go through the trouble of tearing down the dash; I might as well put the indiglo kit on it.

 

[BrianDye]

Those are beautiful gauges...the 2nd pic of the 3 (Non explorer cluster) is just a needle kit with LED's that make the needles very intense in any color you want.

I love that first pic though.

Check eBay, theres tons of overlays and whatnot.