mileage display not very bright

[SteveTheBeave]

Worked Perfectly

My display was fading, then out, then normal, then fading.

There were some obvious cold joints, but I just resoldered all of the transistor connections.

Works like a charm.

Thanks for the post!

 

[MaBs413]

Thanks Denny347 and everyone for your posts. I bought my 2002 Explorer in 2010. Since then my mileage display has not worked. I saw your post yesterday with the pictures and showed them to the mechanic at my Uncle's shop in Brooklyn,NY. Wyckoff Auto Repair 940 Wyckoff Ave. Brooklyn,N.Y. He did exactly what you said and my mileage display works. My battery light stopped blinking also. It was blinking on and off since I got the Explorer. Thanks everyone.

 

[BigRondo]

Thanks Denny347 and everyone for your posts. I bought my 2002 Explorer in 2010. Since then my mileage display has not worked. I saw your post yesterday with the pictures and showed them to the mechanic at my Uncle's shop in Brooklyn,NY. Wyckoff Auto Repair 940 Wyckoff Ave. Brooklyn,N.Y. He did exactly what you said and my mileage display works. My battery light stopped blinking also. It was blinking on and off since I got the Explorer. Thanks everyone.

It's nice to have that baby working again, isn't it!!

 

[dubsminussix]

I've been reading through this post, and I'm getting ready to make this repair. My question is this: I am an amateur at soldering and I would like to know exactly what you do with the existing solder to fix this before putting new solder on? The only tool I have at my disposal at this moment is a soldering iron and some solder.

 

[Eddiebauer2003]

Its very easy to do,and worth it!The connections are usualy around the little resistors i just wiggled them a bit and could see the factory soldeir was on there but was nt holding it tight to the bored,very easy and simple to do just rember not to get it to hot or bad things happen lol how i did it was put a lil flux around the area i was soldiering and then put a lil soilder on the tip of my iron and voila was done and working again good luck!

 

[dubsminussix]

Aside from trying to hook that small cable onto the shifter, this was one of the easiest fixes I've ever done, and works great! Thanks!

 

[Billeby]

I had the same problem and had to have the cluster fixed. rtgrim.com did it for $185 including overnight UPS roundtrip.

 

[gHavok]

Message center just went out. Figured I was going to have to throw an IC at it but wouldnt hurt to check here. Hopefully thats the problem. Sorry for posting in a 2 year old post but I mostly wanted to mention for the 02 explorers there are 2 different IC's depending on early or late build.

 

[fordysenior]

My cluster also had the same problems, I used a magnifying glass to finally find 4 bad connections, and they were not at the location as in response #3 (I'm guessing my cluster is different, but my memory does not serve me that well). But I did get it fixed. And how did I know what to do? -- because I had to fix my 1999 F150 about one month earlier for the same problem. Apparently it's a common Ford problem.

 

[ConFewzHed]

hi, i have a 02 XLS and the 4x4 lights on the dash dont work or the push button 4x4 lights...is there a way to fix this so they work or do i have to replace the whole cluster...

There is another post somewhere in this site. The real question is does the 4 wheel drive work at all? I have the same problem: 4x4 lights don't come on at all. But the 4wd does not engage either. Supposedly a bad 4x4 module, usually the result of a battery change (weird!). I live in southern California though, so not a lot of need for 4wd here.

 

[mbed]

Greetings!
Is there a chance someone could please repost the pictures? they've all gone away...

 

[rtk11]

Google cached the first image (since Photobucket seems to now be limiting images). I believe lit was member Denny347 that posted the first image. This is the image I think are relevant for the Eddie Baer with Information Center in the lower right of the instrument cluster.

I uploaded a couple of my own (images 2 and 3 below)

In the first image, bottom-right is where the connector is to the Information Center display. You can carefully pull up on the white block and it will separate the board from the display.

Second image below is a close up of the back side of the display connector. I didn’t see any cracked or loose cold solder joints, but to be sure, I used a soldering gun tip to just heat up the solder on all 14 of the posts so it would be ensured it had a good connection. Very little solder was needed - just enough to help promote the existing solder to liquify.

Bottom photo is the back side of the Information Center display. I also took the solder gun and re-heated the solder on the 14 posts were the ribbon cable connected to. This was to to help ensure it was making a good connection.

In the end, the display brightened. Not a lot (the Information Center display seems to be always dimmer than the AC display, for example) but it’s readable during the daytime now and I think it’s probably back to what it was stock.

 

[rtk11]

And here are the cached Google images that member Denny347 posted for instrument clusters that only have the odometer on the bottom right of the instrument panel.

 

[samste]

Same problem here. I finally tore into it this evening. Took me about 1.5 hrs to fix it. would only take me about 45 min if I had to do it again. There are 4 resistors that are on the cluster board that looked bad. I re-soldered them since at least one joint looked weak. What do you know, it is back to original brightness. The bad joint was creating a lot of resistance and as a result a lot of heat. Replacing the solder should correct that. We'll see how long it will last. Here are a few pics I took. Take the cluster out, unscrew the black panel on the rear exposing the circuit board. the board just lifts off the rest of the cluster but a ribbon cable is still connected to it. You don't really need to remove the circuit board but I did trying to find the bad area but now I know I did not need to waste my time doing that. I also took the opportunity to remove the clear plastic and clean up the dust from inside the cluster. Here are a few pics. If it goes out again I will probably buy new resistors and try replacing those...what do I have to lose by doing that.

The circles are the back sides of the resistors. The arrow is the joint that I think was the problem. I replaced most of the solder joints anyway, just to be safe.

Hi Love your reply, Thankyou so much for the info

 

[samste]

And here are the cached Google images that member Denny347 posted for instrument clusters that only have the odometer on the bottom right of the instrument panel.

View attachment 162020 View attachment 162021 View attachment 162022 View attachment 162023

Thankyou for the images, going to give mine atry as its so dim can only see it at night, is there a post of pulling apart the dash to get to the cluster board.
02 explorer downunder