My wacky compass

[tdeasley]

O.K. everyone, here is a bizarre problem that hopefully someone can help me solve. I have a 2002 Explorer XLT with the compass. A week ago I got in my truck, drove off as normal, when I looked down and saw the compass was reading funny. It was saying "cal" even though I hadn't attempted to calibrate it since I got the truck. So I pulled over turned off the truck and restarted it and it seemed to work fine. But now I'm paying attention to it and I notice that it reads fine, but then it starts to read haywire. The wrong direction, then it gets stuck on one direction no matter which way you are going, then eventually it reads "cal". I tried to calibrate it, and it still does the same thing. Before I take it to the dealership to have them check it out does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks one and all!

 

[mydland89]

Compass reset / calibrate

I am not sure if you know this but in order to calibrate a compass, you must find a parking lot or somwhere that will have enough space...and set the "cal" and believe it or not, drive around in circles, keep driving until it sets...and it will trust me......have fun!!

 

[Bronco638]

Yeah, my Dad and I rented a Mercury Mounty ('03) last Fall and read the procedure, from the owner's manual, for calibrating the compass. It's about two pages long and involves driving in circles in a large parking lot (as mentioned above). After reading thru the procedure two or three times, we were so confused we just laughed and put the manual back in the glove box and left the compass alone.

If you want to take the time to figure it out, I'm sure it's actually pretty simple.

 

[gerry]

Mine did that for a while while my car was still under warranty. Of course the dealer could not replicate the problem, so no work was done.

Then I realized it was happening everytime I traveled southbound over a certain bridge, and never anywhere else. My guess is that there was something in the area (or the bridge itself) that caused the fluctuating readings, and those fluctuating readings caused the software (either intentionally or unintentionally) to go and lock in CAL mode.

So the only suggestion I have is to see if starts act whacko in the same general area.

 

[tdeasley]

Oh, I do know how to calibrate it, I found a empty parking lot that would hold 5000 cars, and drove around in circles until I got dizzy. It still has the same problem. Well, I guess it's a trip to the dealer.

Thanks all!