The problem was with the soldered pins on the big connector on the left. I sucked the solder off the pins and re-soldered them using plenty of flux. Lamentably you cannot see the problem with a scope or magnifying glass. The pins may appear good but are actually not soldered properly and probably never received enough heat at the time of the factory soldering process or the pins were a little scummy. Either way, some of the pins lost their connection inside the solder joint over time from heat expansion and vibration of the car. The bigger on-board resistors can form a solder crack also and it is worth the time to add flux and new solder to both ends. Solder problems on PC boards have been a plague ever since PC boards were invented. I have spent hundreds of hours re-soldering defective factory soldering. This is nothing new. There are numerous ways that factory soldering is done. Some of the processes are better than others but neither of them is 100% perfect. I guess we're just going to have to live with it. It creates jobs for repair people.
The problem causing the light to stay on has been diagnosed since. Turns out a capacitor on the actual board behind the cluster is acting up due to low solder flow. The fix is to resolder capacitor 821. Pretty simple fix once everything is taken apart.
Before you do all this bullshit, pull the E-brake lever, and while holding it open, lift the E-brake pedal with your foot so the pedal is resting at the highest point. This should trigger the switch and turn off the light. If not, then you probably have to do this BS.
When I bought the used F150 I noted that the emergency brake light stayed on. I kicked the lever around trying to get it to work. I thought the switch was bad and it would be an easy fix. If I had investigated further, I would have discovered that some other lights did not behave properly and would drain the battery overnight. Unfortunately, the Ford dealer did not bother to tell me the whole sad story (which I'm sure they knew) and I was stuck with repairing the cluster on my own after the purchase. They did, however, repair the door latches and the window switches because these problems were obvious. Yes, getting down to the instrument cluster and repairing it is BS but that is the only thing that can be done. Thanks a lot FORD!!
I had to learn the hard way. Spent extra money. Watched a lot of videos. I'm glad my video helped you. It is too bad the age of electronics has invaded cars to such a degree. Very frustrating. @@db-ro6ui
Bro I almost did all that B.S…….. then I seen your comment I’ve watched like 4 videos they all said the same shit. So I tryed what you’ve recommended and it went off instantly lmao….. your legendary
I noticed that when I pushed the connector slightly away from me the light went out and when I moved it slightly towards me the light went on, so I put a small piece of rubber between the connector and bezel to hold it out ever so slightly and the light remained out.
Simple fix. Add a 5 volt source to the dark green / yellow stripe wire on the left connector. I used a 12 volt source with a reducer to 5 volts. The problem is in the circuit board not the connector. Easy fix and only removing covers.
You may still a soldering problem in the instrument cluster usually in the upper left area. Likely the solder has turned loose on one of the bigger surface mount resistors in that area. You can send it off to a rework repair place for a full repair and upgrade. There may be other soldering problems lurking on the board. Resoldering the board should be done by a qualified tech.
Thank you Sir, I had looked at a few videos. Yours was short and to the point. I had the same issue, i spider both ends of 821 and that did the trick!!!😊. Thank you for your valuable video.
at 0:57 you can see on the display window its showing the fahrenheit symbol and the mileage. im sure the dome light and the door ajar sound does not work either.
I have no idea. If one pin is problematic then other pins may be also. I suggest you unsolder the connector from the board, remove it and reinstall it with fresh solder. You will need a solder sucker of some sort or risk damaging the traces and a hot enough iron to resolder them. The problem may actually be on the bigger surface mount resistors at the upper left hand corner. Resolder them also. If you cannot do all the above then send it out for repair before other problems begin to happen.
You can replace the circuit board but your mileage is retained in the board and the new one will have different mileage. You may get into legal issues, especially when selling the vehicle. I'm not sure but I think the dealer has to get involved. I bought a used cluster on eBay for comparison testing and parts. It worked but I could not fix the mileage issue.
Re-solder the header pins at the left and both ends of the bigger surface mount resistors on the upper left of the PC board. Wet with good flux and use proper irons with the correct heat so you don't destroy anything. That's all it took to fix both problems in my cluster. If you feel uncomfortable doing that you may need to look for some help to be safe. Watch all the videos about cluster repair.
