Dead Instrument Cluster

USMCSpartan

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2007 4.6 MyColor instrument cluster seems to be fried. I’ve taken it it out and applied powder to it and wether in the vehicle or bench the gauges nor led’s come on. The only two things that I have seen come on are the air bag light when applied power to it on bench and the anti theft light blinks wether in or out of vehicle. I have replaced the cluster, but have been trying to figure this out for some time now. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 

stanghank

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2007 4.6 MyColor instrument cluster seems to be fried. I’ve taken it it out and applied powder to it and wether in the vehicle or bench the gauges nor led’s come on. The only two things that I have seen come on are the air bag light when applied power to it on bench and the anti theft light blinks wether in or out of vehicle. I have replaced the cluster, but have been trying to figure this out for some time now. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Did water get in the rt kick panel? There is an electronic panel behind the kick panel that controls the cluster.

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USMCSpartan

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Did water get in the rt kick panel? There is an electronic panel behind the kick panel that controls the cluster.

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Yeah, it went out a few years ago. I swapped it out for a used one with just over 30 miles more than mine did originally. Just had some time on my hands and was trying to figure out it if I could some how revive it lol


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USMCSpartan

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If the new cluster works I think you've answered your own question...

Geee, thanks for pointing that out, I didn’t realize that when I replaced it lol. Just had some spare time on my hands and was trying to see if I could get it running.


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Macman45

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Geee, thanks for pointing that out, I didn’t realize that when I replaced it lol. Just had some spare time on my hands and was trying to see if I could get it running.


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they’re not VIN tagged and if the mileage is close or the same you should be fine. I doubt the old one is revivable, at least not with a ton of poking around. Now if it was a failed stepper motor or LED, that’s one thing. Probably a chip that gave up the ghost
 
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Geee, thanks for pointing that out, I didn’t realize that when I replaced it lol. Just had some spare time on my hands and was trying to see if I could get it running.


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If there are any solder connections you could try heating them up to fix bad ones. It seems that bad soldering is the cause of many dead boards in cars.
 

Juice

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If there are any solder connections you could try heating them up to fix bad ones. It seems that bad soldering is the cause of many dead boards in cars.

Most automotive circuit boards are coated with some type of clear coat. Making resoldering a bit difficult.
 

USMCSpartan

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If there are any solder connections you could try heating them up to fix bad ones. It seems that bad soldering is the cause of many dead boards in cars.

Most automotive circuit boards are coated with some type of clear coat. Making resoldering a bit difficult.

I’m thinking this might be the case as well, although I did have that notorious water issue once but nothing seemed to have been damaged. The cluster and all other electrical components continued to work as they should for quite some time. I almost tried this thing I saw on YouTube where you put the circuit board in the oven and bake it for about 10 minutes at 385° but then as Juice stated I noticed that clear coat stuff and figured wasn’t worth burning my house down lol. That oven trick I can confirm works tho, I had an LG tv which had no inputs getting signal other than the antenna and it actually worked.


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I’m thinking this might be the case as well, although I did have that notorious water issue once but nothing seemed to have been damaged. The cluster and all other electrical components continued to work as they should for quite some time. I almost tried this thing I saw on YouTube where you put the circuit board in the oven and bake it for about 10 minutes at 385° but then as Juice stated I noticed that clear coat stuff and figured wasn’t worth burning my house down lol. That oven trick I can confirm works tho, I had an LG tv which had no inputs getting signal other than the antenna and it actually worked.


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You can do the same thing with a soldering iron. Just heat up all the solder joints until they flow. If there are not too many that is. The iron will melt right thru any coating.
 

stealthytom

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if you have FORSCAN maybe there is an Instrument Cluster code that can give you a hint to the problem. have you tried to read them?
 

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