I hope I'm not the first to encounter this problem and there is a fix out there for it.

I've got 20000 km on my F150 FX4 now. Had it for about 5 months. I was driving on the highway at about 120km / 70 mph and for about one second all the warning lights on the instrument cluster came on - kinda like they would if the truck lost power or the key was turned just one notch before you start. All the gauges went to 0 (fuel, temp, tach, speedometer).

The rest of the truck was unaffected. There was no loss of power. My radio stayed on etc. It was just the electronics of the cluster.

Within one second it went back to normal.

Being a software guy things looks like there was some bug in the firmware or something and something rebooted / reset right away. Good that it did that. However, it would suck to be the only guy that has this problem because given that it has occurred one time in 5 months, they will never figure this out.

Anyone else have anything to report here? I hear that there have been flashes for the instrument cluster. None have been applied to my truck - it was made around the end of May 2009.

My first step might have to be to go and get the firmware updated to the newest levels.

 

My opinion, if this has only happened, one time, and only for a second or two, in the entire time you have had the truck, in essence a 'hiccup', I would not worry about it, for now, or until it comes up again. Especially since driveabiltiy is not an issue here.

Recently, I had my AT temp guage (only) dive to zero on multiple times, over the past 1.5 months. There was a TSB in the system for this specific issue and so when I was in for service last week they reflashed this component and all is well since.

Without a specific TSB and without it doing it for them while in the shop, or a code in the computer (unlikely) they most likely will not take any action for now.

 

I think the reflash you are referring to is for the instrument cluster. I might get them to reflash my instrument cluster to the latest level of the firmware.

 

yeah if they've already come up with a firmware update for the cluster it's definately not going to hurt to get it flashed.

 

I own an 07 F150. This has happened to me twice in the past week first time it lasted for about 15 seconds. Yesterday it lasted longer than a minute. The only thing in common with both instances was that I was in a turn when it happened. And the only maintenance recently was I had to buy a new battery recently

 

The instrument cluster in the F150 will hold its own DTC's (diagnostic trouble code's). You can check this by starting the cluster in Engineering mode. If you have a reset button on the steering wheel all you have to do is:
1) with the truck off, insert the key in the ignition
2) Hold down the reset button
3) rotate the key to the RUN position (not start)
4) keep holding the RESET button untill the message center reads ENGINEERING MODE
(about 5 seconds)
5) you can now start the engine if you wish (not required)

Now your in! If you dont have the message center it should still work by holding the odometer reset button while completing the same sequence.

Now there will be a bunch of different parameters you can view by just hitting the RESET button. keep cycling through untill you get to a screen that reads STORED DTC. If any codes come up here, get it into the dealer. I don't think that the code will be useful to yourself as they are ford specific codes that only the dealer can de-code.
To exit engineer mode just hit the INFO button.

If you still have questions just ask!

 

Where exactly is the reset button? And thanks for the info you sent!

 

nice post I didn't realize the newer ones still had this feature!

 

Lots of threads out there about electrical problems. From what I have seen most of it was because of loose grounds.

 

Got the codes out. It gave me 4 codes Took a minute to figure it out but then it worked like you said. Unfortunately will have to wait for Monday. Thanks for the help!