This weekend I purchased a 2008 ford f150 xlt xtr supercrew. And being that I live in Canada before a vehicle can be licenced under your name it has to go through a safety inspection. A friend who is certified to do the inspection checked out the truck. It needed lower balljoints, a rear abs sensor, and the break light was on in the dash, which has to be out for safety. The break light is connected to two things the park brake sensor, and the sensor in the bottom of the master cylinder. My dad is a licenced mechanic, so we checked through the wiring and the switches to find that everything working and the light still being on. We diagnosed the probblem as a shorted out gauge cluster, it is one of the downfall of these trucks. So we pull apart the cluster, unplug it from the truck and take it apart trying to find the bulb, to make the light go out. We ended up putting a piece of razor blade under the skin of the gauges covering the hole. It worked! There is no more pesky brake light, but after putting the dash back together i realized that the message center in the bottom right is now blank. There is no odometer, no direction or trip counter. Do i have to get the dash re programed to the truck? Any advice Would be appreciated, im not in the mood to blow $500 On a new dash

 

i can't help you out much, but I'm pretty sure a new gauge cluster is not much at all