The whole dash display is dead except for warning lights. Beating on it stopped working. What's the most likely culprit?

1998 F-150 4.2L V6

 

I should mention it's a 5 speed and has the old style analog odometer

 

There are 3 connectors with harnesses that plug into the back of your gauge cluster. While it was intermittent (or not making any contact at all), banging may have disconnected one or more. I was in process of replacing a couple of blown bulbs on my cluster with LEDs, so I used the following link from another forum that shows how to get at the cluster for removal. Make sure that you clean the contacts while your at it. That might be all that's wrong.

http://www.f150online.com/forums/art...r-97-03-a.html

 

I pulled the instrument cluster out and checked the connectors. They were snug. What's the next best thing to check while I have it pulled apart?

 

and I should add that the warning lights and turn signal lights work, jut not the gauges and speedometer.

 

Sounds like a cold solder joint to me. I don't have much experience with these trucks yet, but I've seen it happen a LOT on gauge clusters. Look for any solder joints that are discolored, dull, or cracking, and add a single drop of new solder to them to reflow them. I bet it fixes the problem.

 

Check the fuses. i had that problem last year.