The early S 197 instrument goblins finally caught up with my '06. After a failed attempt to fix it myself I sent the cluster to Circuit Board Medics for repair. I had it back in a week. It works perfectly now.

This company offers a lifetime warranty on their work and the transaction was very smooth. There are numerous outfits that do this work including a bunch on E-bay but I would not hesitate to do business with these folks again. www.CircuitBoardMedics.com

 

Good to hear. I'm curious how bad your failed attempt was? I, too, had a failed attempt, and I don't believe the circuit board is repairable.

 

My initial problem in the cluster was the temp gauge giving crazy readings, low, high, never the same day to day. I did some research and found out the likely culprit was the stepper motor and new improved motors were available and not too difficult to replace. I found a supplier on Amazon and bought a set. They were very inexpensive, something like 6 for under $15.

I found a two part You Tube tutorial on replacing all the motors. I decided to just replace the one on the temp gauge and followed the instructions only to find that after reassembly none of my gauges functioned properly. It seemed impossible to calibrate the readings and when the ignition was turned off the needles would not zero out consistently. Frustrating as heck.

I'm skilled at soldering and know the basics of circuit board repair but it just seemed to make sense to turn this mess over to the pros. In retrospect I think I inadvertently broke the stops on the stepper motors when removing the needles to separate the components of the cluster.

This episode reminded me of advice from my dad who was a great shade tree wrench........"Son, you need to know when to stop."

 

That link is a great resource for all my different fords
Thanks for posting it I will definitely add it to my favorites list