𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝟮.𝟬:
A lesser known set of Ford Five Hundred Instrument Cluster failure symptoms -- with solution & links.
Apparently there was a period in the early 2000's when the formulations for solder changed, industry-wide, removing a lead-based ingredient and making for brittle connections that would show up down the road. 2005 500s, Montegos and Freestyles all suffered. By 2006, when cars were still under warranty, Ford issued TSB 06-09-7, advising replacing clusters under warranty and offering a slight clue that cold/broken/weak solder joints were the root cause.
IC Failures on early-build 2005 500s became common, and by 2011 an enterprising owner had diagnosed which 2 solder points were failing on the ICs' circuit board, with a HOW TO fix the problem.
Most prominently, failure symptoms included: the gauge needles making full sweeps around their dials + the ICs going dark + the reverse lights on the rear of the car staying on. This is 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟭.𝟬.
𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟭.𝟬. became fairly well-known in the 500/Montego/Freestyle community -- along with the soldering hack that could resolve the ICs going dark + needle sweep + reverse light failures.
But there has also been at least one other, lesser known set of different -- but slightly similar -- symptoms that was never correlated to the IC and never diagnosed, as far as I can tell.
These symptoms showed up on my car last week, which I'm calling 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟮.𝟬. In addition to various error codes showing in the cluster's message center:
oil and brake warning lights staying on in the IC,
no IC blinker lights and no blinker clicking sounds though the actual exterior blinker lights function
bright headlight indicator not working tho actual high/low headlights do function,
rear parking sensors alerting in Drive (e.g. being passed by another car![😱]()
),
center console HVAC lights staying on after the car is cut off (![😱]()
)
exterior white reverse lights staying on.
It was that last item, common to 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟭.𝟬, that made me think the new symptom group could also be related to IC cold/weak/broken IC solders.
I did find several references to the exact set of 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟮.𝟬 symptoms, but disturbingly, no solutions -- though I had a strong suspicion they were related, again, because in both cases the exterior white reverse lights stayed on.
With this, I removed the IC and, after reacquainting myself with soldering via Youtube... commenced soldering. It took a few tries at warming or adding solder to the cold solders and then reconnecting the IC to check it, before success -- probably because my soldering skills are strictly novice, making it an unnerving process and making my work overly timid.
Second pass -- and 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟮.𝟬. symptoms disappeared.
Importantly, a video on YouTube about fixing the IC problems, linked below, did identify a grouping of four pins toward the upper left on the rear side of the IC that may also need resoldering. I warmed those, too.
Hope this spares someone some serious headaches and some cash.
Cheers. Hit me up with any questions -- and thanks.
Resources:
𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟭.𝟬:
Original 2011 post on myford500.com with solution:
viewtopic.php?t=15742
Youtube explanation of 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟭.𝟬:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nGFUVb2gns
2006 Ford TSB 06-17-9:
https://www.tsbsearch.com/Ford/06-17-9
Removing the IC from the car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8FtzSstQ1Q
Early references to 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟮.𝟬. symptoms:
https://www.myfordfreestyle.com/forums/ ... php?t=4725
https://www.myfordfreestyle.com/forums/ ... php?t=9735
A lesser known set of Ford Five Hundred Instrument Cluster failure symptoms -- with solution & links.
Apparently there was a period in the early 2000's when the formulations for solder changed, industry-wide, removing a lead-based ingredient and making for brittle connections that would show up down the road. 2005 500s, Montegos and Freestyles all suffered. By 2006, when cars were still under warranty, Ford issued TSB 06-09-7, advising replacing clusters under warranty and offering a slight clue that cold/broken/weak solder joints were the root cause.
IC Failures on early-build 2005 500s became common, and by 2011 an enterprising owner had diagnosed which 2 solder points were failing on the ICs' circuit board, with a HOW TO fix the problem.
Most prominently, failure symptoms included: the gauge needles making full sweeps around their dials + the ICs going dark + the reverse lights on the rear of the car staying on. This is 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟭.𝟬.
𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟭.𝟬. became fairly well-known in the 500/Montego/Freestyle community -- along with the soldering hack that could resolve the ICs going dark + needle sweep + reverse light failures.
But there has also been at least one other, lesser known set of different -- but slightly similar -- symptoms that was never correlated to the IC and never diagnosed, as far as I can tell.
These symptoms showed up on my car last week, which I'm calling 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟮.𝟬. In addition to various error codes showing in the cluster's message center:
oil and brake warning lights staying on in the IC,
no IC blinker lights and no blinker clicking sounds though the actual exterior blinker lights function
bright headlight indicator not working tho actual high/low headlights do function,
rear parking sensors alerting in Drive (e.g. being passed by another car
),center console HVAC lights staying on after the car is cut off (
)exterior white reverse lights staying on.
It was that last item, common to 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟭.𝟬, that made me think the new symptom group could also be related to IC cold/weak/broken IC solders.
I did find several references to the exact set of 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟮.𝟬 symptoms, but disturbingly, no solutions -- though I had a strong suspicion they were related, again, because in both cases the exterior white reverse lights stayed on.
With this, I removed the IC and, after reacquainting myself with soldering via Youtube... commenced soldering. It took a few tries at warming or adding solder to the cold solders and then reconnecting the IC to check it, before success -- probably because my soldering skills are strictly novice, making it an unnerving process and making my work overly timid.
Second pass -- and 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟮.𝟬. symptoms disappeared.
Importantly, a video on YouTube about fixing the IC problems, linked below, did identify a grouping of four pins toward the upper left on the rear side of the IC that may also need resoldering. I warmed those, too.
Hope this spares someone some serious headaches and some cash.
Cheers. Hit me up with any questions -- and thanks.
Resources:
𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟭.𝟬:
Original 2011 post on myford500.com with solution:
viewtopic.php?t=15742
Youtube explanation of 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟭.𝟬:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nGFUVb2gns
2006 Ford TSB 06-17-9:
https://www.tsbsearch.com/Ford/06-17-9
Removing the IC from the car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8FtzSstQ1Q
Early references to 𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟮.𝟬. symptoms:
https://www.myfordfreestyle.com/forums/ ... php?t=4725
https://www.myfordfreestyle.com/forums/ ... php?t=9735