Help, please! Dash gauges freeze while driving intermittently

[Profrog]

Goshen coach on a 2006 Ford E-450 chassis. I'll be driving along and all the instruments freeze...speedometer, tach, everything. The digital odometer goes blank. I don't know what causes it. I don't know what cures it, but eventually everything starts working again.

Also, I don't know if this might be related, but sometimes after I start it, I can't get the transmission out of park. I have a work around for that, though. If I turn the key to the ON position, but don't start the engine I can slide it into neutral and then start it with no problems. ??? Weird.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-Terry

[david.dgeorge07]

On my Jeep that happens and if I hit the cluster it starts working again.

On my bus that happened and some of the wiring for the CAN had gone bad. It’s network cable that allows everything to talk together.

Found the bad section and soldered in a patch. All works again.

[TheHubbardBus]

One of the more likely scenarios would be a loose connector in the gauge panel. Which would also mean an easy fix.

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Bad gauge clusters are quite common on Ford and GM offerings of late. Usually some sort of breakdown in the circuit boards. Remember, pretty much everything is digital now. There are options to have them repaired, however. The good news is that yours is based on the rather common Ford E-series van, which is likely the same cluster used in Ford's F-series. Might not be too expensive or big of a deal to have it diagnosed and pull it for repair if necessary.

As to not being able to get out of Park, Fords (and most other late model vehicles) have a brake-shift interlock that employs some sort of solenoid-actuated mechanism in the steering column, engaged and disengaged by a switch on the brake pedal assembly. Quite common for these to act up. There are usually multiple switches on the brake pedal, one of them may be going bad and could cause this. Could be something as simple as dust causing an intermittent connection. I know there is specifically a "Brake On/Off" (aka "BOO" switch on schematics) that could be a factor here.

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by CHEESE_WAGON

Bad gauge clusters are quite common on Ford and GM offerings of late. Usually some sort of breakdown in the circuit boards. Remember, pretty much everything is digital now. There are options to have them repaired, however. The good news is that yours is based on the rather common Ford E-series van, which is likely the same cluster used in Ford's F-series. Might not be too expensive or big of a deal to have it diagnosed and pull it for repair if necessary.

https://dashboardinstrumentcluster.c...tion-sticking/

This outfit charges $400

[Profrog]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't aware of how frequently late model Ford and GM instrument clusters failed. Thanks for that information. I found a YouTube video of a guy smacking one on a Ford Econoline and everything started working. His company repairs them. I checked locally and found a shop that repairs them. He says it only takes about half an hour and will run less than $150. Thanks again for all the help. You folks are great.