2002 Dash Lights not dimming as expected

Frankie the Fink

Frankie the Fink

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Feb 9, 2019
Thunderbird Year
2002
Purchased car last February with 18,000 miles on it - a pristine example.

I just noticed that when using the dimmer thumbwheel beside the steering column that the temp/speedo/tach/fuel lights stay at a constant level but the green mileage indicators and climate control panel both dim as expected. And the temp/speedo/tach/fuel dash lights appear to be on always; even with the dash switch in the manual OFF position. The dimmer wheel does operate the map/interior lights correctly and doesn't dim ANYthing with the dash switch in the OFF position (which I would expect).

Don't know if this is normal or a glitch; I'd say the FEM but all my research indicates that when that gets flaky the dash lights go out completely or become intermittent..
 

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Frankie the Fink said:
Purchased car last February with 18,000 miles on it - a pristine example.

I just noticed that when using the dimmer thumbwheel beside the steering column that the temp/speedo/tach/fuel lights stay at a constant level but the green mileage indicators and climate control panel both dim as expected. And the temp/speedo/tach/fuel dash lights appear to be on always; even with the dash switch in the manual OFF position. The dimmer wheel does operate the map/interior lights correctly and doesn't dim ANYthing with the dash switch in the OFF position (which I would expect).

Don't know if this is normal or a glitch; I'd say the FEM but all my research indicates that when that gets flaky the dash lights go out completely or become intermittent..
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Your entire instrument cluster should dim with the wheel and some cars not ,sure about T Bird will always have lit dash lights even in daylight with switch off. Not sure what year you have and if ford made any optional improvements
 
I updated your subject to summarize your post. This will help get more responses from readers.
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Its a bone stock 2002 Bird, some modern cars may burn the gauge lights all the time if they have LEDs with little downside I guess. I think this car has incandescent bulbs and sooner or later they'll burn out and from what I understand that's no fun at all...in the instrument cluster.

If not for this troublesome possibility I wouldn't care - the gauge lights are bright enough for night driving as they are...

Ran an OBD-II scan with my Blue Driver scanner this morning and all is apparently well vis a vis any trouble codes..
 
Looking at the service manual and analyzing the symptoms it appears the dimmer wheel on the dash feeds into the instrument cluster microprocessor that distributes the "dimming" signal to the climate control unit in the central stack, the left hand odometer and LCD display and the instruments... Not sure if that explains why the instrument lights are on even with the dash light switch in the OFF position though.

So, my initial call is the instrument cluster is the issue but the Ford dealer will run a diagnostic Wednesday... I can totally live with the issue as the instrument lights are bright enough at night, its just that they will burn even in daylight when the car is running so I don't know about their longevity.

But, depending on if its the FEM or Instrument Cluster I can send it off and get it repaired for a couple of hundred bucks with a two week turn around -- so, we'll see..
 
Well after two full days of diagnostics at Clemont Ford in Florida all the modules (FEM, REM, etc) checkout, dash light switch and dimmer also check out - so they're saying its the Instrument Cluster. So I pulled that this morning and its off to that company in Michigan that repairs them!
 

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Frankie the Fink said:
Well after two full days of diagnostics at Clemont Ford in Florida all the modules (FEM, REM, etc) checkout, dash light switch and dimmer also check out - so they're saying its the Instrument Cluster. So I pulled that this morning and its off to that company in Michigan that repairs them!
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What did Clermont Ford charge for the diagnosis? My cluster lights are out, and Clermont is not too far away from me.
 
They promised me the diagnostic charge would be $130; I took the car in and expected to get a dump of error codes or some such that day. Instead, the technician not only ran the diagnostics he took the aftermarket radio out and the climate control panel and instrument cluster were removed over the course of another day and he ran some more extensive tests and determined the instrument cluster is bad. I was a little upset and thought I'd get smacked with a $300-$400 repair bill.

Nope, still $130, very pleased. I dealt with Kristine as my service adviser....

Your issue sounds like the typical FEM lighting symptom (especially if your gearshift light is also out) and I'm betting they'll charge you the same and arrive at the result much more quickly.
 
Frankie the Fink said:
Instead, the technician not only ran the diagnostics he took the aftermarket radio out and the climate control panel and instrument cluster were removed over the course of another day and he ran some more extensive tests and determined the instrument cluster is bad.
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"Diagnostics" isn't just reading computer codes, it's literally diagnosing the problem, which often includes testing a part. So nothing surprising here about removing panels. For 130 bucks, they should do all that!
 
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If you say so, but doing an OBD scan or collecting diagnostic codes via proprietary scanners (per the Workshop Manual which I have) is a bit afield from a tech spending several hours removing my aftermarket radio and many other parts to determine if I pinched a wire or misconfigured something...at no extra charge.

I'll just leave it at that...
 
Frankie the Fink said:
If you say so, but doing an OBD scan or collecting diagnostic codes via proprietary scanners (per the Workshop Manual which I have) is a bit afield from a tech spending several hours removing my aftermarket radio and many other parts to determine if I pinched a wire or misconfigured something...at no extra charge.

I'll just leave it at that...
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The center console area with the radio/ac controls etc, can be removed in a matter of minutes, especially by someone with experience. I guarantee you that nobody spent hours on that car. The car might have been back there for hours while they smoked cigarettes, watched porn or Netflix on their phone, and looked at other cars.. My GF worked at a Ford dealers Service Department and they did "diags" for 120.00 all the time which would have included what they did on your car. They are diagnosing the problem so they do what is necessary to tell you what is wrong.

 
Nope, still $130, very pleased. I dealt with Kristine as my service adviser....

Your issue sounds like the typical FEM lighting symptom (especially if your gearshift light is also out) and I'm betting they'll charge you the same and arrive at the result much more quickly.
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Glad this worked out for you! I've managed to purchase a used FEM, and my plan it to install it in my car to keep it drivable, and, if that clears my problem, I'll send my original FEM off to Detroit for repair.
 
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