Instrument Cluster went dark!

[richl025]

I've seen this described once or twice here without any definitive resolution on what the heck happened...

Was on a longer drive, topped up at an EA station for my trip home. I was a little sleepy so pulled into a rest area to take a nap.

I have no idea if this is important - but I turned the truck off, opened & closed the door to shut off the entertainment system (was listening to a podcast via Apple CarPlay), used the door button to lock the doors, and then reclined the driver seat for a nap...

After waking up, I returned the seat to normal position, hit the Start button.... and the 15" center screen lit up like normal but the Instrument Cluster stayed dark! There was a dim peripheral blue glow around it (as others have described) but no data displayed on the screen at all!

I shut the vehicle off & restarted several times, including opening, closing, locking & unlocking the doors - no dice, the panel stayed dark!

I was able to drive safely home (using other cars on the road to judge my speed) - it appeared the lane assist & BlueCruise were functioning like normal, but with a dark screen.

After getting home & googling, I did a "12V reset" (after checking the "Software Update" screen to make sure nothing was happening) and now everything works normally!

I've seen 3 or 4 reports of this happening - anyone ever find out what the heck is going on? Did my non-standard sequence of shutting things down contribute? (Or is that just a red herring?)

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[bigtundra]

I had the same thing happen a couple of weeks ago. It fixed itself after an hour or so, but same symptoms you had. Immediately after it started turning the vehicle on/off had no affect.

 

[Adventureboy]

Did you try a Sync reset by pressing the Volume-Down and Skip-Right buttons on the wheel for about 10 seconds? I've not had this happen with the instrument cluster but I've had the centre screen lock up. I am curious if a Sync reset would clear the brains on the cluster too.
I am also curious if anyone has had this happen with the cluster multiple times or just once.

 

[bigtundra]

Yeah the center console reset had no impact

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I've seen this described once or twice here without any definitive resolution on what the heck happened...

Was on a longer drive, topped up at an EA station for my trip home. I was a little sleepy so pulled into a rest area to take a nap.

I have no idea if this is important - but I turned the truck off, opened & closed the door to shut off the entertainment system (was listening to a podcast via Apple CarPlay), used the door button to lock the doors, and then reclined the driver seat for a nap...

After waking up, I returned the seat to normal position, hit the Start button.... and the 15" center screen lit up like normal but the Instrument Cluster stayed dark! There was a dim peripheral blue glow around it (as others have described) but no data displayed on the screen at all!

I shut the vehicle off & restarted several times, including opening, closing, locking & unlocking the doors - no dice, the panel stayed dark!

I was able to drive safely home (using other cars on the road to judge my speed) - it appeared the lane assist & BlueCruise were functioning like normal, but with a dark screen.

After getting home & googling, I did a "12V reset" (after checking the "Software Update" screen to make sure nothing was happening) and now everything works normally!

I've seen 3 or 4 reports of this happening - anyone ever find out what the heck is going on? Did my non-standard sequence of shutting things down contribute? (Or is that just a red herring?)

Hi Rich! I can look into your Lightning's concern on my end. To get started, could you please send a private message over with the name/location of your local Ford dealer and your Lightning's VIN?

 

[Firepower 2010]

I have this same issue and similar circumstances. Truck has been at Villa Ford in Orange CA for 2 weeks with no resolve...

 

[PAndaemonium]

Hi Rich! I can look into your Lightning's concern on my end. To get started, could you please send a private message over with the name/location of your local Ford dealer and your Lightning's VIN?

Just had this problem happen as well. This clearly is a reportable safety issue and fairly widespread according to the forums.

 

[dcostenco]

Had this problem today. Almost new Lariat ER. The car was in a dealership recently to fix other problems, but they didn’t update the sync software. Going to insist dealership about update . This is a no go problem

 

[LightningLover]

Had this problem today. Almost new Lariat ER. The car was in a dealership recently to fix other problems, but they didn’t update the sync software. Going to insist dealership about update . This is a no go problem

Did you try doing a Sync screen reset?

Did you try pulling fuse # 13?
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...r-has-gone-dark-fix-post-19.15413/post-333031

 

[dcostenco]

Did you try doing a Sync screen reset?

Did you try pulling fuse # 13?
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...r-has-gone-dark-fix-post-19.15413/post-333031

I tried screen reset , didn’t pull the fuse , just drove to home and tried another key fob as it was suggested from a similar thread. It works after that

 

[thedadlegend]

PSA: Fuse 18 is a spare for 13. Use needle nose pliers to replace.

I was trying to reseat 13 and dropped it. Fell right in between the metal and the carpet/floor trim. Now fuse 13 is forever part of the truck. Don’t be like me, use needle nose pliers and make sure that fucker is seated.

 

[Stevie Wonder]

Adding another instance of "Instrument Cluster Went Dark".
2023 XLT Lightning. Took delivery on May 27, 2024. On July 29 my wife drove home from work without instruments as she could not get the IC to come on, despite several "Off / On" cycles of the Start switch. When she arrived home, I confirmed the IC was dark except for a faint glow around the edges. The 12" center stack display worked fine.
I did some googling and found a couple of forum threads including this one, dating back to at least November 2023, so apparently this has been going on for others for a while as well. After letting the truck sit "Off" for about 30 minutes, I checked again and the IC came on as normal.
After 2 calls to the dealership with no callback I called the Ford BEV In-Vehicle Technology group and reported it. The phone rep said he was not aware of the issue but documented it.
Thankfully, it has not happened again, but unless/until the issue gets officially fixed, I bought a fuse puller and showed my wife where the Instrument Cluster fuse is located. So if it does happen again, she can do the "pull fuse 13 to reset the IC" trick that seems to have worked for others.
I see a lot of forum posts about different workarounds for recovering from "Dark IC Syndrome" but have not seen any official "This issue has been fixed with the following corrective action....." notices. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places, but does anyone know whether this issue has been or is being actively addressed by FoMoCo?

 

[Maxx]

I just had this happened to me for the first time and as first problem in two years with my truck. The only thing that I did differently from my SOP, was that I turned on the climate control remotely before I got into the truck. As soon as I left the driveway, I noticed IC was dark. I did the sync reset, no dice. Did BMS reset (even though I didn’t think it had anything to do with it), no dice. Drove back home took the wife’s ICE and was out for 6 hours. When I came back, it was back to normal. From what I have read here, it looks like my resets didn’t contribute to the solution and it was the truck natural reset after being off for a while that fixed it. The truck says it has not had any OTA updates for months. Anyone has any idea what set of conditions may cause this? Now I am wondering if I hit a combination of buttons that takes IC to dark mode. Software dudes do strange things on their last day before they are let go.

 

[ijustice]

2023 lariat er with 38000 miles, same thing just happened, remote climate turned on, went out to truck about 10 minutes later, blank screen, drove home like that. Will now go back outside and try the aforementioned resets.

 

[TaxmanHog]

2023 lariat er with 38000 miles, same thing just happened, remote climate turned on, went out to truck about 10 minutes later, blank screen, drove home like that. Will now go back outside and try the aforementioned resets.

Before you do anything adverse, (12v disconnect or fuse pulling) let the truck sit for a few hours, you don't want to crash any systems with an untimely powerdown.

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