2002 Ford Taurus instrument panel lights don't come on for a while after driving is intermittent fault?

Answer 1

I had this same thing happen on an 02 Taurus Wagon. The instrument cluster illumination didn't work. The indicator lights for the security alarm, cruise control, etc. were all OK. Also the other interior lights that are supposed to come on with the cluster illumination: the ashtray lamp, the lighting in the air conditioner control panel, etc...all worked fine. But the panel illumination didn't go on, so I couldn't read the speedometer and gauges at night.

The circuit that supplies voltage to the instrument panel illumination is the same as for those "other interior lights...that come on" with it. So that meant there was nothing wrong with the headlight switch or the panel dimmer control. The likely culprits would be the instrument cluster itself, or the wiring to it. I took the cluster out (not as simple as it sounds, as the radio panel and the trim panels on the dash have to come off first) and examined where the wiring plugs into it. Seemed OK, and the panel lit up when I used a nine-volt battery to test it, so the likelihood was that there was an intermittent or broken connection in the wiring harness. Too much trouble to fix that, but it's easy to run one jumper wire from the plug that goes into the instrument cluster, to the top wire at the panel dimmer control, to bypass wherever the problem was. That was it. I would recommend if you try to do this yourself, you have a basic knowledge of automotive electrical systems. Without a factory wiring diagram, you need some "horse sense" to figure out hiw the involved circuitry works.