Ford Freestyle cluster - literally a cluster!!!

Question

I have a '05 Freestyle and truly love it. However, the mileage cluster is flickering on and off. Mostly off now. Took in to the only Ford dealership in town and they wanted to charge me $600.00 to replace it. I am not an idiot when it comes to cars. I may not be able to change out a transmission. But, come on!! It seems like is is a short (at least to me) since it is flickering, not consistently off. Anybody know the "real truth" here?

Answer 1

I have seen instrument clusters fail like this before.  They arent as simple as they use to be and on a Freestyle they are actually a module(computer).    It is shorted you're right, but it is probably shorted inside the Instrument cluster which is why they want to replace it.

Answer 2

they should at least show you the TSB (technical servise bulletin) relating to your problem or any other test result that they perform...

yes they will change the cluster,have change some ,the worst thing that will happen later if you dont change it is it will black out...

quick fix is to hit the dash when it happen just like the old days ,,sometimes it work....