2008 E350 with 90,000 miles

A few weeks ago while driving, the instrument cluster stopped working.

No issues for a few weeks until yesterday.

While driving, the instrument cluster stopped working again. This time after it was parked and turned off, it wouldn't start again. This time, the gauges showed 30 mph, oil pressure, and so on but the engine was off. It wouldn't restart so I had it towed.

Hours later the tow truck guy started it, drove it on the bed, and started it to unload it.

Battery is good. Alternator is good. Any ideas?

Bad timing as we started looking to replace the van about a week ago. Hoping not to dump time/money into it prior to trading it in.

Shorted wire to OD switch seems common in the Google machine

possible cause is a defective instrument voltage regulator. I don't know where the instrument voltage regulator is ...

Has anything else stopped working recently? When the cluster is working are they any other warning lights on?

Well, the windows wouldn't roll down before it stopped cranking up. That's all she noticed.

Fuse? Doesn’t explain the gauges moving with the engine off, though.

You may be better off buying a new van next time, instead of trying to find a used one.

Many vans are one year old with 100k miles on them and about 8K cheaper than new, and many have 200K miles and they still want 60% of the cost of a new one

Does moving the steering column up and down trigger it repetitively?

Moms 2009 F150 did the exact same thing. Crazy symptoms. Believe it or not it was then battery. Low voltage was giving the computer fits.

check ground, 90% of electrical problems are a bad ground, loosen, clean, tighten battery and any grounds you can find.

That would piss me off.



Will try it.



Hmmmm. Not sure. I'll check it out.



Finding several used ones in our price range with under 30k miles but all options are on the table.

Check/follow the wiring harness for spots where rubbing up against frame, etc.
A spot where the wrap/insulation has rubbed thru can cause random symptoms like this - common on high-mileage vehicles.

Not helpful but funny. Had an '85 Suburban that got 300k miles put on it. Toward the end the dash lights quit working, but tapping the plastic cover of the speedometer would make them come on. Then that didn't work any more. One night I headed home from a friend's house and a cat was walking across the road. i bumped the horn and the dash lights came on. That worked until Ol' Blackie went to recycle heaven.