A very common problem. As usual, 'Quality is Job 1' Ford never admitted it,
but a poorly designed circuit board which provides power to the display runs
too hot in these Mach radios. Some live longer than others, but all
eventually fail.
You have several options:
1) Pay Ford for the repair - $$$
2) Send the radio to independent repair shop - $$
3) Replace the defective circuit board. This is a fairly easy job, which
does not require any fancy tools - $
4) The typical failure is components partially desoldering themselves from
the board due to the heat. Sometimes they make contact and sometimes they
don't. This is most likely happening in your case. Someone on the net is
making money off telling people how to solder them back. It may or may not
work.

If you opt for (3), you may buy the part directly from Pioneer for about
$100. It comes in a kit of 3 boards, of which you need only one. I believe
that the kit P/N is HWM5469. It's not much better than the original, and
will probably fail in a few years, just like the original did.
The gentleman who sells the resoldering instructions will also sell you a
repaired board, for about $100. He claims that it's better than new. I have
never seen them and have no opinion...

Google the archives of this group for much more details, including Pioneer
phone number, the gentleman's website, etc, etc.


> wrote in message
...
> i have a 98 explorer. & i was wondering if you can tell me why the
> clock, & radio lite dims & then goes out after i drive for about 10 er
> 15 min,,,,,
>