I have a 1996 Explore and my speedometer is erratic. While traveling at 70 mph it will suddenly drop to 50 mph stay there for a few minutes then jump back to 70. This has been going on for abount 2 weeks. Today again to drop 50 and stayed there even when I came to a full stopped. The needle started to drop down very slowly but it did not go to zero. I turned off the engine and the needle did not go to zero either. I tapped on the speedometer and the needle start to slowly move to zero but does not go all the way. Several months ago my cruise control stopped working also. When I tried to use the cruise control the indicator in the dashboard would flash once every time I pressed the set button. My questions are: Is the cruise control issue related to my speedometer trouble? If yes, what could be the problem? Does the entire instrument cluster have to be replaced if the trouble is with the speedometer?
Thanks for help. Alex