2005 Ford F-150 electrical system problems

On december 22, 2006, the contact had used the cruise control and it smelled like something electrical was burning. He turned off the vehicle and when he returned 2 hours later the smell had dissipated. The contacted stated that on december 28, 2006 his 2005 ford f150 crew cab caught on fire. He had been driving approximately 8 minutes. The contact was driving approximately 35-40 MPH. The weather conditions were dry. The contact stated smoke started coming up out of the dash board.

I started the truck and the all the initial before engine starts lights came on, tachometer went to zero and there was a warning buzzer. I rapped the top of the dash after trying three restarts where nothing changed. The truck normalized and I drove it. I do not often drive the truck, so about three weeks later I was headed to pennsylvania and was about to enter the hrbt tunnel when the instrument cluster went to key on status (no tachometer or speedometer function, multitude of warning lights and warning buzzer).