Cold weather Electrical/Idle problem

[Rick108]

My first post, so please bear with me. I have a ’99 F350 that has developed a strange cold-weather problem. The truck always starts fine, but then all the gauges and panel lights are dead – no “Wait to Start” light, no chimes, nothing. And, the accelerator has no effect! The truck idles normally, but the tach (and all other gauges) read zero, and stepping on the gas produces no change in RPMs. Other electrical items – interior & exterior lights, radio, etc. – all work fine.

After running at idle in this state for a period of time (anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes), suddenly all the gauges spring to life, the panel lights all come on and the chime sounds, as if I had just turned the ignition key on. At the same instant, the accelerator begins working again, too, and I can now rev the engine. From this point on, everything works fine, until the next morning. This problem happens maybe 50% of the time during cold weather. Preheating the engine does not help.

Any ideas?