TheOldNoob
Elite Explorer
- Joined
- July 14, 2024
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 10
- City, State
- West Valley, Utah
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2005
Explorer XLT
So, this one time at band camp, I mean my playground, a local wrecking yard, I was walking along, minding my own business. When all of a sudden, out of nowhere this mean squirrel opens the door to a Mountaineer and starts hitting me in the face with the gauge cluster.
OK, not quite how it happened. But, after seeing that gauge cluster, I decided to snag it for my ‘05 Explorer. That was back in April, and here it is at the end of November needing something to do. So I pulled my gauge cluster out and swapped the gauge faces and needles. While I was at it, I figured it was a good time to swap out the bulbs for LEDs while I was at it.
I got the LEDs from Amazon
I wanted to keep my mileage and all that, so I only wanted to swap out the gauge face and needles. The LED swap was an afterthought.
Because I could not find anything on polarity of the light sockets in the gen 3 cluster (I installed 4 wrong) I checked each one after they were all working and indicated where positive is on the back of the cluster after it is installed.
I figured I'd post this first so that if someone is only looking for polarity locations they wouldn't have to search through the entire thread for the info.
The first step is to disconnect the negative battery cable. You can get by without doing so, but putting my face that close to an airbag is not my idea of a thrill.
After disconnecting the battery and letting it set for a moment to let the safety backup feature (not the correct name, but it works) discharge any remaining stored charge, now it is time to remove the gauge cluster. XtremeRanger did something similar to his, but his goals and methods are a bit different than mine. not to mention that the back of his shows the lights in different locations. His write up already shows how to remove the cluster from the vehicle so I will not repeat what has already been done. Instead, I will direct you to his write up for that part.
www.explorerforum.com
I did not remove the steering column cover for my project like XtremeRanger did. It might have been easier that way, I don't know.
Once you have the cluster out, it's time to disassemble the cluster. The method and order I used work for me and may not be the correct or even the "right" way, but it worked.
First start with the 2 t-15 torx screws on the top of the cluster.
Now go to the bottom and release the 2 black clips.
Now go back to the top and release the 4 black clips.
I had to bounce back and forth between clips because they liked to reattach themselves. A helper would have been nice. Once they are all un-clipped, remove the clear screen and housing as one unit. They can be separated if you want to, but I did not see the need to do so. Your choice. As you can see, my cluster doesn't have a message telling me where the fuel door is located.
The bezel comes right off.
Now, here I reinstalled the cluster,
turned the key to the ACC position so the gauges would power up and activate. I then took a sharpy and marked where each gauge was reading. I made the mistake of not doing this on my '96 F250 and it cost me a replacement gauge cluster. Of course, it worked out for me as I was able to put a lightning cluster in that one
I used a trim removal tool to remove the gauge needles. I don't know if you can see them, but I can kindof see the marks I made with the sharpy on some of the gauges. If you are going to dispose of the old gauge face, I recommend using a contrasting color to see it easier. I plan to try and sell the mountaineer cluster so I used black.
I hope you haven't put away your t-15 yet. Here's 10 more screws. not just the plastic, but also to remove the circuit board from the housing.
The back of the cluster after removing the plastic and screws.
Comparison of the Explorer and the Mountaineer housing. Don't remember why I took the comparison pic, but here you go.
The bulb socket with the old bulb and the new LED
Reassembly is the opposite of destruction, I mean dis-assembly
. Before installing the gauge needles, reconnect the cluster to your vehicle, turn the key to the ACC position, and using the marks made on the old cluster, install the gauge needles. Then, pull the cluster out again to finish reassembly.
Here is the finished product.
Put back in the Explorer.
You can see that the lower MPH digits are not as bright as the rest of the cluster. Turns out I had 4 LEDs installed wrong. Hence the first pic in the thread. 2 were in the dials, while the other 2 were the turn signal indicators. Found those later, Had to pull over to check the exterior turn signals. Fortunately, those were still working.
So, before posting this thread, I put the cluster back in the Explorer. I took it out to put the plastic piece on the back and find the polarity positions for the LEDs. I must have goofed something up, because I one of the turn signal indicators are not working. But, because the exterior signal is still working, and because of the floating icicles, I will deal with that later. If I messed up on that polarity in the first post, I will post a correction. But, here is how it looks at night.
I'm not going to put the rest of the dash back together yet. I am in the process of moving the shifter from the steering column to the floor, and have a few things to remove and a few extension harness' to make first.
Hope you enjoyed the write up.
Also, If I misspelled something that spell correct didn't catch, I apologize. Putting words together was never my strong suit. I am better with a wrench than with a pencil. Just saying.
OK, not quite how it happened. But, after seeing that gauge cluster, I decided to snag it for my ‘05 Explorer. That was back in April, and here it is at the end of November needing something to do. So I pulled my gauge cluster out and swapped the gauge faces and needles. While I was at it, I figured it was a good time to swap out the bulbs for LEDs while I was at it.
I got the LEDs from Amazon
I wanted to keep my mileage and all that, so I only wanted to swap out the gauge face and needles. The LED swap was an afterthought.
Because I could not find anything on polarity of the light sockets in the gen 3 cluster (I installed 4 wrong) I checked each one after they were all working and indicated where positive is on the back of the cluster after it is installed.
I figured I'd post this first so that if someone is only looking for polarity locations they wouldn't have to search through the entire thread for the info.
The first step is to disconnect the negative battery cable. You can get by without doing so, but putting my face that close to an airbag is not my idea of a thrill.
After disconnecting the battery and letting it set for a moment to let the safety backup feature (not the correct name, but it works) discharge any remaining stored charge, now it is time to remove the gauge cluster. XtremeRanger did something similar to his, but his goals and methods are a bit different than mine. not to mention that the back of his shows the lights in different locations. His write up already shows how to remove the cluster from the vehicle so I will not repeat what has already been done. Instead, I will direct you to his write up for that part.
How to: - Mountaineer Cluster installed - Pics, problems, fixes, walk-thru WARNING! 35 pics!
~~~WARNING! 35 pics!!!!~~~ Oook...I know I don’t post on here too often, you guys have given me lots of info. I've been doing some upgrades to my girlfriends 2002 here in the last few weeks and this install was the most time consuming. There isn’t much info about this install on here and...
I did not remove the steering column cover for my project like XtremeRanger did. It might have been easier that way, I don't know.
Once you have the cluster out, it's time to disassemble the cluster. The method and order I used work for me and may not be the correct or even the "right" way, but it worked.
First start with the 2 t-15 torx screws on the top of the cluster.
Now go to the bottom and release the 2 black clips.
Now go back to the top and release the 4 black clips.
I had to bounce back and forth between clips because they liked to reattach themselves. A helper would have been nice. Once they are all un-clipped, remove the clear screen and housing as one unit. They can be separated if you want to, but I did not see the need to do so. Your choice. As you can see, my cluster doesn't have a message telling me where the fuel door is located.
The bezel comes right off.
Now, here I reinstalled the cluster,
turned the key to the ACC position so the gauges would power up and activate. I then took a sharpy and marked where each gauge was reading. I made the mistake of not doing this on my '96 F250 and it cost me a replacement gauge cluster. Of course, it worked out for me as I was able to put a lightning cluster in that one
I used a trim removal tool to remove the gauge needles. I don't know if you can see them, but I can kindof see the marks I made with the sharpy on some of the gauges. If you are going to dispose of the old gauge face, I recommend using a contrasting color to see it easier. I plan to try and sell the mountaineer cluster so I used black.
I hope you haven't put away your t-15 yet. Here's 10 more screws. not just the plastic, but also to remove the circuit board from the housing.
The back of the cluster after removing the plastic and screws.
Comparison of the Explorer and the Mountaineer housing. Don't remember why I took the comparison pic, but here you go.
The bulb socket with the old bulb and the new LED
Reassembly is the opposite of destruction, I mean dis-assembly
. Before installing the gauge needles, reconnect the cluster to your vehicle, turn the key to the ACC position, and using the marks made on the old cluster, install the gauge needles. Then, pull the cluster out again to finish reassembly. Here is the finished product.
Put back in the Explorer.
You can see that the lower MPH digits are not as bright as the rest of the cluster. Turns out I had 4 LEDs installed wrong. Hence the first pic in the thread. 2 were in the dials, while the other 2 were the turn signal indicators. Found those later, Had to pull over to check the exterior turn signals. Fortunately, those were still working.
So, before posting this thread, I put the cluster back in the Explorer. I took it out to put the plastic piece on the back and find the polarity positions for the LEDs. I must have goofed something up, because I one of the turn signal indicators are not working. But, because the exterior signal is still working, and because of the floating icicles, I will deal with that later. If I messed up on that polarity in the first post, I will post a correction. But, here is how it looks at night.
I'm not going to put the rest of the dash back together yet. I am in the process of moving the shifter from the steering column to the floor, and have a few things to remove and a few extension harness' to make first.
Hope you enjoyed the write up.
Also, If I misspelled something that spell correct didn't catch, I apologize. Putting words together was never my strong suit. I am better with a wrench than with a pencil. Just saying.
