1996 Explorer dash wiring differences

[ExplorerMax]

Good morning! Would anyone here happen to know what the differences or similarities are between the dash wiring of the V8 and V6 Explorers? Can they be easily swapped?

I'm in the beginning stages of doing a 5.0 swap into my Ranger. I'm going to swap everything from the Explorer into the Ranger. Dash, steering column, wiring harness, everything. I've done it once before and it worked great. BUT....my current Explorer is a Limited and has the automatic climate controls. I'd rather have the manual climate controls. I imagine the easiest thing to do would be to get a dash from a V8 Explorer, but I'm wondering if I could use a dash from a V6 Explorer.

Anyone have any experience or knowledge about this? Thanks!

 

[boominXplorer]

The dash harness is very similar but differs slightly between V6 and V8. Your going to want a 2wd v6 as the body control module ties in to dash harness and you don't need the extra 4x4 wiring. Also the tach wiring is in different pin on the cluster V8 vs V6 I think. 96 and 97 with a build date prior to 12/96 should be closest to direct fit.

 

[allmyEXes]

I noticed that my two '97 V-6 Exes have the CELs on the left side of the instruments and my early, early '97 5.0 Merc Mountaineer has the CEL on the right side of the instruments.

 

[ExplorerMax]

Thanks for the input.

Are there any differences in the 5.0 engine components as far as wiring is concerned? Is my '96 5.0 something that I could install in place of a '98 5.0 if I got a '98 with a bad engine?

 

[boominXplorer]

96 and 98 are 2 different harnesses, you need to stay within the years to keep everything plug and play. Engine long blocks interchange 96-early 97 (gt40) and late 97-01 (gt40p).

 

[ExplorerMax]

Ah, I see. That's great info. Thank for that! I guess the question that comes to mind is: Will the dash from a 96 or 97 Explorer with the V6 interchange with a V8 dash. I may be going about this in a roundabout way, but I'm already having trouble with the automatic climate control system in my Explorer and simply want to change out to manual controls. If I find the right donor vehicle, I can get the dash and the heater/AC box so I don't have to do any modifying to my system. Make sense?

 

[ExplorerMax]

Obviously finding a dash from a V8 Explorer would be the best option but there's not many of those available around me and I see a lot of V6 models.

Not trying to bombard you all with a lot of questions but I thought of something else. My Explorer is a Limited and has the digital diagnostic display in the center console. It also has the onboard air ride system. I don't care about the digital display or the air ride system. if I get a dash from a V8 explorer that does not have these systems, will it still work in my situation?

Bottom line is I would like to have all of the stuff from an XLT or similar and use the engine that I have several nce it has only 125,000 miles on it and runs great.