2015 Police Utility Modification Question

[unixadm]

Hello,

I just picked up a 2015 Police Utility Ecoboost that is pretty well optioned. It was a factory demonstrator and never in police service.

1. Has anyone tried swapping over to the 2016 style taillights? They seem to be physically the same, but I'm curious if they are plug and play or not?
2. Has anyone added the OEM Homelink visor? I ordered one but I'm expecting I'll need to do some wiring.
3. The rear door lock handles are not operable from inside. I ordered two release cables in the hopes that's all I'll need. Has anyone fixed this on their Police Utility?
4. Has anyone swapped to the Limited or Sport front and 2nd row seats? If so, what was involved?

Thank you!

 

[peterk9]

Hello,

I just picked up a 2015 Police Utility Ecoboost that is pretty well optioned. It was a factory demonstrator and never in police service.

1. Has anyone tried swapping over to the 2016 style taillights? They seem to be physically the same, but I'm curious if they are plug and play or not?
2. Has anyone added the OEM Homelink visor? I ordered one but I'm expecting I'll need to do some wiring.
3. The rear door lock handles are not operable from inside. I ordered two release cables in the hopes that's all I'll need. Has anyone fixed this on their Police Utility?
4. Has anyone swapped to the Limited or Sport front and 2nd row seats? If so, what was involved?

Thank you!

Some of the questions have previously been discussed. Using the 'Search' feature I found the following on the visor. Hope it helps.
http://www.explorerforum.com/xenfor...isor-with-garage-door-opener-homelink.306904/
There are threads on swapping bench for buckets and buckets for bench but only one recently involved a PIU.
I don't recall any posts on swapping the taillights from a PIU. If there is no functional difference they are likely the same.
The release cable was also discussed but I haven't been able to locate the post.
Do you still have the Durango? If so, perhaps it could be added to a signature and the 2015 PU added to your profile.

Peter

 

[unixadm]

Some of the questions have previously been discussed. Using the 'Search' feature I found the following on the visor. Hope it helps.
http://www.explorerforum.com/xenfor...isor-with-garage-door-opener-homelink.306904/
There are threads on swapping bench for buckets and buckets for bench but only one recently involved a PIU.
I don't recall any posts on swapping the taillights from a PIU. If there is no functional difference they are likely the same.
The release cable was also discussed but I haven't been able to locate the post.
Do you still have the Durango? If so, perhaps it could be added to a signature and the 2015 PU added to your profile.

Peter

Thanks Peter. I've updated my profile.

As for the visor, that shouldn't be an issue. The seat swap is something that I have not been able to find good information on and from what I can see, there are mounting differences between the retail and interceptor versions of the Explorer. I may just need to start pulling parts out and seeing whats going on with the mounting points.

In terms of the taillights, I like the 2016's better, so I figured it might be worth a try of swapping over to them. I'll need to take a look at the wiring diagrams for both years and check it out. I didn't find anything on this yet, so I figured I'd ask.

I do have one last question which I'd like to pose. Can you convert back to the standard radio control / sync buttons in place of the AUX controls which come on the PIU? I'm wondering if this would be a wheel swap, or if it would be more complex than that?

 

[unixadm]

I did some closer inspection of the 2016 tail lights and the physical fitment is not possible. I had never looked that close.

 

[Sgt1411]

Why buy a Police vehicle and start converting it back to a retail vehicle?

Why not just buy a 15 EcoBoost Sport and have all that you want?

 

[unixadm]

Why buy a Police vehicle and start converting it back to a retail vehicle?

Why not just buy a 15 EcoBoost Sport and have all that you want?

I guess because I can? Why do people buy retail vehicles and add Interceptor grilles to them or "slick top" them? Because they can. I don't see an issue with it.

1. I want to open my garage door and not have an opener which can be stolen within the vehicle.
2. I want to be able to camp out of the back of the Explorer like my old 2005 4Runner Limited with the seats folded down. Works great for an overnight trip, but with the Police 2nd row, that's not feasible. Plus the retail seats will offer better occupant safety in terms of whiplash. I will still need to do a bit of work to make it functional even after the retail rear seat, but that's minor in comparison to having a 6" ledge with the current seat backs folded down.
3. I wanted to have an Android based head unit to run Waze and other apps, like I have in my daily driver that the Explorer is replacing. For that reason, I needed to keep the audio and HVAC system at the "base" level to allow this capability.
4. I like to customize vehicles and work through projects. I have more than enough money to buy pretty much whatever I want, but I'd rather drop a couple grand into this Explorer and end up with the vehicle that would work quite well for me. I didn't want an Explorer Sport with 20" wheels, 3rd row seating and a bunch of heavy options (glass roof for example) that I didn't want. I'd rather just add the few that I do want and call it good.

 

[CommandPresence]

Let me know if you need any assistance with anything on the PIU. I own a 14'.

 

[unixadm]

I do have another question. Has anyone converted their PIU with the steering wheel AUX switches back to a factory configuration (volume and seek?). I have a leather wheel on order from LKQ (hard to pass up for $50) but I'm assuming there is some programming which would need to be done as well.

I used Forscan today to disable Dark Car mode and am working with Ford PI Mods to enable remote start, AWD gauge and perhaps sorting out this issue.

 

[Inane222]

Unixadm, when you enabled Dark Car, did anything new populate in your center cluster?

I'm working on a new 17' PIU trying to get the "silent mode" to populate. I know that starting on the 17's if it was ordered from the factory, Silent Mode would actually show up in the cluster and let you modify options. Tonight, I turned it on with Forscan, wrote it, cycled the key and nothing popped up. I know it's in there because I have pics of it in my latest Ford sales brochure, outlining the changes.

 

[unixadm]

When I disabled dark car, nothing new showed up. We're talking about apples and oranges though, since the IPC is quite a bit different than the 2015 and older PIU's. What I'd recommend is you try to find a 2017 PIU with that option installed. Use the VIN to look up the AS-BUILT IPC configuration parameters and compare them to yours. Keep in mind that a number of options will be set in your IPC, such as BLIS, Remote Start, etc. So finding a PIU with the same options as yours with this being the only change would be ideal, since the change would clearly show up in the AS-BUILT file. However, you may be forced to figure out those changes by comparing multiple vehicles. When I removed the AUX buttons from my 2015 PIU, I had to take some guesses since I couldn't find a 2015 with the same options as mine without those AUX buttons. Once I got that done, I enabled the AWD display as well. All told, Forscan got the job done for me.

I may actually attempt a 2016/2017 PIU cluster upgrade in my 2015. I absolutely hate the blue hue LCD they use on the 11-15 base clusters.

 

[Inane222]

Thank you Unixadm.

I have saved files on Forscan of all my as built data. I also downloaded it from Motorcraft and printed it all out. Then I went through Forscan and made note on the print out of what values belong to which module. Our local Ford dealer handles all of the state's PI orders so there is always a parking lot full of utility's and sedan's for me to look through window stickers and VIN#'s. It would be interesting to compare the values between the sedan and utility.