2016 PIU Explorer Cannot - are there interior courtesy lights?

[Reverend Biker]

Hello to the forum. I am a new owner of a 2016 PIU Explorer. The decommissioning of the vehicle seems to be a gentler one, the wires seemed to be carefully clipped and the rear doors had the rods reattached and are functional from the interior. Evereything was left intact for the most part, except the cages, radio and control panel with all of the lighting control swtiches.

I have noticed after my first night trip last evening that I have no lights at all when the doors open. I have not found a setting in the computer controls to control the dark mode. I tried the dimmer function, but that has no effect. I can hit the plus/minus dimmer and the map lights come on, but no dome lights and I am guessing there should probably be convenience lights under the dash, but it is completely dark, the rear and the cargo area as well. I see a light in the cargo area but that will not turn on.

I've had it for about a week, and I am still learning the vehicle. The manual is a waste of paper. Everything is "if equipped". I just found the Ford Truck Enthusiast vin decoder and am learning what is actually on my vehicle for options.

I am aware of the hack to bypass a bad door switch is to pull the fuse, but I am guessing that if you pull the fuse, then the maps lights on that circuit wouldn't come on either. I fear that one of the cut wires for the strobes may have included a power or ground of the interior lights.

Any insight that can be shared would be appreciated!

 

[syncceduppp]

With FORScan, it's possible to configure the lighting to work much like a normal civilian car. You'll need to search for and disable options in the BCM called "Silent Mode" and/or "Dark Car".
Unfortunately, the FPIU wiring harness omits lighting in the front row footwells (under the dash) and in the glovebox, amongst other places. I added a lot of lights to my 18 FPIU to address that, tied into the dome light circuit.

 

[Reverend Biker]

With FORScan, it's possible to configure the lighting to work much like a normal civilian car. You'll need to search for and disable options in the BCM called "Silent Mode" and/or "Dark Car".
Unfortunately, the FPIU wiring harness omits lighting in the front row footwells (under the dash) and in the glovebox, amongst other places. I added a lot of lights to my 18 FPIU to address that, tied into the dome light circuit.

Thanks for sharing that syncced. I appreciate you confirming the harness isn't there. I am not interested in messing with programming at this stage.

I already had plans to install LED strip lighting in the cargo area. I have enough to add them under each side of the dash as well.

I need to hunt down a wiring diagram to see if there is a wire for the dome circuit in the unused factory harness plugs inside the havis console.

Thanks!

 

[syncceduppp]

Thanks for sharing that syncced. I appreciate you confirming the harness isn't there. I am not interested in messing with programming at this stage.

I already had plans to install LED strip lighting in the cargo area. I have enough to add them under each side of the dash as well.

I need to hunt down a wiring diagram to see if there is a wire for the dome circuit in the unused factory harness plugs inside the havis console.

Thanks!

Welcome.
There are sellers on eBay that will send you a digital or flash drive copy of the wiring diagrams and service manuals for about $10-15. Otherwise the physical wiring diagram books sometimes pop up cheap.
I'm not aware of any dome light wiring under the center console. There are some wires behind the dash that you could tap into.
Programming really isn't that bad, and it's a key part of making an Interceptor into a nice civilian vehicle. I'd encourage you to consider it for the future, or find someone local who's already set up with FORScan who can do it for you.

 

[Reverend Biker]

Welcome.
There are sellers on eBay that will send you a digital or flash drive copy of the wiring diagrams and service manuals for about $10-15. Otherwise the physical wiring diagram books sometimes pop up cheap.
I'm not aware of any dome light wiring under the center console. There are some wires behind the dash that you could tap into.
Programming really isn't that bad, and it's a key part of making an Interceptor into a nice civilian vehicle. I'd encourage you to consider it for the future, or find someone local who's already set up with FORScan who can do it for you.

Thanks again for the advice. If you have not already found the youtube guy, de-policify. He has a bunch of videos converting PIUs to civilian models. He also shares a bunch of wiring harness pin-outs and how-tos. He is serios about his converstions, and he has gone so far as to create 3d printed filler parts to convert a civilian floor console; he has an insert for the shifter hole and the mode selector vacant holes, and its clean and pretty slick. He even wired in the ambient lighting and USB ports. Way more work than I want to get into.

I did not watch the whole video since I am not ready to start the project yet, I am still considering options and gathering resources. In the video I skimmed, he mentioned there are a few different wires available in one of those harnesses, a constant hot, one ignition controlled, and maybe one for ambient lighting.

Its too cold for driveway projects in the northeast, so I am organizing my resources and prioritizing my to-do list for the first warm weekend we have.

I opted for the PIU for the utility aspect. It has a higher towing rating than the other vehicles I considered, even with an aftermarket hitch. The drivetrain and suspension being built to a higher standard with better parts is a plus, and letting a municipal agency who operates under a Schedule A maintenance program deal with the warranty issues and recalls in its early years made this very appealing. It also comes from a low-salt community for having been in service in the rust belt. For all of the throttle body complaints on the 2016, at 130k I must assume that the problem was already dealt with.

It has taken over two years of searching to find this one. I appreciate the push in the right direction.

 

[syncceduppp]

The unique online FPIU community is one of the core reasons why I bought one of these vehicles. De-policify is only one of the excellent youtubers that I follow for info and tutorials. There are also several active facebook groups, plus this forum.
For every topic I generally watch a handful of videos to determine what work I want to do and how I'm going to go about it. There are some common mods that I decided didn't make sense for me (third row seats) and other less common ones that I decided to take on (SYNC 3).
For my interior lighting improvement, I used these Nilight white round LED lights installed in appropriate places around the headliner and interior trim. They're small, cheap, and bright, though a bit bluer than I'd care for.

 

[Reverend Biker]

Those LEDs look perfect. I already have some LEDs from another project in ice blue th. The wife likes the look of the blue ambient lighting in our Escape, so that was the direction I was heading with the explorer. The blue version of those LEDs look like they might be a match.

I have found several local sources for parts, though the ones I've talked to thru facebook marketplace are worthless. No one responds to questions and I've had no less than four people try to scam me telling me their parts will fit or are in better condition than they are. Do people think you aren't going to notice the big tear in the "excellent condition" carpet, or the split armrests on the "mint" door panels when you pick them up? I've wasted time that I will never get back.

I have a pretty solid plan for the lighting front and rear, and you gave me a great lead on lighting that will work behind the door handles. I hadn't considered messing with the headliner.

I took your advice and started to research forscan, but struck out. Their website said they are currently unable to sell licenses because there is no way to send money to Russia due to trade sanctions.

I think wiring interior lights and cleaning the fleet-car filth will keep me busy for the present. I'm in no rush. As long as it gets me A to B, the rest will come with time.