Digital Dash Swap?

[geoph1986]

For the fuel gauge, you'd have to find out what contact pads on the LED circuit board are for the fuel display, then you can do whatever you need to. I didn't know the Explorer message center had a fuel gauge. Also, the Explorer message center has a lot more buttons you'll have to find places for. I'm only looking at four, and I already have a place on the Explorer's cluster face for the "reset" button.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

well the explorer one doesnt have a conventional fuel gauge. I forgot the cougar fuel gauge was part of that far right screen. On a second gen, the message center is in the center console. I didnt really want it in the center console on my explorer, so i thought i could maybe find a way to run it up to the cluster itself. But i do want to retain the cougar fuel gauge, but dont want redundant message centers lol
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[geoph1986]

But what does the Explorer message center tell you (other than exterior temperature), that the Cougar's doesn't?

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

oh boy lots of things. Im sure im forgetting some but fuel economy both instant and average, distance till empty, remaini fuel in gallons, trip odometer, fuel consumed in gallons, oil life monitor. Then it tells you low coolant, oil, and washer fluid levels. And depending on what year message center you get, it has a lights out module which will tell you if you have any external lights burned out. To me, it can offer more info than the cougar message center.
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[geoph1986]

oh boy lots of things. Im sure im forgetting some but fuel economy both instant and average, distance till empty, remaini fuel in gallons, trip odometer, fuel consumed in gallons, oil life monitor. Then it tells you low coolant, oil, and washer fluid levels. And depending on what year message center you get, it has a lights out module which will tell you if you have any external lights burned out. To me, it can offer more info than the cougar message center.
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Neat, I didn't know that it did all that, but I did know that there's a bunch of wiring to get all that working. I'll only have to run two (maybe three, if I need to provide the Cougar cluster with a constant 12 volts) additional wires. Wouldn't you have to put sensors in a bunch of places to get all the features in a Gen I, like low washer fluid, low coolant, etc?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Does this remind anybody of the original PCs?

 

[geoph1986]

BrooklynBay, it sure does...wanna play pong? Is that in a Caddi?

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

yea you would need all those sensors. But if you rob them off a second gen and run the wires, shouldn't be too hard. but it would be very neat to have all that working on a first gen. Especially on a vehicle like mine that is almost 20 years. While i dont like dummy gauges, they would be nice to have to help monitor stuff. Especially since i just rebuilt the motor.
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[BrooklynBay]

It's a Buick Reatta.

 

[arco777]

Geoph1986, you've inspired me to attack this project too. I will check the PickNPull after work today and try to acquire a digital dash and a spare Explorer one for chopping up.

 

[arco777]

I've obtained a gauge set out of a 92 Cougar that's just like yours. I'm going to take a little different approach on installing it though. I won't post progress here because I will probably make a fool of myself or even give up at some point, but I will have questions

One thing I was thinking about this install. For setting the odometer to match your old gauges, that should be pretty easy with the right tools. I would bet that all that's required is to locate the offending ROM chip, pull it and copy the image, edit the hex for the odometer reading, flash a new EEPROM with the image and install that. Sounds daunting but definitely possible, no harder than reflashing chips in your engine computer.

It is funny how I never messed with the Explorer's gauges, but I did some electronics repairs when I pulled the gauges out of my 91 Camaro. From the construction of the plastic housing and mounts to the choice of bulbs to the actual electronics and wiring, you'd think the gauges for the Camaro and the Explorer were made by the same company.

 

[geoph1986]

I've obtained a gauge set out of a 92 Cougar that's just like yours. I'm going to take a little different approach on installing it though. I won't post progress here because I will probably make a fool of myself or even give up at some point, but I will have questions

That's awesome you got one! This will be good to have another person working on the same project to help each other out, if it's needed.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

One thing i remember reading somewhere is I think after 91, the 20K ohm resistor moved from being external to the oil gauge to internal. So if you are wanting a real oil gauge on the 92 cluster, it might take a bit more work to make it happen

 

[geoph1986]

One thing i remember reading somewhere is I think after 91, the 20K ohm resistor moved from being external to the oil gauge to internal. So if you are wanting a real oil gauge on the 92 cluster, it might take a bit more work to make it happen

The resistor is in one of two places. It's either on the rear of the instrument cluster (like our Explorers) or in line about 6" from the oil sending unit. Either way you just put a jumper in place of the resistor and get a different oil pressure sending unit.

 

[arco777]

I'm really not stressed about the oil gauge, it's not a priority 'cause I know the X is good on that line. Someday I'll do the oil gauge mod though. I'm cool with resistors, that's why I had pulled the Camaro's gauges, to tap in a resistor replacing one in a network packaged as an IC, fixing the tach.

Geoph1986, send me a PM or email or whatever if you have any questions - this looks like it will be real easy job, only 16 total wires I need to match up to the stock X ones. The rest are all irrelevant for my install as I'm re-using lots of the X stuff. I should have all the necessary wiring diagrams from my Ford Dealer Service Manual CD. Once I get an extra Explorer gauge set tomorrow and charge up my Dremel the fun can begin :

I sure do thank you for starting this thread, I was looking for a way to show the Explorer some love and this looks like a fun project. Never considered it before.

 

[geoph1986]

Arco777, check the cluster you have to make sure it has the oil pressure resistor then. If your not going to swap the sending unit then you need a 20 ohm resistor for the oil gauge, otherwise you will kill the gauge. This applies to the stock Explorer oil gauge too. And yea, the wiring part should be easy, it's just fitting everything into the Explorer's cluster housing in a way that it all can be securely mounted, that's where most of the project time will be spent.

 

[arco777]

Didn't know I'd kill the gauge - I will check that out, thanks. Might just change the sender then.

EDIT: It's too bad that a GM heads up display couldn't be added, I think that'd require a special windshield. Those are pretty sweet though, standard gauges and then floating just below eye level on the windshield is your digital speed and the Check Engine light.

So where is a good place to pull a VSS signal, and will it be able to go straight to the cluster?

 

[geoph1986]

It's too bad that a GM heads up display couldn't be added, I think that'd require a special windshield. Those are pretty sweet though, standard gauges and then floating just below eye level on the windshield is your digital speed and the Check Engine light.

So where is a good place to pull a VSS signal, and will it be able to go straight to the cluster?

My mother-in-law's Caddi had the heads up, and it looked pretty cool. For the VSS signal, I was going to pull it from the PCM. According to the PCM diagram I have (thanks to fixxxer) for the '94 Explorer, pin 3 is VSS+ and pin 6 is VSS-. I have to double check the pinout diagram of the Cougar cluster, but I believe that it just uses the VSS+. One thing I could use, if you have it, is the PCM diagram for an '89 Cougar.

 

[arco777]

Dunno if you had this info or if it's available elsewhere, but attached are the pinouts for the two dash gauge connectors in a 94 Explorer , C221 and C222.

Got a pinout of the Cougar's connectors?

 

[arco777]

My mother-in-law's Caddi had the heads up, and it looked pretty cool. For the VSS signal, I was going to pull it from the PCM. According to the PCM diagram I have (thanks to fixxxer) for the '94 Explorer, pin 3 is VSS+ and pin 6 is VSS-. I have to double check the pinout diagram of the Cougar cluster, but I believe that it just uses the VSS+. One thing I could use, if you have it, is the PCM diagram for an '89 Cougar.

Sounds like a plan. I will do some research on a Cougar diagram for PCM and dash connectors but so far I've only found the 85-88 dash pinout. If you have the pinout for the Cougar insruments that'd really help me out.