Message center installed!!! With WRITE UP

[vroomzoomboom]

is the green film on the outside of the glass? to me it looks embedded in there somehow.

 

[dmathews]

does anyone have a message center for sale

 

[Ryon40]

mine didn't, and has drove me nuts ever since. i will have to try it when i get a chance.......if that ever happens.

oh, btw ryon40. i don't know if i was telling you that i was trying to shade the screen blue with some paint they use for making stained glass? well that didn't work. it still made the screen green.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100990&highlight=message+center+color

Also out of curiousity what kind of mpg are you getting? Mine just doesnt seem right now that I think about it, when I first got it in it was ~18-19 now its sank down to 16. I dont beat it or drive wrecklessly it just dropped after I seafoamed it.

 

[Ryon40]

does anyone have a message center for sale

May be some on ebay thats where I got mine

 

[vroomzoomboom]

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100990&highlight=message+center+color

Also out of curiousity what kind of mpg are you getting? Mine just doesnt seem right now that I think about it, when I first got it in it was ~18-19 now its sank down to 16. I dont beat it or drive wrecklessly it just dropped after I seafoamed it.

nice find, very nice

the message center says i am getting around 20-21 mpg. i sorta beat on it, but for the most part, i am pretty sane. after i seafoamed mine, it did pick up, but slowly went back to normal. did you drop some of it in the tank?

 

[Ryon40]

nice find, very nice

the message center says i am getting around 20-21 mpg. i sorta beat on it, but for the most part, i am pretty sane. after i seafoamed mine, it did pick up, but slowly went back to normal. did you drop some of it in the tank?

I dont know why mine is getting such poor mileage its sitting steady on 16.3. I did put some in the tank, brake booster, and oil then changed the oil. I wonder if its because of the timing chain tensioner and guide I remember reading on hear one member fixed that and increased his mileage 3mpg, that would put me right around 20 which I thought is what the Exs were supposed to be close to

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

Sorry to bring this thread back to life, but I just installed a MC into my 92, and everything is working save for the distance to empty and gallons remaining. I keep getting a FUEL LEVEL ERROR message. I know I hooked up the fuel level input wire correctly, and I already have the pin 21 wire (BK) grounded for a 18.4 gallon tank (closest to the first gen 19.1 gallon tank) any ideas?

 

[vroomzoomboom]

it might just be because you have put it in a first gen explorer, and it can't read the signal correctly, maybe. i know every thread i have read, they all say to get the same year MC for the same year of truck it is going into. that may be one of the reasons why everyone suggests it.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

well, ive only heard about other people doin it in first gens, but never acutelly saw it. But i think it can work, im just over looking something. The dte simply reads the resistance of the fuel render and the calculates based on the RAFE. Every other functiono is working correctly. Just getting a fresh set of brains on this
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Glen4X4]

Hmm...more and more people keep doing this may have to run to the junkyard and pick one up for the 00.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Hmm...more and more people keep doing this may have to run to the junkyard and pick one up for the 00.

it's not that bad to do, just time consuming. i hate anything to do with wiring, and it took me in total about 6-8 hours if i remember correctly. the only thing that is off is the miles to empty because i have a sport and the tanks are different so i have heard.

 

[coonerboy]

well, ive only heard about other people doin it in first gens, but never acutelly saw it. But i think it can work, im just over looking something. The dte simply reads the resistance of the fuel render and the calculates based on the RAFE. Every other functiono is working correctly. Just getting a fresh set of brains on this
Posted via Mobile Device

I installed a message center on my '98. The only time I get a fuel level error message is when i am stopped, with the key in the "acc"(key turned back)position. I get this when I attempt to check the DTE and gallons till empty functions. Are you sure you have the switched 12v+ wire hooked up correctly?

Also as a side note, the instant fuel economy feature in my MC doesn't work. Average fuel economy works fine, but no instant. If anyone has any insight as to why this is let me know.

 

[Glen4X4]

it's not that bad to do, just time consuming. i hate anything to do with wiring, and it took me in total about 6-8 hours if i remember correctly. the only thing that is off is the miles to empty because i have a sport and the tanks are different so i have heard.

I don't mind wiring too much so isn't that too big of deal for me, but I can see how it still maybe of frustration but the aftermath helps make the interior have that clean look.

 

[syn-]

If you have the complete harness out of a same year model, can you swap the entire harness instead of splicing? (i.e. 96 eddie bauer and 96xlt)

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

Syn-, as far as i know, to do that, you would have to swap the entire harness behind the dash. The message center gets so many different signals from so many different areas, the wires are run throught a lot of the body electrical. I think splicing is really the way to go.

 

[syn-]

I don't mind swaping it all just want to know if I plug it up to everything it needs, if it will work as it did in the EB?

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

Well, i really cant tell you for sure, since I am not THAT knowledgable about second gens, but to not do any splicing, you would need the entire harness from behind the dash, gauges, engine harness, pcm harness, and if you get one with a LOM, harness for all the exterior lights...

 

[syn-]

I have the complete harness for behind the dash/center console with all plugs. I shouldn't need the rest since its also a 96 and they both have the same motor. My curiosity would be if all the same plugs are there?

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

Thats what I am saying. If your vehicle did not come with a factory message center, it will not have the two external sensors needed to make the oil life work and the low washer fluid level. Those two sensors were only installed on vehicles with a message center. However, I am sure the message center would work without those two sensors, you will just get an oil sensor error and a washer fluid error message. also, i said you needed the pcm wiring harness because i do not know if the non message center equipped vehicles had a wire going to pin 43 on the pcm, "Fuel Flow Singal" or something like that. That wire gives you your instant fuel economy

 

[vroomzoomboom]

you are just creating more work for yourself if you swap a entire harness in. i would just splice one in. the only reason i would say do a harness is if you are putting a ETAC and overhead console in. and if that's the case, your only half way there for a ETAC as you need to change more then the harness as well.