Message Center Installed!

[LiKuiD]

Finally!! After WAY to long, I finally got my hand on a message center (with a pig tail'd harness) last week and spent a couple hours today installing it. I've been wanting to do this mod since I got my old 93' and well it's finally done....and man am I happy with the results!!! I wish BIG COUNTRY was still around so I could thank him a thousand times for his writeup on it, because without it I could of never done this.

So! The message center was (in theory) from a 01' Mountaineer, but on the back of the MC, it has a 1998 sticker on it. Regardless, it works perfect. Like I said, the hardest part of this was actually getting my hands on a MC with a partial harness. After that, it was just alot of planning and prep work. The 1998 Ford Tech CD was by far the most helpful part as it showed all wiring diagrams for the MC, engine, gauge cluster etc.

The install was pretty straight foward, just rip apart the entire interior of your truck, splice about 12 wires, and your set! Actually its a little bit more then that, but generally speaking thats all you do. Took me about 5 hours because I was having conflicting diagrams between my Hanes/Chiltons manuals regarding PCM wiring.

So after all that, everything works. I didn't wire up the lamp out features because I really could care less about that and I didn't get my hands on that relay and all the sensors. I'll save that for a rainy day. Other then that, it works like a charm!

Now to get my hands on a EATC!!

How bout some pics? Sure!

Before...

Testing it all out...

Success!! Such a cleaner look too...

 

[Scormunch]

Ooo congrats on the hard work paying off... believe me, it'll be worth it in the end. I use my message center everyday, one way or another.

 

[bmxking5]

Awesome, looks great.

 

[newc5188]

Thats quite a wire mess back there. I hope you got it under control.

It looks real good, nice work.

 

[saxgod]

Looks killer. I've been wanting to install one in my 96, but with my luck aomething will blow up.

 

[LiKuiD]

Thanks for the compliments guys!!

Don't be intimidated by it...its really not that hard of a project. If you have the right parts, I say go for it!

The wires were only like that temp. as I was testing it to make sure it even worked. Now they're all neatly bundled and tied together like a factory type harness. It looks as though it came from the factory w/ the MC now. I love it!

 

[Nitrous SSC]

God I hate how much wiring is in our X's....

The message center kicks ass. Its kinda scary to see my average after wheeling...It drops to like 6mpg.

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

Question - did you have to add the oil level sensor, or was it already in your engine?

 

[LiKuiD]

It was already in the engine. Luckily, the '98 5.0 has alot of wires already in it. I think the most important one was the Fuel Flow Input from the PCM. BIG COUNTRY had to get a pin and drive it into the harness, but all I had to do was tap into it. I didnt have to do any special stuff for the install. Just tapping into already existing wires. Good stuff!

Now my question to you all that have MC's...how accurate do they read? Just curious about the gallons remaning and such. the MPG reading seems pretty accurate (15.6 so far for city/some highway) but im not to sure about the others. Although, my gas gauge has been notorious for swaying between 1/4 parts of the tank on slight inclines and what not so I never really trusted it that much. I'm hoping the MC has it under control with a more accurate reading but im still not sure yet for I have to fill it up and all that fun stuff. Can anyone humor me and tell me the MC is a wee bit more accurate then Mr. Flippy McSway the gas gauge?

 

[IAmTodd]

Awsome job. I'd really like to do this to mine since the Sports never had them. But What concerns me is the pain of having to add sensors. I guess you lucked out having most of them. I don't know if the '95s do or not?

 

[LiKuiD]

Awsome job. I'd really like to do this to mine since the Sports never had them. But What concerns me is the pain of having to add sensors. I guess you lucked out having most of them. I don't know if the '95s do or not?

First off...thanks!

Now...as far as sensors required, I'm pretty sure you'd have to add at least one wire to the PCM for fuel flow. You'd prolly have to do the oil level one too. Also all the other ones (lamp out, windshield level, etc) but that just depends on if you want them. My main goal was to get the funcionality of the fuel features out of it so thats generally what I wired it for. I'm not to sure about this, but I recall Alec saying a while ago when I started asking about this mod that 95's were still OBD-I? If thats true then that could be a big problem...or maybe not I dont know. But if 95's came out w/ MC's, then i'm prolly wrong. But at any rate, you should pick up a Ford Tech CD off of eBay for 5 bucks and take a look around it and go from there. I'm sure you'd get your monies worth out of it.

 

[IAmTodd]

"95s had the message center too. Already have the CD so I might start poking around with that. Thanks!

 

[LiKuiD]

Good luck! If you have any questions or anything, let me know!

 

[heyok]

... Can anyone humor me and tell me the MC is a wee bit more accurate then Mr. Flippy McSway the gas gauge?

I wish I had happy news for you, but I park on a steep driveway and if I have less than half of a tank, by morning the message center is giving me a low fuel warning. Also the gas gauge is on E and an idiot light called "Check Gauge" comes on. Sometimes after driving for a while the message center will sort itself out, but othertimes it needs to be restarted (rebooted?) on level ground.

Cheers,
Al

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

Congrats!! Well...since I have one stock, I don't think it's that's cool. But I was pretty excited about that when I first got it. The only thing I look at is how many gallons of fuel I used. If there's a problem, that thing will bleep ya to death!!! It's annoying.

But no need to listen to me. Congrats and have fun with that!!

 

[LiKuiD]

I noticed that about the gas leveling yesterday. I had my truck parked on my driveway which is a pretty steep uphill slope and when I turned the truck on the MC was reading all sorts of crazy gas numbers. But after about 10 miles it (what I think) straightened itself out. I'm at the 1/4 mark and it's reading 7 gallons left so untill I fill it up, i'll believe it.

About the "Miles till empty" reading...does that adjust with fill ups and whatnot? Just curious cuz thats the only one thats reading is redicilously off...

As far as the beeping thing, that was one wire I definetely did not hook up! After driving with my friend who's MC used to beep at her all the time b/c she neglected filling up gas, I opted for leaving that wire out. So no beeps! I'd like to find a windshield washer level sensor since every time I start it up it yells at me for it being low. Anyone know anything about that sensor?

 

[frickea86]

looks good, my uncle had the message center in there EB, they really like it, and they said the mpg was very accurate. Hope it was worth the installation, looks like it.

 

[IAmTodd]

At work today I was pondering on how dependant it is on the size of the gas tank. They never put one in a Sport(like I said) and so they would all be assuming there is 21 gallons in the tank when full instead of 17. I could only see this making a difference with the miles and gallons till empty.

 

[LiKuiD]

looks good, my uncle had the message center in there EB, they really like it, and they said the mpg was very accurate. Hope it was worth the installation, looks like it.

Thanks...so far at least the MPG seems quite accurate. It was definetely worth the installation. If anything, you get a good a sense of accomplishment plus you get to see how crappy your explorer really is when it comes to gas!

Todd - I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that it doesn't depend on the tank size. As far as im concerned, the MC gets the gallons remaning signal directly from the fuel level (gauge) and not from a predetermined 21 gallon tank size. Now since your sport has a smaller tank, it would only interpret the gauge signal as a number like it does on any explorer, and in your case should read 17 at full. Sounds possible right?

 

[IAmTodd]

I see it this way(could be wrong, could be right) that when the gauge reads full the MC says, "O, its full, it must have 21 gallons in it." and then uses the current milage and fuel level to figure it out after that. I'm not sure though. I'm gonna break out that CD tonite and start looking at diagrams.