Woke up today a little bored so grabbed some ca$h and headed out to the local Pick & Pull JY to see what goodies I could find. I had dreams of finding a nice set of leather buckets from an Explorer that will bolt right into my beloved Ranger.
It was not to be. Nothing in the realm of seats period, let alone the leather ones I was looking for, but lo and behold I found this little gem off a 2001 Explorer. An overhead console with temp and compass feature along with garage door opener. I also scrarfed up the mounting bracket, temp sensor and plug and the main wiring plug. They wanted 25 bucks, I offered 15 and we settled on 20. I would have paid the 25 as it is in mint condition, tested perfectly and I wanted it. I didn't tell him that.
I spent some time researching the wiring for the Ford Explorer on line and comparing it to the wiring diagram for my truck in the Service manual. I was pleasantly surprised to find out they use almost the same colors. You never know. One wire had me stumped for a few minutes. It was called VSS or speed sensor. Why are they using that? Well, it turns out, the console computer needs to know the vehicle is moving over 25-30MPH before it updates an increase in ambient temp in order to minimize false readings from engine heat while parked or stuck in traffic. Now I had the wiring all figured out so I could make up the wiring harness.
I also decided to add two wires from the front directional signals to wire up directionals on the third brake light. That should be different. Never see that at all.
Tomorrow I will start cutting the headliner, removing the driver's side A pillar trim, find a nice spot for the temp sensor and get this bad boy up and running.
Stay tuned. This is going to be a fun mod.
It was not to be. Nothing in the realm of seats period, let alone the leather ones I was looking for, but lo and behold I found this little gem off a 2001 Explorer. An overhead console with temp and compass feature along with garage door opener. I also scrarfed up the mounting bracket, temp sensor and plug and the main wiring plug. They wanted 25 bucks, I offered 15 and we settled on 20. I would have paid the 25 as it is in mint condition, tested perfectly and I wanted it. I didn't tell him that.
I spent some time researching the wiring for the Ford Explorer on line and comparing it to the wiring diagram for my truck in the Service manual. I was pleasantly surprised to find out they use almost the same colors. You never know. One wire had me stumped for a few minutes. It was called VSS or speed sensor. Why are they using that? Well, it turns out, the console computer needs to know the vehicle is moving over 25-30MPH before it updates an increase in ambient temp in order to minimize false readings from engine heat while parked or stuck in traffic. Now I had the wiring all figured out so I could make up the wiring harness.
I also decided to add two wires from the front directional signals to wire up directionals on the third brake light. That should be different. Never see that at all.
Tomorrow I will start cutting the headliner, removing the driver's side A pillar trim, find a nice spot for the temp sensor and get this bad boy up and running.
Stay tuned. This is going to be a fun mod.
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