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A trip to the Junkyard

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
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.

2017-05-22 17.38.52.jpg

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.

2017-05-22 18.23.41.jpg

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. :biggrin: This is going to be a fun mod.
 
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Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Great find, and impressive home work. Good job.
I have a stereo issue on my boat and looked for someone to call. I installed fm converters and cassette and even 8 track under dash players when I was young. Easy stuff. Power and ground and + and - for each speaker and that was it. Now days all the wires and different wiring harnesses intimidate me.
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
It can get tricky, for sure. I decided to tap into the radio power for power to the console. Mind you, that is just power to the computer, not the dome lights. The console computer draws about 0.3 Amps so I figured I was golden. The maps lights I found a key switched battery saver circuit that times out after 5 minutes after the engine is off. Perfect. The dome light circuit I will tie into the existing dome light. Not using the dimmer circuit as I never dim the dash lights anyway. I found the VSS wire in a bundle down near the parking brake.

Homework day today. Install tomorrow with a clear mind. :yum:
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
I had spaghetti for lunch.....:whistling::whistling::whistling:

that looks like loose wiring, RIGHT? :yum::yum::yum:

Yup, going to be installed inside split tubing plastic conduit as soon as I get to the auto store this morning. Not really needed inside the cab but I will do it anyhoo as the stuff is dirt cheap. Nice observation, want to stop over and help? :biggrin:
 

zekeusa

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
No more pick and pull where I am. Miss those days of snooping around the bone yards. Now you tell them what you want and they pull it for you.
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
Early start. A beautiful morning, with coffee in hand I decided to work backwards and install the temp sensor first. Located it behind the Ford emblem on a vertical support. There was already a hole there the right size for the push pin fastener. The wirings went easy and had the wires through the fire wall in no time.

2017-05-23 09.57.48.jpg

Next up, remove A pillar for access for wiring.

2017-05-23 10.16.46.jpg

Now time to mark and cut the headliner. No turning back now.

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2017-05-23 10.36.56.jpg

Finish Product. Works like a charm!. The compass was in CAL mode upon startup so a short drive of about 5 miles or so and the compass calibrated itself.

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A great mod for my truck. It looks great. All in all it took about 5 hours from start to finish with a few breaks in between.

Stay tuned for my next mod. Projector beam HID retro done the right way. I am doing a lot of research on the internet to make sure this retrofit in done correctly. No winging it like this mod.
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
No more pick and pull where I am. Miss those days of snooping around the bone yards. Now you tell them what you want and they pull it for you.

Yeah, not many left. We only have one left in the area and another ahout 45 miles away. I've been haggling over some Mustang parts for a few weeks now with the local yard. They won't let me pull the axles out of a 99 Mustang GT, so I can get access to the rear caliper mounting plate. The ones that bolt to the axle flange. They are being jerks as there is an excellent chance the axle is bent from an accident.
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
Driving this morning, I noticed the temperature not refreshing as it should. As a matter of fact, the temp did not change at all. Seemed stuck on 58 degrees, even though the temperature was warming up fast this morning. A quick check revealed that I had connected to the White/Black wire instead of the Grey/Black. A stupid careless error. I reconnected the VSS wire to the correct one and it is updating like a charm.

The White wire looked grey until it was compared to the real Grey one. Then it looked white. :yum: My eyes are turning to shit.

I'm glad I work for myself now. :yum::yum:
 
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