Explorer gauge cluster swap

rickrmf · Mar 12, 2010

Hi,
I put a 98 Explorer gauge cluster in my 96 Mazda B4000. I have just one problem left to solve. The coolant temp gauge goes all the way up to redline, but I know the truck is not overheating. All the other gauges, and warning lights work fine. I checked in to this and have been told the sender for the Explorer has a two wire connection, as opposed to one one the Mazda or Ranger. If I get the connector and sender from the Explorer, how should I wire it? That is which of the two wires should I connect to the truck wiring? The other possable cause could be, when I was cleaning the cluster out before I installed it, I bumped the needles around a little. Could it be that I need to reset the position of the needle? Any help on this would be appreciated!
Thanks, Rick

68Ranger390 · Mar 12, 2010

if you have a direct ground on the wire going to the guage from the sending unit the guage should go max, which means the guage is working correctly.
on a 2 wire sending unit try connecting 1 terminal to a ground and the other to the guage, if the guage max's out, reverse the wires,

rickrmf · Mar 12, 2010

Thanks 68ranger,
I'll try that tonight if I can get the sender and connector. I was noticing that after driving, and the gauge was maxed out, it stayed that way even after shutting the truck off. I pulled the wire off my sender, and it went down all the way. I did not think to ground it, to see if it worked like you say. I forgot to mention that, when I looked at a wiring diagram in a manual, that both the Explorer and the Ranger diagram only showed one wire coming from the sender. That's why I am so confused about the different senders the parts store are showing me.
Thanks for the info, Rick

adsm08 · Mar 12, 2010

You are using a haynes manual, they will have 1 diagram that shows one model and year and say is covers all of them from x-year to y-year and disregard any changes or variations.

rickrmf · Mar 13, 2010

fixed it

I went back down to the salvage yard and got the temp sender, and connector out of an Explorer like the one the cluster came out of. I switched it out and, since I was in the area, I put a new T-stat in. I don't know which fixed it, but I'm glad it worked and I didn't have to go back in to the cluster or wiring. You are right about the diagrams, although I was using a print out from the Ford dealer manual. The sender I wound up using does have two pins on it, but the connector on the truck just uses one of them, a red wire with a white stripe.
I just wanted to let you know hat happened, and to thank everyone for there input. I'm out looking for a steering column, with radio controls on it now, for my next upgrade project!
Thanks, Rick

Explorer gauge cluster swap

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