Taurus Digital Cluster and Explorer Info Center

[locovaca]

I've had this installed for a couple of months now, finally got around to taking pics.

My journey began in April, when I decided I wanted to get an Explorer Message Center working. After reading up on it, things seemed fairly straightforward except one thing- the fuel flow signal. After more research, I drilled into the PCM and found pin 34 was operational- which means the stock 2.3 computer was outputting a fuel flow signal.

This got me a-thinking about the Taurus digital cluster. Last fall I cleaned up a Gen 2 Taurus and was reading about swapping in a digital cluster found on high end Tauruses and Sables. So I went back to that and found that the only thing it too needed was a fuel flow signal (and a VSS signal). So I set out on a small wiring project of getting the following lines up to the dash:

VSS
Fuel Flow
Ignition-Switched 12V (for Message Center)
12V Live (for both)
Coolant Temp

For the Taurus Digital Dash it uses a different coolant temp sender than the normal Ranger one, it's just the same as the ECT- same thread size as the cheapo sender, but much more accurate.

The results?





To get it all to work:

1. I took the LCD out of the message center body and just "loosely" fit mounted it

2. For both the Message Center and the Cluster I removed both button PCBs and soldered new push buttons from Radio Shack and put them on the 4x4 dummy faceplate.

3. For the Digital Cluster it took a little wrangling to do (sorry, I don't have pics of this). I took an old Ranger cluster and emptied it out, and then cut out large chunks of the interior plastic so I could put the digital dash elecronics in there. Next, I soldered nearly all of the digital dashes' wiring to the stock Ranger floppy circuit plastic, so I could reuse the stock Ranger cluster plugs. That left only 3 wires (12V constant, VSS, Fuel Flow) that needed to be run via a separate switch. I mounted the display PCB on a piece of plastic and then used some cheap tinting film to give it the original look. Using the Ranger cluster housing made mounting a cinch and let me use the stock bulbs for the bottom indicator row.

4. For the coolant temp sender I stole a wiring harness from the taurus and made a conversion from the 2 pin (1 to ground, one sensor) to the stock Ranger single pin (sensor) line, so I didn't have to hack into that.

If anyone ever wants to try something like this, here are the links that helped me through all of this. Don't be necessarily daunted, especially for the Message Center, by the wiring. I mentioned that the Cluster only needed 3 extra lines, and the Message Center only needs 7 (Ground, +12V switched, +12 constant, Dimmer, VSS, Fuel Flow, Tach). The rest you ground or pull high and don't need, it's just for the "System Check" part of the MC which I don't care about.

MC:
http://www.section525.com/asp84/
http://burke.homeip.net/~dan/RangerElectronics/exmessagecenter.jpg
http://burke.homeip.net/~dan/RangerElectronics/message_center_installation.pdf

Digital Dash:
http://www.jelloslug.com/digital/digital7.htm

EEC Info:
http://www.fordfuelinjection.com/files/GUFB.pdf (see section 1-1 on the Fuel Flow Indicator signal)

Also, with the MC, try to pull a like-yeared MC. If you have a pre-97 truck, get a 97 or 96, and 98+ likewise. The difference is in the VSS signal. The 98+ is expecting it from the ABS sensor and it reads differently, so the MC ends up not "seeing" the truck in motion until around 30 MPH.

As for the accuracy of the items... the MPG calculations are exactly the same between the two. The Fuel Flow Indicator is an absolute value of fuel used in the last cycle, so there is no adjustment for number of cylinders in each unit as the adjustment is done in the EEC.

One other thing- if you get a Fuel Flow Indicator signal run, you can be less ambitious and go for a TBird/Couger TripMinder (http://www.coolcats.net/tech/advanced/tripminder.html).

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

looks amazing! but, do u really need those push buttons?? removing them would look cleaner, but thats one awesome work

[locovaca]

Yeah... the top 6 are for the MC, the bottom 4 are for the Cluster.

MC:
System Check (Probably didn't need)
Switch to MPG Screen
Switch to Fuel Screen
Switch to Distance Screen
Reset Button
Oil Change Reminder Reset (not sure if I needed with the way I hardwired the oil sensors but left it in there in case)

Cluster:
Function
Tach On/Off
Reset Button
English/Metric Button

The MC would have 7 buttons, but I wired the E/M output between the cluster and the MC together. If you were determined you could probably reduce the count down to 6 (4 + 2) total.

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

ooo wow lots of functions awesome!!

[Psychopete]

Wow, that is awesome.

Pete

[sheltonfilms]

Originally Posted by locovaca

After more research, I drilled into the PCM and found pin 34 was operational- which means the stock 2.3 computer was outputting a fuel flow signal.

How did you know the pin was operational? Also can you show pics of the connection into the pcm, or at least give details on how to add a wire to the pcm.

[locovaca]

Originally Posted by sheltonfilms

How did you know the pin was operational? Also can you show pics of the connection into the pcm, or at least give details on how to add a wire to the pcm.

Guess and check

No, I found on the Mustang forums were people were swapping in Tripminders, so I took the plunge. From the documentation I found the message center only needed power, VSS, and fuel flow for MPG calculations; since I only needed fuel flow I just drilled out the pin slot, hooked it up, and tested it out.

As for actually getting to the pin, they did a good writeup in the Winter 09 TRS magazine:

http://www.therangerstation.com/Maga...tripminder.htm

[sheltonfilms]

Originally Posted by locovaca

Guess and check

No, I found on the Mustang forums were people were swapping in Tripminders, so I took the plunge. From the documentation I found the message center only needed power, VSS, and fuel flow for MPG calculations; since I only needed fuel flow I just drilled out the pin slot, hooked it up, and tested it out.

As for actually getting to the pin, they did a good writeup in the Winter 09 TRS magazine:

http://www.therangerstation.com/Maga...tripminder.htm

Thanks! Great reply.