check engine light comes on when placed into 4x4

[rusty ol ranger]

Both my 87s have a spot for a check engine, never seen it light up on either. Rusty 2.0 is an early 87, rusty the original is a late 87.

 

[adsm08]

Even the early 2.9 trucks didn't have them. I think they were added in 88? Definitely not there in 86.

87 or 88, I lean towards '88. Electronically a lot of 2nd gen was starting to bleed in.

After sampling a huge number of 86-88 Rangers and B2s the answer to this is "It just depends".

California trucks all had the CEL. A lot of non-CA ones from 86 and 87 had it, a lot didn't. Some 88s didn't.

My 87 came with the CEL "not equipped". The slot in the back of the cluster was covered over and you couldn't even put a bulb in. I cut the patch out of the PCB and installed a bulb/holder, and it worked with no other modification, so all the wiring and software are definately there.

My 88 had the slot open and a holder in it, but no bulb. Can't say if it left the factory like that, but that's how it came to me.

The cluster that I replaced that one with was from an 87 and it was the same way.

The biggest pattern that I have noticed is the tach clusters seem to be CEL ready, and the non-tach clusters don't.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Without seeing it live... it almost looks to me that maybe one light is illuminating and bleeding into the companion chamber. From the picture one is bright... the other is considerably dimmer. I would get in there and verify that there are actually two bulbs illuminating.

 

[adsm08]

Without seeing it live... it almost looks to me that maybe one light is illuminating and bleeding into the companion chamber. From the picture one is bright... the other is considerably dimmer. I would get in there and verify that there are actually two bulbs illuminating.

That's what it looks like to me too, and the lens with the letters sometimes sticks to the bezel and not the cluster like it's supposed to.