Check gauges light coming on with an Explorer cluster in Ranger

[scotts90ranger]

Bare bones '97 Ranger 4 cylinder manual transmission with an instrument cluster from a '00 Explorer limited so I could get a tach. The Tach works great, the "check fuel cap" light was on constant so I pulled that bulb (no light on the original '97 dash for that).

I was on a long drive today and the "Check Gauges" light kept coming on, I was cruising at 3000rpm for a LONG time (4.10 gears and 28" tires on the freeway, you'll get that...). The light did just come on yesterday on me when I was low on fuel like it's supposed to do, but this was odd. It would come on for around 5 seconds every 1 to 2 minutes if I was cruising at or above 3000rpm, if I slowed down till the needle was under 3k it didn't come on. Everything else checked out, I put my OBD II deal in and checked the coolant temp on Torque and it was 80C (with a Motorcraft 92C thermostat in 90F weather... stupid thing), everything else in check...

I was wondering if it was just a dummy light in case someone with an auto trans might have accidently knocked it into second on the highway or something... If that's it, I'll just ignore it

 

[dvdswan]

I would have thought you would have wanted to get the same engine/trans combo cluster. Maybe you tried, IDK. It is possible the clusters have different senders/sensors and that's why you have the lights.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Supposedly it doesn't make too much difference, but judging by the 2000 gauge cluster drawing I got from RonD a couple weeks ago the check gauges light goes to the slosh module in the cluster which only has inputs from the fuel gauge and the GEM possibly? Not sure I have one which could be part of the issue.

I'll likely just ignore it... driving my normal 60 mile round trip commute it didn't come on at all, but the only time I crossed 3k rpm I was accelerating not cruising, so it has to be that...

I tried like heck to find anything but explorers with tach's, nothing was in the yard and everything but that one exploder was pre broken, so I only had a couple choices at best... Still no regrets for the $18? the lens is even less scratched than my Ranger's cluster was... gotta love half off weekends, got a factory cassette stereo for like $13, rear slider for $23, pop out side windows for $22 ea, bed mat for $3, etc...

 

[RobbieD]

I'll likely just ignore it... driving my normal 60 mile round trip commute it didn't come on at all, but the only time I crossed 3k rpm I was accelerating not cruising, so it has to be that...

Just change out the "Check Gauges" colored lens to one that reads "SLOW DOWN!".