HEC Test Mode on 2004+ Rangers

[Orca]

Thanks to RonD, I heard about the useful "HEC Dealer Test Mode" (58 KB PDF) several months ago.

IIUC, my 2004 Ranger is the 1st year with the HEC (Hybrid Electronic Cluster), for which this test is available.

However, when I tried it back then, despite my dedicated efforts, including watching 2 videos of people performing it (on a 2005 Ford F-150 FX4 and a 2007 Mercury Mountaineer), I was unable to make it work.

Has anyone successfully used this on a Ranger, preferably on a 2004? Was I simply having a "senior moment" back then or does it really not work on some (all?) 2004 Rangers?

Poster @rlrnot (also with a 2004 Ranger) seemed to have problems running it too, but he never mentioned it again.

(The issue came up again recently in this thread [my post] but I didn't want to hijack it and thought the topic was worth a dedicated thread.)

Any ideas or input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Orca]

Update:
Having had no responses to this thread and having seen ongoing evidence of people with Rangers failing to get this "HEC Dealer Test Mode" to work, I finally dug into the service information for the 2004 to 2011 Rangers and have what I think is conclusive evidence.

It appears that, for Rangers, this test only works on 2007-2011 models. As far as I can see, folks with 2004-2006 Rangers should not bother trying. (And folks with Rangers prior to 2004 don't have the digital dashboard, so this whole issue is irrelevant for them.)

Hope this information proves useful to someone at some point.

 

[19Walt93]

I never heard it called an HEC, it was a PSOM- programmable speedometer/odometer module.

 

[Dirtman]

I never heard it called an HEC, it was a PSOM- programmable speedometer/odometer module.

Yea but you are also a million years old.

It's called the HEC in my Ford factory service manual, and the fuse panel diagram in my owners manual, Forscan also refers to it as the HEC. Not saying its right or wrong but it's definitely widely recognized as the HEC.

 

[Orca]

I never heard it called an HEC, it was a PSOM- programmable speedometer/odometer module.

FORScan uses many terms to identify what I'd normally call the "instrument panel" -- "HEC", "IC", "INST", "IPC", "SCIL" -- probably because Ford has used all those terms, I'm assuming. Oddly, "PSOM" is not in that list. Cursory searching seems to show that the term was more popular among older F-150s, so maybe it's fallen out of use.

On my 2004, the module is identified by my owner's manual and by FORScan as "Instrument Cluster" ("IC"), so that's how I tend to refer to it. But, after working with multiple manufacturers (who often seem to be schizophrenic ), you definitely don't get too "locked in" to any single term for anything.

 

[snoranger]

I never heard it called an HEC, it was a PSOM- programmable speedometer/odometer module.

IIRC, Ford called it the PSOM when they switched to the digital odometer in the full size trucks and Broncos... remember them from 25 years ago?

 

[19Walt93]

We never had any problems with them so I guess I never heard them called that.