Goldmember
Well-Known Member
:hammer: :hammer: :hammer:
What should have been a simple 10-minute gauge cluster swap turned into a 2+ hour ordeal. I got a used gauge cluster from a wrecked '98 GT, because I wanted the black-face gauges. Now, as we know, 98 was a bastard year in some respects as far as some hardware is concerned.
Who would have thought Ford went through the trouble of retooling the electronics in the gauge cluster for one friggin' year? 99 went to the electronic odo so they must have changed some stuff...
Here's what happened:
Take 1- Straight-swapped clusters ('98 piece in my '97)- Tach, volts and oil pressure work ok. Fuel gauge pegged on E (and I have half a tank), water temp pegged past H.
Take 2- Pulled fuel gauge/temp gauge (they're one unit), reseated them thinking bad connection (the donor car was hit LF maybe something got rattled loose). Checked harnesses to cluster, we're looking good, I hook up gauges and hit the key. Same result as Take 1.
Take 3- Took a look at the bus on the back of the cluster. Turns out 97 and 98 are radically different... Orange bus is from my 97 and the green is from the 98. Maybe this is the cause of some problems.
Well from here, the problem is easy enough to solve- simply transfer the gauges over to my 97's cluster. In other words, swap all the gauges from one cluster to the other. Home free!! But NO!!
Take 4- Hook it up- now volts and temp aren't reading.
Take 5- I pull the little "motors" off teh back of these two gauges. Guess what? EVEN THESE LITTLE JFK HALF-DOLLAR-SIZED SHITS ARE DIFFERENT! Swap motors, put needles back on, hook up cluster to check it all out. The needles do not move on either gauge! FUCKKKKKKKKKKKK
The battlefield:
Take 6- Upon closer inspection I see I got a little too happy with putting the needles back on and they're right up against the gauge faces. If I move them back to their resting (key off) position, they'll move when I turn the key on. I notice the needles are sitting pretty much on the gauge face- got a little overzealous putting them back on. Re- seated the needles, and tested again. BINGO WE HAVE A WINNER!!! Now it all works fine. Test-drove to verify all gauges are working well and I'm good to go.
So... 96-97 if you're using gauges from a 98 donor car- the gauges must be transferred over to your old cluster, and you have to swap those two little motors on those gauges.
Ahh you 98 Bastards... you're why I'm gettin :happydrunks: :happydrunks: :happydrunks: tonight!!
What should have been a simple 10-minute gauge cluster swap turned into a 2+ hour ordeal. I got a used gauge cluster from a wrecked '98 GT, because I wanted the black-face gauges. Now, as we know, 98 was a bastard year in some respects as far as some hardware is concerned.
Who would have thought Ford went through the trouble of retooling the electronics in the gauge cluster for one friggin' year? 99 went to the electronic odo so they must have changed some stuff...
Here's what happened:
Take 1- Straight-swapped clusters ('98 piece in my '97)- Tach, volts and oil pressure work ok. Fuel gauge pegged on E (and I have half a tank), water temp pegged past H.
Take 2- Pulled fuel gauge/temp gauge (they're one unit), reseated them thinking bad connection (the donor car was hit LF maybe something got rattled loose). Checked harnesses to cluster, we're looking good, I hook up gauges and hit the key. Same result as Take 1.
Take 3- Took a look at the bus on the back of the cluster. Turns out 97 and 98 are radically different... Orange bus is from my 97 and the green is from the 98. Maybe this is the cause of some problems.
Well from here, the problem is easy enough to solve- simply transfer the gauges over to my 97's cluster. In other words, swap all the gauges from one cluster to the other. Home free!! But NO!!
Take 4- Hook it up- now volts and temp aren't reading.
Take 5- I pull the little "motors" off teh back of these two gauges. Guess what? EVEN THESE LITTLE JFK HALF-DOLLAR-SIZED SHITS ARE DIFFERENT! Swap motors, put needles back on, hook up cluster to check it all out. The needles do not move on either gauge! FUCKKKKKKKKKKKK
The battlefield:
Take 6- Upon closer inspection I see I got a little too happy with putting the needles back on and they're right up against the gauge faces. If I move them back to their resting (key off) position, they'll move when I turn the key on. I notice the needles are sitting pretty much on the gauge face- got a little overzealous putting them back on. Re- seated the needles, and tested again. BINGO WE HAVE A WINNER!!! Now it all works fine. Test-drove to verify all gauges are working well and I'm good to go.
So... 96-97 if you're using gauges from a 98 donor car- the gauges must be transferred over to your old cluster, and you have to swap those two little motors on those gauges.
Ahh you 98 Bastards... you're why I'm gettin :happydrunks: :happydrunks: :happydrunks: tonight!!
