Adding a tach to your 7.3 van

[Lilnuts2]

A few years ago I replaced my stock van cluster with one from a Pu so I could have a tach.

I diid a write up on it. if any one cares.

https://www.thedieselstop.com/thread...o-swap.309623/

[JWA]

I did this same thing on an '03 E250 extended body with 5.4 gasser. From a quick read of your process LilNuts we took much the same route.

I did have to add a ground wire, run the CTO wire into the cabin and re-configure the cable pulled VSC servo to enable the "cruise control on" instrument cluster lamp.

Assembling a ton of EVTM material created two 24" x 36" print outs in order to re-configure the chassis wiring harness connectors to the F-Series IC--it took me upwards of 6 weeks to accomplish this BUT I wanted/needed a one-time fault less installation as this was my daily driven work truck. I even went so far as to build a mock up install that included harvesting the wiring harness connectors and verifying on a the eventually installed IC I had the right wires in the right places.

The only real "mistake" made was not connecting the proper engine speed wire to the actual tachometer inside the IC. That was easily corrected the same day. Once done all gauges worked, CEL along other warning/alarm IC lamps.

After it was done I was glad to have accomplished it but not sure I'd do it again. I'd kinda/sorta like to have a tach in the IC just not sure I'm up for that task once again!

Glad you got yours sorted out and its still working---those are handy features to have with any engine. Thanks for sharing your process!

[Lilnuts2]

JWA mine has been working great for over 3 years now. It took me about 4 hours to do the swap. I would like to hear more about how you got your cruise light to work. My cruise works, just the light does not come on.

Soon to start my 4x4 conversion, this F series cluster has a 4x4 engaged light that I'm excited to get functioning with the conversion.
It really not that hard to make this swap and if you have 7.3 diesel it's even more of a bonus.
You do have to get a matching tach for your van, meaning if you have a diesel get one from a f PU that has a diesel and auto tranny.

[JWA]

Originally Posted by Lilnuts2

JWA mine has been working great for over 3 years now. It took me about 4 hours to do the swap. I would like to hear more about how you got your cruise light to work. My cruise works, just the light does not come on.

I'm massively anal and slightly "frightened" my imagined ideas could be so easily enacted, in my mind they're easy peasy. In my case if I didn't have everything spot on there wasn't time to figure out what I'd done wrong.

Since you have the diesel engine you'll have to look at the EVTM for that fuel type to see where the VSC "on" lamp is connected to the chassis wiring. In my case (gasoline, pre '05 PCM) I had to place a wire in the VSC servo plug which provided a ground to the "on" lamp in the IC. That wire had to be run into the cabin making its way to the newly placed IC.

Originally Posted by Lilnuts2

You do have to get a matching tach for your van, meaning if you have a diesel get one from a f PU that has a diesel and auto tranny.

That makes sense knowing how the incorrect IC can and does affect the transmission programming.

[NoR32]

I was able to grab a cluster from LKQ. I got lucky. Getting ready to do the swap thanks for the write up.

[N147JK]

Originally Posted by JWA

I'm massively anal and slightly "frightened" my imagined ideas could be so easily enacted, in my mind they're easy peasy.

I'm thinking about attempting the cluster swap on a '01 E250 5.4L.

Is it actually possible to fry the PCM or some other type disaster if this job is botched? What's the worst that can happen? If yes, then I'll steer clear.

- Thanks

PS anyone else successfully do this on a similar era gas E-van?

[1der]

or you can add a Scan Gauge and get tach along with lots of other data.

I f you already have a Scan Gauge and will not be using it, I am interested!

[JWA]

Originally Posted by N147JK

I'm thinking about attempting the cluster swap on a '01 E250 5.4L.

Is it actually possible to fry the PCM or some other type disaster if this job is botched? What's the worst that can happen? If yes, then I'll steer clear.

- Thanks

PS anyone else successfully do this on a similar era gas E-van?

The only real way to damage the PCM is completely botch this swap which if the factory wiring is followed that's virtually impossible. The only real challenge is knowing 100% what donor year and model you'd use. In my case that was easy as I was totally DIY'ing this project purposely without any one else.

I assembled the donor cluster (1998 F-250 gasoline engine) from a DIY salvage yard along with pieces of that vehicle's factory connectors the donor van that were most accessible from the IC opening in the dash board---there are three of them all physically attached to the back side of the cluster itself.

Cross referening the pin out drawings from factory EVTM's my van's original cluster chassis wiring connector's were re-pined according to a self-created "schematic" that connected the cluster's internal wiring to the van's signals to the cluster. No I did not retain the schematics I created.

The mechanical or physical of this swap is not that challenging if you're the least bit familiar with Ford's wiring system in the sense how to re-pin a factory connector especially of the pre-2005 era. How to change the original factory cluster wiring does require a bit more knowledge and familiarity.

I honestly do not know whether the result was worth the effort---I did it for the challenge more than the function. I did learn a heap about pre-2005 E-Series clusters which was fun and useful to a small degree but again unsure if the result was really, really worth the effort.

I'm willing to help a small amount but cannot/will not post anything definitive or an extensive "how to" on this. I do have a file containing a lot of rather random images and such but not sure how useful or instructional it would be so someone other than myself.

[N147JK]

Originally Posted by JWA

The only real way is to completely botch this swap which if the factory wiring is followed that's virtually impossible.

Thank you JWA. I'm going to give this a go. I just didn't want to risk damaging the transmission, or any other system outside the cluster itself.

One detail.. how did you get the cruise control light to work? Did you have to run a new wire? - Thanks

[JWA]

Originally Posted by N147JK

One detail.. how did you get the cruise control light to work? Did you have to run a new wire? - Thanks

Since I used the F-Series cluster I was able to re-pin one of the IC's wiring harness connectors adding a single wire that had to be connected to the cable-pulled VSC servo. I did have to slightly modify the flat 10 pin factory wiring harness to allow fitment of that additional wire, it was relatively simply to accomplish. (The E-Series clusters up to at least 2004 did not have the lamp for VSC engagement lamp in their clusters.)