Cna you replace the warning lights for gauges?

[majorfa05]

I have a 82 F100 with warning lights and came across a 82 F150 dash cluster, it has the oil & battery gauge.  There were no wires attached to either except for the printed ciruit board. Is his an easy swap?

[Rembrant]

majorfa05 wrote

I have a 82 F100 with warning lights and came across a 82 F150 dash cluster, it has the oil & battery gauge.  There were no wires attached to either except for the printed circuit board. Is his an easy swap?

It is relatively easy, but the biggest hurdle is that the plugs for the two clusters are different, so in order to do the swap the cluster you will also have to swap plugs (which also means cutting and splicing your cluster harness). I don't know if Gary has a write-up on here for this swap or not, but it has been done before. I sold a cluster plug with wires to a guy last year that was doing this very swap.

You would also have to change your oil switch and replace it with an oil sender for the pressure gauge, but that's cheap and easy. No issues there.

I'm not 100% sure on what wiring changes are needed to run the battery gauge, but the guys on here will know for sure.

[Gary Lewis]

The pinouts on the connectors are shown on our page at Documentation/Electrical/Gauges and the Printed Circuit Pinouts tab.  And the circuit numbers & wire colors won't have changed, but what each circuit does isn't obvious, so you'll have to go to the EVTM to work that out.  Some place I have a spreadsheet I created that shows what each circuit does, so if you are interested I can see if I can find that.

As for the "battery gauge", that isn't going to work.  The trucks with gauges have a shunt in the harness that generates a very small voltage drop at high current to run the ammeter in the factory gauge cluster.  But a truck with idiot lights doesn't have that shunt, so the ammeter will not work.  However, you can send the ammeter to Rocketman and have him convert it to a voltmeter and we can help you with that wiring.

Also, the alternator warning light, and the associated resistor, bootstrap the alternator in.  But the gauge cluster doesn't have that so you'll have to add a resistor to get the alternator to work.

Bottom Line: It can be done but some wiring will be required.  We don't have a write-up on it, but can help you make it happen.

[majorfa05]

MMMM, maybe I screwed up, I did not get the complete cluster, just the oil and battery gauge. The cluster was missing the fuel gauge and the cluster lens screw holes were broken. If I understand what you are saying, I need to go back and see if the cluster plug is still there and get it?

[Gary Lewis]

The gauges won’t fit your cluster. At least not w/o a lot of work. So I think you’ll need the whole cluster and the connector.

[majorfa05]

Thanks, back to the yard I go