NOTE --- Have edited the subject of this post to convey the new stuff added more recently... HIGH SERIES BEM into MID SERIES?

I am probably going to go down the route of putting my whole FAIRMONT DASH AND AIR CON into the FUTURA...

Issues this MAY RESOLVE...
1) Power Aerial will work again (at the moment is always DOWN!)
2) Dimmer Controller (I just like the variable control, okay!??)
3) The current heater fan makes a whine.
Some would say it may be an overkill to replace the whole system...!
I also don't know about a few of the temperature sensors for this system. The dash one is simple - simply plug and play, but there are a few in the motor or on the front bumper?!!!!
4) I like the digital air con display better than the silly GLi-like knobs!

Can I just take a note of all the colour wires coming out from the MID SERIES CONNECTOR (B) and splice them into the HIGH SERIES CONNECTORS (B & C)? I have a donor car (Fairmont) with the switches for power aerial and variable dimmer control.

AND - Once I do this, is it easy to get my remote working with the smartlock module again?




Hi again, hate to add to ALL the posts regarding Trip Computer conversion phuck ups, but I'm afraid I have been surfing the site for hours and have not found any help.

Here goes...

Put a trip computer from my EF Fairmont into my EF Futura. No problem, all good - added the data wire and trip computer worked fantastically - UNTIL I ran out of petrol just as I pulled into gas station.

Good thing about the old EF fuel pump - You can hear it start to whine like hell when it is about to find no petrol...

Anyway...

I ran out of gas just as I popped the fuel cap to put more in. The fuel gauge needle on the instrument cluster has gone back up to above having fuel light on, but the trip computer is still beeping at me that I have ZERO RANGE of fuel left.

It is still reading the KMh, and is having a good go at average fuel, instant fuel and telling the time.... But it constantly tells me I have no petrol, even though I put in $40 (with current prices, twenty litres.)

Maybe I should just put more fuel in and see what happens?

DAMN - Wish I would have thought of that before typing in this huge message!!!!

Last edited by fiend on Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:31 am, edited 5 times in total.

try pulling a battery lead off,reset the system

Will try that too... Hmmmmmmm, I think it reset itself already though as my battery is dying and when I start car on cold mornings the clock looses its time. Never mind, will try battery and then will try putting in 50 litres of gas! One of the two should fix the bloody thing!!!

Thanks for the idea.

works on holdens and fords,by the way fords are hard on batteries----expect 2----?years out of them,my auto electrican changes a lot of them---electonics galore,require 12volts or better

Yeahp, taking the battery terminals out seemed to reset it alright. Good one, thanks for the thoughts....

Am now off to find a way of checking which one of my doors is providing a false reading for the courtesy lamp circuits. It turns out they are ON all the time, which is why some of the bulbs have been removed!

If anyone is still watching - Can you tell me if the boot of the stationwagon is part of this circuit? I don't think it has a switch like the four cabin doors..?!

i think it may be linked,look for a switch or pin around the lock catches,on the body and the tail gate. then play with the doors----1 wire is shorting and they can be fun---time consuming,good luck. off topic---my sons vs commy kept loosing power,so i took it to a auto electrican to scan error codes,it had a few and we elminated all bar 2,1 motor 2 gearbox---so i told him to clear them all,drove the car 15 ks and limp mode,just a guess ,i told him to go to my automatic guy,gearbox solenoid 2-3 gear change,that was it----you can pull your hair out chasing what you think it is and the answer is in the computer,to easy.just have to think the same way----smarter.

you said you just put some petrol in an otherwise empty tank and it went just above the fuel light which means you only put in about 10litres.

theres nothing to worry about you just havnt put enough fuel in for the trip computer to register/calculate it.

put a qtr of a tank in and you will have no troubles. the exact same thing happened with my ed fairmont

Spot on, I have the same problem with parking on steep driveways etc when under a quarter, computer will not recalculate until I fill up beyond a quarter of a tank.



Yes there is a micro switch in the tailgate's lock assembly, to unplug you will need to remove the tailgate trim, then remove the numberplate holder assembly bolts behind trim and I think there is a bolt behind the numberplate too, it has been a while since I have pulled mine out.

If the micro switch is faulty you should be getting the horn sounding to warn you the tailgate isn't shut properly if you use the remote, same as the rest of the doors, but it is more sensitive like the Fairlane/LTD door micro switches.

..


Hmmm- I thought the same way, but I did put in at least 20 litres, which has always sorted it in the past... As soon as I disconnected battery and plugged in again the trip computer told me I had 77km remaining. I agree that you do need to put a bit of extra gas in to get it registering - which was my first thought. ANYWAYS - Thanks heaps for all your help on this one!



Hmmm. I pulled this area out to replace REVERSING LAMPS for last warrant, so should be able to remember it. Only thing is --- The car locks itself fine, although occasionally I have to re-slam the right rear door as I do get the "honk honk honk honk" thing as you described.

My guess is the locking mechanism bit runs differently from the courtesy lamp bit. The locks themselves have microswitches, where as the door pillars have similar switches to the glove box. I just cannot remember if my Fairmont turned its lights on when I opened the boot!!!

Ah well, thanks for everyones time - Will let you all know if I ever manage to solve it (which would be good - I could start putting all the bulbs back in and have a proper car again!)



Oooooh - One alternative - The courtesy lamps are on a timer in the "computer" bit. Maybe the timer is just never turning off?! AAARGGGH, giving myself a headache....!

OKAY OKAY, have checked all the four main door switches and they seem to be fine. Put them all into the "off" position by making sure there was not earth to any of them and disconnected the battery. Upon reconnecting the battery the interior lights came on straight away. Leads me to believe it is the boot - am going down again now to check it.

When using the remote locking keychain fob for the stationwagon - Does the BOOT BUTTON release the boot? Mine doesn't, but the boot lock works perfectly.......!

On my FAIRMONT the boot was replaced after a crash with another one and therefore musn't have been connected to the courtesy lamp (interior light)( circuit.

Last edited by fiend on Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i had a similar problem with the ltd i was cleaning,after having the doors open for 4 hours it killed the battery,the next day i used cable ties and pushed them into the door switches,fixed it----i counted 10 lights on inside the cabin. glade your winning with yours.

HELL - I am only counting 5 interior lights coming on as I have only added a couple of the FAIRMONTS lights so far (and they have no bulbs in them as they are always on!!!)

I have just got some lights to add for front footwells and under seats (oooh, blue light from under seats, my own idea..., ooooohh!)....

I am probably going to go down the route of putting my whole FAIRMONT DASH AND AIR CON into the FUTURA...

Issues this MAY RESOLVE...
1) Power Aerial will work again (at the moment is always DOWN!)
2) Dimmer Controller (I just like the variable control, okay!??)
3) The current heater fan makes a whine.
Some would say it may be an overkill to replace the whole system...!
4) I like the digital air con display better than the silly GLi-like knobs!


Don't think I am winning yet HANS!!!!

There seems to be a severe lack of information regarding the upgrade from MID to HIGH BEM's (and I am a complete novice it has to be remembered!)

At least I have a complete donor car to phuck with (and have not even managed to work out how to entirely pull the dash out yet!!! Short of cutting it to bits with an angle grinder... It seems stuck around glovebox area on left somewhere!)...

MACCAMAN - Guess what - You are dead right about the switch in the door lock, and it was faulty. BUT - It was only faulty in the sense that the boot lock was flexing on its pivot and this not pushing the switch in fully meaning the circuit was completed all the time. THUS, THE CAR THOUGHT THE BOOT WAS OPEN.

Interestingly, this *does not effect the operation of the Smartlock at all*...

I have now completely disconnected the offending switch and its wires.
- This is good as it means the interior lights don't come on when I leave the boot open for hours and hours (I am a builder who needs constant access to boot)...


I have also removed the keylock mechanism from the internal boot - The ONLY way to lock and unlock boot is by central locking.
- This is good as it doesn't matter how much tampering people do, the boot will not be "picked" or interfered with to gain entry.
- This is also good as the mechanism was creating a loud "number plate vibration" when I turned up the sounds.

Whilst it was all open, I also taped up every single wire and used cable ties to stop all the other bits flapping around and vibrating.



ONE THING MACCA - You can get to the boot switch by using a T-27 bit and dropping the lock straight out of the boot without removing any lining. This only provides a tiny bit of access, but should be enough for someone with dainty fingers and dexterity to pull switch and check mechanism.

Managed to get the whole dash out of the Fairmont, turns out there were two bolts missing from the FAQ about how to take the dash out. They are about 200mm behind the facia above gearbox tunnel...

Also didn't bother removing the steering column from the car. Couldn't work out how to remove the whole column, so just pulled dash out with it still there.

Never fear, dash is out. Having a large crowbar definitely helped.

Now I am having trouble working out whether to replace the loom in the Futura with the Fairmont one, or keep the loom and just add a couple of wires.

I am definitely doing the BCM / BCM conversion (swap). The Futura has a MID SERIES and am changing this to HIGH SERIES. It has been six months since I put the power aerial into the Futura and it has not once been up since!

Managed to get the switch out of the dash for the lights and dimmer too...

Will, I think, just run a few extra wires for the POWER AERIAL and VARIABLE DIMMER CONTROL from their dash positions to the Body Control Module.

I noticed something else - FordMods tech doc shows two wires are different in top connector of BCM. No problem, just chop and change them to wherever they match up down below. Easy. Uhm...

There are still a few weird things going on here... There are two cables coming out of stereo area that have been CUT (not by me) and one additional cable that goes to pin B12 (clock starter) from the radio connector. Hmmm, whatever. This car did have a stereo with built in cellphone, but still...!

There's also a few "T" connections on a few wires that run off to odd places via the loom. There's also a few extra wires that just get terminated (chopped) before the BCM. There is also a few connectors that seem totally redundant - possibly a function for FAIRLANE models?

Another odd thing is that the bumper sensor for the digital air con is missing. I knew it was missing, as I took the whole front end off this car - so it is missing.

However, as it happens, the red and grey cable that used to run to the front of the car was chopped off about two inches short of the air controller.

Odd odd odd.


And where the hell has the diagram for the stereo wiring connector gone from FORDMODS? Why can't I find anything using the damn search function? Why do I always have to ask these silly questions?


Hell, giving myself a brain fry!!! Will go back to top of this topic and re-read the "note to self" section...

 

 

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Last edited by fiend on Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If you are going to install the Auto Climate Control, you need to read the doco on that to find out what other parts you will need from the fairmont for it to work.

The heater fan is not part of the dash. It is located behind the intake vent on the left side. You need to remove the duct to see it.

BenJ