Nope, I haven't checked into it any more. I'm thinking about adding the factory sub - I can get the custom harness for $100 - in which case the dash would come out again and I would probably look into that mystery connector.

As for Homelink, I bought a Gentex auto-dim mirror with the buttons in the mirror. Gentex is the OEM supplier for Ford and the mirror looks very factory.

There is definitely no harness in the headliner for the visor-mount Homelink; noticed this when drilling the roof for the GPS antenna. Only harness up there was for the roof clearance lamps.

 

Thanks for the info! I won't be going the sunvisor route then...

 

Getting ready to order BC3Z19980N. I have an XLT reg cab with the heated Powerscope mirrors an no rear defrost. There is another one BC3Z19980J. Anyone know what this one does? It's about 8 bucks less new.

 

Two wire plug behind pop out panel by drivers right knee is for passenger side air bag ON/OFF button. Parts # for cabin temp sensor W/dual zone HVAC is BC34-19C938A, $38 on Tasca parts, goes behind little grill by drivers right knee. Air hose extension is needed (#BC3Z-19D888A, probably cud be substituted by regular flex house) runs from left to right under pop out cup holders to bottom of air box behind glove box. Sensor needs two wire plug, witch I wasn't able to locate jet, but harness appears to be the same for all models.

 

Has nobody tried this mod after switching to factory heated/cooled seats?

I just bought a set of leather front seats with console to install in a 15 XLT and was wondering what to do for the buttons and this is by far the easiest and cleanest solution. i was assuming the wiring is all in the harness for the heated seats to get power and i would just need to rig up a switch but maybe just maybe if i add the factory heated buttons and factory seats it will work?

Anyone try this??

 

I think you might find this to be a difficult proposition. First of all, your XLT won't have the correct harnesses in the floor for your new seats to plug in to, for power operation or heating / cooling. The factory fuses and relays won't be in place either. On a 2015, the heating / cooling function is activated through the MyFord Touch display...there are no "hard" buttons on the climate controls to turn them on. When you do turn them on, you hear a relay click on from what sounds like inside or under the center console, maybe under the seat. You can't just "power" the heated / cooled seats; they take pretty high current to operate the T.E.D. box which actually supplies the heating and cooling, as well as the blower which pushes that through the seats. There are three heating and three cooling positions per seat. Somehow, a thermostat must be informed of when to turn the TED on and off to meet that particular setting. Not sure how this happens, but the seats are not just "on-off."

The XLT dash is slightly different than the Lariat dash...it lacks what I call the "cobra hood" which locates the 8" touchscreen. I'm not sure what year Ford switched (maybe 2013?) but 2011 and 2012 Lariats had the same exact dash as the XLT, and came with the same basic radio unless navigation was ordered. Either way (navi or standard radio), the Lariat's heated / cooled seats were controlled by the hard buttons in the climate panel.

I hope you succeed. I did many things to my 2012 XLT to make it close to a Lariat, but never attempted the seats. Now I have a 15 Lariat with all this stuff built in, so maybe I can help you trace a harness or whatever.

 

just read up on all this, wow tons of GREAT info in here guys, thank you for keeping the updates coming along and for the vid.

Do you guys know if the part for the 12 will work on a 15 250 xlt? I have the rear defrosters and it shows the heated icon on the side mirrors but no separate switch for them. Really just interested in getting the auto temp deal working out of it other than the awesome look of the controller.

Thanks in advance!

 

Yes, the '12 part should work on the '15 as long as it is an XLT. As for the heated stuff, there were a couple of variations: My XLT, for example, had heated mirrors but not the heated rear glass. Therefore, I had a button for heated mirrors only, but not rear glass. If you have the heated rear glass, you have the heated mirrors...and in this case, the heated rear glass button activates both the mirrors and rear glass.

 

Thank you for the reply and the information. Looks like ill be ordering soon.

 

I'm still really curious regarding the discrepancy between temperature displays. My new Lariat has the 4.2" LCD display message center, and the MyFord Touch display in the dash. The outside temp is only displayed on the dash screen, and not the message center. However, on early Lariats (2011, 2012) which had the separate auto climate control display and the same 4.2" LCD message center, the outside temp was displayed in the message center AND on the climate screen. I'd really like to know if these were synced. From what I've seen, there isn't a connection between the dash display(s) and the message center.

Also to clarify something I said a few pages back in this thread, you DO NOT need A/C ducts to the seats for cooling. The heated / cooled seats use a single module built into the seat to achieve both functions. All you need is the harness which supplies power and control signals.

 

Could someone by chance post a picture of what the wood grain looks like with the silver? Also I was thinking about doing the switch to the LCD message center but the one that I found showed at least 10k less miles than what I have on my truck. I do not want to make this change if the mileage is not accurate to what I have. Does anyone know if this can be reset? Thanks!

 

Sure...

Above is stock XLT silver, except added the auto climate control...


Above is after installing typical Lariat wood trim surround, and auto-climate control

Finally above is after I added the Ford navigation unit to my XLT, which required drilling the hole in the roof for the GPS antenna, and running the harnesses down the pillar, and adding the Sirius splitter. I thought it looked good. Its nice because you don't see the gray dash with wood - from the factory, you can only get wood with a black or "Adobe" dash.

Regarding the LCD - I too planned on doing this upgrade but the cost was steep. I think the mileage is stored in 2 places - the instrument cluster itself, and the engine management computer. If you replace, I believe it automatically takes the higher mileage of the two. BUT, some serious reprogramming is going to be needed, and here you might run into difficulty. My base XLT truck did not have Sync originally, and so I swapped steering wheels. The basic message center still worked, but the dealer could not program the audio controls to ever work. Be careful with that upgrade.

 

There are many differences between the way things are displayed on the basic message center and the LCD. For example, when I manually shifted my truck into 4x4, a simple "4x4" light would illuminate in the cluster. On the LCD models, that message is in the screen itself. Many warning lights on the base cluster are moved to the LCD, actually. My current truck has the LCD. If there is one thing I really liked about the old truck message center, it was that the transmission gear readout was very large and bright, right above the gear selection. On the LCD trucks, its small, and vertically orientated off to the right side.

The auto climate control will display the outside temp as will the instrument message center...but they won't always be the same.

I find the basic message center to be pretty comprehensive. The LCD looks nice, but the biggest improvement is in the instrument lighting. On the LCD cluster, the gauges are all brightly backlit at all times...when its dark, they dim. On the basic panel like I had on my previous truck pictured here, the gauges are not backlit at all, until a sensor in the cluster decides its dark enough to turn on the backlighting. Once lit, its fine. Turning on your headlights, whether auto or manual, had no effect on turning on the instrument panel lighting. I'd never seen that before, and it drove me nuts. It could be a dark, dreary day...pouring rain, headlights on, but the gauges weren't lit because the cluster didn't think it was dark enough. Dealer told me there was no fix.

 

My XLT came with sync and all steering wheel controls besides the ones on the left that the lariats have, I just have the XLT ones that control my message center. I had the chance to buy a lariat instrument cluster for about 190 bucks but passed it up because of the mileage. The big thing I hate about the XLT instrument cluster is the lighting. Even in my 01 Excursion I can turn the instrument cluster lights on when it's bright out! Guess I will just hold off on the instrument cluster conversion. I was planing to do a lariat conversion on my truck but do not want to do the heated and cooled seats cause that is too much of a hassle, not worth it in my opinion. Anyway, the auto air and wood grain dash bezel I was going to buy has the side mirror defrost button, I have the rear window defrost as well. Is that going to work with the side mirror button?

 

Yes, that button turns on whatever you have. So it should run both; but I'd get the correct one...it "looks" correct.

Who knows, maybe your truck would be easier than mine to add in the LCD dash. For $190 I would have tried it. Just plug it in and see what happens. You will need the left hand buttons to scroll through the menus. On my truck, there was something about reprogramming the SCCM which wouldnt take. Make sure you get the correct cluster, though, depending on if you have a gas or a diesel. Tachometers are not the same, and there might be a couple of other differences. I'd be willing to bet the mileage would switch to whichever was higher...if not, this would be a common sales tactic.