Hey guys I just bought my first diesel yesterday. Its a 2000 F-250 Lariat edition and i love it, the only thing is that when i bought it the one problem it had was the overhead computer for temperature and gas mileage did not work. So i went online and saw how to fix and when i tried to do so one of the resistors fell out of the computer part itself so i have to now send it off. I wanted to see if that was the only problem with it so i plugged in my dads overhead unit from his 02 F-350 Lariat dully.

My question is are the two overhead computers interchangeable. I know that it plugs right in to my 2000 F-250 but will it be accurate? For instance since my fathers truck is a dully i know that it has a larger fuel tank, will that effect the accuracy of how many miles i have left when the overhead computer is plugged into my truck? Also will the miles per gallon change accordingly?

Thanks, Tom

 

I never heard of anybody doing that so I'm not sure. I would think it would work. I'm thinking it gets its information from something else.

 

Those resistors are the ones you want to solder back in place. It's a good thing they are still there. Three of mine fell out, I soldered them, and I've had the overhead working since that time.

 

don't rely on the overhead for miles to go and fuel mileage, most of the time they are not correct.
on my 02 it tells me i am getting 19 mpg when i am only getting 13, and tells me i have 300 miles to empty when the low fuel light comes on.

 

I can't believe that FoMoCo would program each individual overhead display according to tire size, gearing composition, tranny version, etc. prior to installing it in each truck.

They're all about streamlining production to hold down costs.

In the case of this part, one size fits all, and is most likely the reason why you can't trust its accuracy and is known throughout as the "lie-o-meter".

 

The overheads are just a "receiver" for info from the puter.
If you get another one, it will plug in and the most you should have to do to be sure all is well is to reset the compass settings.
The method to do this is odd as it has you driving in circles for a bit but the worse is someone thinks you are drunk driving around in circles in a parking lot.
The rest is just displayed info from the puter.