So my tranny stopped shifting properly after the speedo went out and i got a VSS code.
Wen't to pick n pull and put in a whole cluster from a 93 (i think) f150.
Put that in and tranny shifted fine but voltage gauge was low and truck wouldn't go far before it wouldn't start
Alt only pushing 12.5 to battery

Put in New alt and battery: no change
Put in new starter solenoid from passenger firewall near battery and no chage
Pulled apart both gauge clusters and i put in the pick n pull speedo module into my 95 instrument cluster: no change

I should mention i put some di electric grease on my c101 and other big plug going into my fire wall during the instrumant cluster swap. I thought perhaps the grease was blocking current so I sprayed electrical cleaner on everything to try and remove as much grease as i can: no change

I should also mention i'm getting an irratic idle code, but i was getting that before the speedo swap.


I'm about to go and change all my battery cables but i really think it has to do with my cluster and then speedo swap. just at a loss. I'm about to go put back in my old speedo just to see if my truck will charge again...


I have to move this weekend and need this beast to tow my crawler and prerunner and am semi freaking out. Any thoughts would be much appreciated, thanks in advance for any help...

 

Yeah that '93 cluster is not compatible with your truck. The battery charge circuit goes through the dash gauge and apparently only a '94 or '95 cluster will work.. there are differences in the way they are wired. Of course your charge problem should go away when you put the original cluster back in so I don't know what's going on there, have you changed anything else?

 

yeah i did put in a new vss at the axle. that was the first thing i did.

I thought for sure when i put the 93 speedo module in my 95 gauge cluster that it would fix it as my 95 cluster has an "amp" label on the curcuit tape on the back whereas the 93 cluster didn't. But no dice.

 

Put everything back to stock and see if it works. If it doesn't, start checking all your fuses. Actually, you should check all your fuses first anyways.

 

So i got it going, little embarrassing but i found a unmarked switch and black button under the dash on the driver side. I flipped the switch, pressed the button and it's charging a full 15 volts again. No idea what they're for but i must have nicked them while replacing the speedo.

Valet override switch perhaps for theft so theives don't go far?