Am I missing something or has Ford stopped using Volt or Amp gauges in the new F150?

2015 King Ranch, 5.0L Tuxedo Black.

 

I miss it too. Guess we must reply on the idiot lights.

 

Never enough gauges are there? I do appreciate the tranny temperature gauge though.

 

All be darn! I didn't realize until just now, no amp Gage??
Scott

 

Would far rather have a voltmeter than an ammeter. In fact, am converting Dad's truck from ammeter to voltmeter. But, I miss having anything at all on the new one.

 

Yep, we haven't had real voltmeters in a LONG time. Ford has been seemingly exclusive in the "dummy gauge" department for years, and I've never understood why.

Trucks nowadays are smart though, if the alternator fails it will let you know.

 

It had better let me know quickly given all the "stuff" that requires power on these. My 81's can go for over 100 miles without a battery - I've done it. But, I doubt these new trucks could get anywhere near that, even if you shut off the accessories.

 

Yep, I believe you're right about that. It would be quick, the PCM actively controls the alternator's output and would know the instant it wasn't doing what it's told.

I make no secret of the fact that I came very close to buying a Ram this time around. One of the things I liked most was a gauge screen in the instrument cluster that showed oil pressure, oil temperature, transmission temperature, battery voltage, and coolant temperature. Even the base instrument cluster had this, why can't we?

 

There's no reason we can't. The computer has all the needed info, and the "gauges" are nothing but a graphic generated by the computer. So, it could easily generate graphics that had temps on them. And, graphics for voltage, current, etc.

But, Ford hasn't thought we are smart enough to use #'s since way, WAY back. The 80 - 86 gauges certainly don't have #'s, and I think that was the case much further back than that. In fact, at one point Ford thought we are so dumb we don't care that the gauge was driven by a switch. Yes, some of the oil pressure gauges were driven by a switch, so if you had even a smidgen of pressure the gauge read in the middle.

 

Agree with tom, even when there was a needle on the dashboard, it wasn't really giving you useful information beyond what a dummy light would tell you. It wasn't calibrated at all.