I'm having trouble getting my 4x4 lights to work on my cluster. For background my truck started out as a 2wd 2002 7.3 Excursion. I have installed a manual transfer case in it. I'm trying to get the cluster to show the 4x4 lights when the transfer case is shifted into 4HI or 4Lo. I've got the pigtail plugged into the transfer case and have tested that when it's shifted into 4Hi it grounds out one pin and when shifted into 4Lo it grounds out another.

I've gone through the harnesses and have found the following:
The cluster harness does have the Brown/Yellow and Light blue wires, which are supposed to be the wires used for activating the lights. I read on another post where a guy said to simply tap into those wires with the transfer case wires and the lights should work. That does not happen on mine. When I put ground to those pins, nothing happens. I found pigtails above the glovebox where the 4x4 module would go and on one of those pigtails are the same brown/yellow and light blue wires. I'm assuming those are meant to go directly between the 4x4 module and the cluster, to illuminate the lights.

I do have another 2002 Excursion 4x4 parts truck that I've been trying to use parts from as I need them. I pulled the 4x4 module from it and plugged it in. I scanned the modules with my scanner and the truck now recognizes a GEM module, which is technically the 4x4 module, however that module now has a bunch of codes, as its missing the connection with an auto shift transfer case. I'm not sure if trucks that had a manual transfer case from the factory had 4x4 modules? On the wiring diagrams, it appears that they did not.

I did connect directly to the cluster via my scan tool and commanded the 4x4 lights to come on to verify that they work, and they work fine.

So my question is, what else can I try? Is the VSM or the PCM any different between 4x4 and 2wd trucks? I do have the VSM and the PCM from the parts truck available that I can try. I just don't know if any programming is required. I know people have had to get the dealer to programmed used VSM's when theirs fail, however the two Excursions are pretty much identical, one is just a 4x4, so the options should be the same on the VSM's, except for maybe the 4x4 option?

Some also mentioned that one of the 3 plugs in the engine bay that connect the body to the frame is supposed to have those two wires for the transfer case lights. I checked on my truck and I do not have those wires. I'm assuming it's because Excursions never came with a manual transfer case, so the under hood harnesses are slightly different.

Any input would be greatly appreciated

 

Quick update, I figured it out. Had to change the As Built programming on the cluster. I checked the cluster from my 4x4 parts truck and tried grounding out the Light Blue and Brown/Yellow wires and the lights worked on that cluster. So I figured it must be a programming issue. Luckily it’s very simple and only has one line.
My original 2wd cluster the line was 8980-000-FF69
the 4x4 cluster the line was B980-0000-FF99.

After I changed the programming on my 2wd original cluster to match the 4x4 one, the lights started working! There may be another change there as the 2wd cluster is a MPH cluster and the 4x4 cluster is a km/h cluster, but since I don’t know what the hex values actuslly mean, I just copied it to match the 4x4 cluster

 

Glad you got it figured out! Did you use FORScan, IDS, or another software to change these values? More details on how you did this might help others in the future. Thanks.

 

Use Auto trader or other used car site to get the VIN from a MPH 4x4 Excursion. Then pull the as built data using the Motorcraft website.

 

I used ForScan with an OBDLink Mx+ adapter. I changed the IC (instrument cluster) As Built value. Photo of my original value attached (2 wheel drive cluster)

 

Thanks! It's shocking how many people don't use FORScan. It's the best $12 money can buy if you own a Ford...or free if you just want to read codes.

 

this is exactly why I keep using the forums. Social media (FB, TikTok) would have 3 people call you an idiot, 1 saying to just sell and buy a 4x4, and 10 people saying it isn't possible.

bookmarked this for when I convert mine. I had planned on just running 2 LED's to the cluster with a custom harness from the t-case. Your solution is elegant and exactly what I wanted without hackery.

 

Yeah forums used to be full of those types of people, now it seems they have all migrated to Facebook.

I was almost going to give up on the lights, but wanted things to work like factory. Thankfully I had a 4x4 parts truck I could try parts from.

I did have a guy on Facebook tell me that his truck had the wiring in the under hood plug C192. It's one of the 3 plugs that connect to the frame. Unfortunately, mine truck did not have those wires, so I made a new two wire sub harness from the transfer case and put a connector where those other 3 connectors are. Then I ran a harness from there, through the firewall, through the dash and to the passenger side where the 4x4 module would normally live. I cut the Light Blue and Brown/Yellow wires from the one plug and wired those to my sub harness. For reference, the Light Blue wire turns on the 4x4 light and the Brown/Yellow turns on Low Range light.

 

Wow, I just put a manual shifter in the floor for mine ( the hole in the floor is already there from the factory, just has a blank off plate over it).

So you’re using an electronic shift xfer case without the 4x4 control module?

While cool (because less Ralph Naders are always cool) but if you happen to flip the switch to low range while driving (by accident of course, like a plastic bag you’re handing to the passenger snags the switch or something) you would have some pretty big problems pretty quick. Like you’d probably crash the truck as the xfer case exploded kinda problems.

Might wanna put a secondary toggle switch in the ground or something so it takes operating two switches instead of just one.
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yup same thing I did. Just had to do this to get the lights on the dash to work

 

With the shift motor removed, what provides the signal for xfer case range indication?

there are no other wires going to the xfer case ( aside from the shift motor that gets removed when you put an manual shifter on) to give that feedback

i never really gave the lights much thought, figured I’d just look at the manual shifter stick location as easily as looking for a light.
…

 

I used an actual manual T-case. It has a sensor on top that has a two wire connector.

 

I bought the manual Transfer case shifter from the Inventor a while back,
I will NOT hook up the panel lights to see if it is Low Range, or High Range.

Why? the Shifter Handle is on the tunnel, is that not good enough??

https://wildhorsemfg.com/index.php/n...onversion-kit/