compass/temp - substitute

Hey there, I am new to this site, and liking what I see. Lots of info(Good and Bad), here is to hoping I have some good!

A bit about Me. Live in SK Canada, so some pretty harsh climate up here, WE GET IT ALL - heat, cold, wet, dry, etc. This should be the testing grounds for vehicle manufactures if they want real world scenarios to test their designs.

Nuff said.
I recently purchased a '05 Taco access cab 4.0l with 238,000 km's(147,890ish Mi). so far love it, it is tight, quite, and comfortable, has a few of the issues that I have read about, the worst being The Lousy, and I mean Lousy fuel mileage (at best 12MPG), and the wind noise due to poor windshield seal at the top, but that is not what this is about.

I had been searching for a replacement compass/temp display, as mine was beyond repair[pic below], as 1 of the "pnp or npn" transistors was fried, burnt up, melted, done like dinner. Someone had done the re-solder and not sure if that caused the failure or not, but replacing was the only option. So after many hours, days and nights searching for a reasonably priced unit, I happened to make a discovery that may seem a bit unusual but thought I would see what would happen. As they say.... Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained!

Now I do have to say there may be some words mentioned here that some people may be offended with, and procedures that people may think are (to put it best) Criminal.
Please understand, I did what I had to do.

I found a "Compass/temp" unit in a Ford, yes I said Ford! An Explorer to be more precise. Apparently they had a very similar overhead display in some models ranging from "99-03" I believe, may also be in the sport-trac as well. These units are so similar I would venture to say that modifications were done just so they were not directly interchangeable.

Well needless say, I had to take a closer look and compare the 2 units and see if somehow I could either use it, or parts of it, to make a good working display. Well lo and behold, if the 2 units didn't share more similarities than differences.

So, it was off to the wiring diagrams to compare, and decipher what would need to be done to re-wire the unit to fit in the Taco, then off to the workbench to apply my new found knowledge. the big difference, taco had 8 wires attached(hard) to the board, where the donor had only 6 with a removable connector(Sweetness). I found by comparing the diagrams, both boards were essentially wired the same, so it was just a matter of transplanting the Taco harness to the donor board.

So with a bit of soldering for the wiring, and filing of green plastic for fitment, it will work in the Tacoma.


Here are some pics, notice the 3 big differences, 1st, the Tacoma board is pretty much a rectangle less the notched out piece in bottom right corner, where the explorer board looks more like a "T" with large notches out of both sides. 2nd, The square "IC" on the board is more centered on the donor board which requires slight trimming of the green cover. 3rd, The Tacoma display is orange, where the explorer is green(this can be swapped if desired)

Here are a few pics to aid in the explanation of what I did.

1,2 - OEM Taco display(s) (obtained from internet)
3 - my board(to be replaced)
4 - my board, close up of burnt transistor(s)
5 - 03 Explorer(donor part from wrecker) - pick-a-part type auto wrecker
6 - 03 explorer, what there console looks like
7 - donor board removed from console
8 - side by side comparison of the 2 boards
9 - another comparison of the 2 boards out of the casings
10 - the donor board after re-wiring, ready to put in Taco casing
11- in taco casing ready to re-assemble
12- installed in Taco and powered up





Please note, there were some work arounds to make fit properly, nothing major but still caution is advised. I will not be held liable for any incidents, injuries, or damages that may result from this modification. I am only putting this out there as an alternative to fixing a well discussed problem with these boards, and trying to help save a few bucks along the way.

If you are interested, the donor part cost me $15.00, and a total of about 3 hours of my time, which included getting the part from the wrecking yard, looking at wiring diagrams, performing the modifications, and re-installing in the Taco.

I hope to edit the video and pics I took during the process, and get it up on a video provider site in the near future.***(see below for link)***


Thank You for taking the time to read this, and feel free to comment.
I am not sure if I am the first, but thought I would share what I found and did!

Now get out there and enjoy your TACO!

***Info Update (Feb 10, 2020)***
Just an update on the outcome of this mod. With the stock ambient temp sensor the display was not even close to being accurate, here today the temp was -6 degrees Celsius, and the display was showing +33 degrees Celsius. So with that being said, if you try this... grab the ford sensor and harness so you can have correct(or as close as you can get, with ford parts) temp display.

***Info Update (Feb 28, 2020)***
Here is the link to my video, not the best(1st time I tried making a video), but you should get the idea.

https://youtu.be/o2SkiQENEhY

 

Welcome! Interesting project.

 

Welcome aboard

 

welcome!

 

Hey all, thanks for the Welcome(s)

Just an update on the outcome of this , with the stock ambient temp sensor the display was not even close to being accurate, here today the temp was -6 degrees Celsius, and the display was showing 33 degrees Celsius. So with that being said, if you try this... grab the ford sensor and harness so you can have correct(or as close as you can get, with ford parts) temp display.

 

Welcome to TW!