Hey i was just wondering, is there any way possible to incorporate an instrument cluster with a tachometer into my 2000 Ford Focus SE sedan with SPI say from a ZX3, or another model? PLease give me some feedback

Yes you can do this. The only 'catch' is that you will want to buy one that has the relatively the same ODOMETER reading (mileage) cause that isn't changeable. Basically if your car has 23, 245mi on it and you do purchase a gauge cluster that has say 28,487mi on it, when you install it, the mileage will now read 28,487 and not your current actual mileage. You can get this reprogrammed by the FORD techs (dealership) but not sure what that costs.

It is possible, many have done this, run a SEARCH on the boards here and you'll find out some other information you need about this.

I did theswap it just plugs right in but dont count on a dealership reprograming guages for you its a little illegal.[thumb]

Welcome to FF

If you tell them directly what your doing and they see your old one installed in the car, they will do this. It's not illegal at all, how do you think they do this when you go in directly and buy a new set of gauges directly from the dealership?

I was told by the DMV that any tampering of the odometer is illegal and the factory said they would not do it when I asked, so maybe I will try another factory. I have about 75xxx miles on my car but my new guages only say 13xxx. Is it possible to find the milage on the car with out the original guages?

Thanks for answering the question, S2. See why we need a moderator for this forum?


BTW: You can have your damn cold air back now. I'm quite tired of it.

LOL (found the first example)....lol

Anyway, yeah it's damn cold here right now also. Sucks man, I've had enough of this winter. As for a SPI moderator, I agree we need one.

Well is there a way to read the milage without the stock guages?

It's my understanding, right or wrong, that the ECU also tracks mileage. You'd have to get it checked at the dealer, though.

Hrm... It seems strange that it would be illegal to make the odometer correspond to the actual miles on the car when swapping. I went into my dealership a couple of months ago to ask that very question. They said that they would be able to do it, and that it's illegal to not correct the mileage when swapping gauge clusters.

Cheers!

Well I will try agian b/c I realy need to get it corrected. Thanks!

Well I'm upgrading to a gauge cluster /w tach and my current cluster has ~42k on it currently. The cluster I bought has 44,739 miles on it. So I'm just going to wait until my cluster reaches 44,739 miles and swap them out. No worries then. ;)

Cheers!

Hey guys thanx alot for the feedback, I really appreciate! Now i guess i'm gonna by a new cluster and take it to my local dealer.

I just wrote down the milage from my old cluster. Then, installed the new one. It had less miles. Old one had 39911. This one had 5845. So, whatever is put on my new cluster. I just do 39911 and subtract 5845. Then add on the milage to the 39911 from what is over the 5845.

^^^ That works too. ;)

I finally made my way to the ford dealer and asked again to reprogram my guages and once agian they told me NO it is illegal they dont even have the tools/software to change them. So to answer your question why would it be illegal to correct guages, I dont know.

Ahem... try a DIFFERENT dealer.

yea next time I take a road trip I will try to find one who will do it. b/c the next closest dealer is 45 min. away.

So from what I read, I could just take my gauge cluster out and the new one plugs right in. That simple? And everything works as it should, just trying to find out now because I'm going to buy one tommrow.

Yes that simple.

Originally posted by bigtigga1
So from what I read, I could just take my gauge cluster out and the new one plugs right in. That simple? And everything works as it should, just trying to find out now because I'm going to buy one tommrow.

yup 7 bolts and a connector and you can have your new cluster. 3 on the bezel and 4 holding the cluster inplace.

I finally went and put the cluster in this morning it's quite simple and straight forward all you have to do is remove cluster from dash disconnect the harness and plug the new in, it works like a charm.

I am about 90% sure that the ecu tracks many things including miles. So all they have to do is hook it up to there oasis machine thingy and the miles will come up on it from the ecu. From what I have heard the ecu tracks alot of little things like top speed, average speed, miles, average rpms, etc.. little stupid things like that.

Actually I heard the same thing but I haven't taken it to the dealer yet, but I'll find out soon.

i've heard that as well and it wouldn't surprise me but i've yet to see a sellsman at a dealership hook up a device to it and check the actual mileage. My brother did have a 2002 Ford F-350 Quad Cab and did a variation of the cluster sway and didn't have any problems turning it in for a 2004 F-250 Harely Davidson Edition. What most places do it plug their little DB machine in the DB2 port and check codes, engine temp, etc.....My brother had one and couldn't find anything about mileage.....but not to say that it can't be done. Obviously if you have a rusted out car dents, dings, and beat to hell car basically and the OD reads like 10,000 miles then there's a problem. To my knowledge, i have yet to see a dealer pull out their 'special' meter to check for OD fraud.

Any ideas or knowledge of a midwest dealer that will reprogram gauges? As Waterboy may know, Central Ohio dealers aren't the greatest helps in the world (they all gave me the illegal crap), and I'd rather not rack up my phone bill if anyone can help.

Is the Switch pretty easy?

Cuz i have no Tach and it drives me crazy, and the switch is just plug and go right? no special wiring harness?

Yeah it's pretty simple you just take yours out unplug it and plug in the new one. simple as that just get one with about the same miles on it. Trust me I used to feel the same way until I got mine.

Where do i buy one from? where do i begin to look?

Actually fellas, the ecu does not track the mileage of your car. It does however track your rpm's and speed. My guages stopped working and I took my car in and they wouldn't fix the problem under warranty b/c they said they couldn't tell how many miles were on the car. The mileage is kept on some kind of chip in the odometer and thats what went out on my cluster. So I had to take the problem into my own hands and just get a used cluster with around the same amount of miles on it.
One other thing, they can't put the amount of miles you want on a new cluster at the dealership, they actually have to order you a new cluster with that amount of miles programmed onto it. But I got into a shouting match with the service manager b/c she tried to take me as a fool. They were going to send my cluster off to see if it was a factory issue and if it was they would replace it. I asked her what would happen if I went and got a cluster with under 30,000 miles on it (which was what my car was at when it happened) and put it in my self. She told me that it would be illegal and that I could face a $50,000 fine if I did that. So then, me being the smart ass that I am, told her, "so the work you're wanting to do on my car is illegal." She said, "no." I told her that it would be the exact same thing b/c either way the correct miles would not be on the car. She then got really pissed and told me that she gave me my options and to have a nice day. I wouldn't be surprised if she went home and beat her kids after the hell I put her through.

OKAY THIS REALLLY MAKES ME MAD! i have been wanting a tach for sooo long! ive had the car 3 years! and i just now see this crap! i can easily get a gauge cluster.. my dad owns a body shop... he even thought it wouldnt match up... [:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)]ing A!

I WAS TOLD YOU NEED A DRIVER OR SOMETHING FOR A LXMDLE LIKE MINE THAT DONT HAVE ONE WILL SOME ONE EXPLAIN WHAT THAT IS? (I WOULD THINK IT IS THE CABLE WHICH DOES DOWN TO MY TRANNY ANY HELP TO MY ??)

No that's bull, all you have to do is just simply switch the gauge cluster out with one that has about the same mileage. The cluster has it's own harness it'll take you all of 15 min to do the swap. So go find one put it in and you'll see.

I have the LX model it IS just as simple as tigga says its just a plug and play system for 00-04 models.

thanks bigtigga and focusin

Not a problem

i wonder... is there a card that plugs into the back of the cluster? if so, maybe the card from your old speedo just needs to be swapped out with the new card?

i know the escorts had a card on the back of their clusters - that was the way to tell if someone tampered w/ the mechanical numbers on the speedo face.

but... since the odometer is LCD, maybe a card swap is all that's needed.?.?.

rob

No there is no cards to swap or anything all that needs to be done is unbolt the cluster un plug it and plug up the new one simple as that.

Is there any HOW-To's on doing the swap? is it just the few bolts around the speedo cluster?

No it's just the 3 bolts on the bezel and four around the speedo cluster itself very simple. If you cant do this mod please turn in your tools for a skirt. haha just playn

sounds good, bout to hit up the junk yard to pick one up

The Dealer wont Change my OD

Need to find another dealer. Some are punks and won't do the OD change. Most will.

ya, i hope i can find one, i asked 3 and they all said no. My new Cluster says 95,000 miles, but really i only have 37,500. There is no way i am keeping it in if the OD doesn't get changed.

When I switched mine out I went to a few junk yards and found one with my kind of miles on it and thats the one I got you might want to try that

ok, i might go back today and see if i can switch

??

whats with the ??

OO I am still lost on How to get the OD changed??

If you mean the odometer, then the only way that i currently know of would be, to ask your Ford dealer. I heard that some do and some won't. Be prepared to pay quite a bit from what im told. You can do it like that, or like me, get a cluster w/ similer miles in it, and just swap it out. Probably one of the easiest if not the easiest mod to do.

Thanks,
Randy

I agree just trying to find one with similar miles would more than likely be the best option.

crap, i just payed 70 for it.... now what do i do with it???

Take it back where you bought it to see if they have any with about the same mileage. 70$ ouch i paid 50$ for mine.

They have 1 other one with a few thousand less. but that still doesn't help at all.

Check Ebay, but don't get screwed- I've seen these units go for over $120 used.

SIDE NOTE:
I went to 2 different dealers, and I asked them how to do the tach swap. The shop formen (who knew absolutely nothing about this- I could SOOO tell) told me that they could do the work for about $1,000. This is crazy. Then they told me that the SPI didn't have an RPM sensor and the tach would be dead, unless they installed the Zetec sensor (???) This is so stupid! I haven't done the swap yet (still looking for a good gague cluster), but from what I'm reading here from all ya'll. I'm under the impression that as soon as I pulg this puppy in, my tach will give me a reading? That's sweet!

ya it will, It was Soo cool the first time i turned the car on, once i installed it. then i tapped the gas and watched that puppy rise. But my miles are way off still

U might want to verify this, but I suggest that you write the date u did the swap down (this goes for everybody), how long it took, where u did the swap, and how many miles your car has on it and the miliage on the tach when u swapped it in. Sign it, have a witness sign it, and file it somewhere safe, preferably with the title. That way, it doesn't look like u were trying to screw anybody should you decide to sell the car. This is what I plan to do (people do this with engine swaps all the time) when I do the tach swap to protect myself legally. It's cheaper than going to the dealer to set the correct miliage, and it should have the same legal effect.

Originally posted by mrorange7878
ya it will, It was Soo cool the first time i turned the car on, once i installed it. then i tapped the gas and watched that puppy rise. But my miles are way off still

what I am doing is this..
I just bought a cluster with tach for 50 bucks, I'm putting it in as soon as I get it.
I don't even know what the mileage is. If it is way off I will keep looking for another one closer to the mileage that I need. Once I find one I'll swap that one in & sell the old one on ebay

ya i should do that