Wiring 96-01 Ford Explorer 302 EFI into 98 Ranger swap starting, charging, and PATS info 

Hopefully the heads turned out how you wanted. I don’t think I showed or mentioned that front o2 plug. In all honesty it’s a lot of work to do it the way we did. Next time I’d get a transmission plug and de pin that instead. You shouldn’t have to change the ac since you’re 98-02 and using 99-01 explorer but let me know if that’s not the case

@@1stockcam yeah bro.. Most just cut the wires..I did like you and depinned them. It does take a lot of time.. but so worth it

@@1stockcam my plan was to use the expo charging/staryer harness.. that plug in your video, the ranger side of that plug..doesnt match. Everyone is telling me that you have to rewire the ac stuff. Im still studying it trying to figure what I have to do..mines a 2000/2000 swap

Jody your ac system should work, but if you tried to put a 96-97 computer in it would run the compressor all the time. Not sure why. Ford went through and changed wire colors sometime around 2000, so you might have different wire colors but the plug should have pins in the same locations right?

@@1stockcam well... That red/yellow stripe wire on the ranger side of that plug..which I believe is the ac high/low pressure switch wire? The explorer does not have that wire. I know the big yellow is the starter wire.. Im going to have to take an entire day off work to let my brain comprehend what has ro be done..lmao. Just picked up my heads from ups.. they look real good!!!

Sounds like you’ve done your homework. Having the whole vehicle is the best way to go about that! Off the top of my head the 3 things you will encounter are pats, which you’d need to swap the whole pats module, key, and transceiver from the explorer. The pcm in the 01 ranger grounds the starter relay, and the 98 explorer does not, so you’ll need to connect the starter relay to a ground. The tach will need to be pin swapped on one of the plugs, the speedometer will not work, and I really have no clue about the electronic (?) t case. My opinion would be the awd from the explorer is easiest, to use, since there’s zero electronics to control it. It’s technically a manual t case if you physically unbolt the front driveshaft to put it in rwd. The awd t case will run one driveshaft without any issue. At any rate let me know if you got any questions or issues I can help you through!

@1stockcam I beefed up the motor with an e-303 ford motorsport cam & holley hi-ram. It should move with the 4:10's. Also, I talked to a locksmith that said he can program the explorer PATS to work with the existing Ranger ignition. That will most certainly save a headache.

Dude that story bums me out! How can I help you get it rolling again? It can’t be too much work!

I don’t have the name, but it’s a sub harness that connects ac, alternator, and oil pressure switch, depending on year. Some of these functions pass through the engine harness instead, depending on year and trim level. Do you need to replace it because the locking tab broke or some other reason?

What year is the truck you are swapping and what year is the 302 engine harness? I don’t recall seeing that plug on any of the v8 engine harnesses, it’s a sub harness that controls a handful of functions and connects them from the engine to the vehicle. Without getting into too much detail, it sounds like you’re missing the rest of that sub harness which is why it’s confusing. Depending on the year and body style, there are different functions that pass through that plug. Alternator charge signal, voltage gauge, a/c compressor clutch, oil pressure switch, and high pressure ac switch would be a fully populated one. Again depending on year, some of these are redundant, some go through the engine harness instead of the vehicle harness. Do you have the original sub harness that plugged into the vehicle side? That would clear things up a bunch, because it connects the vehicle to the above mentioned components.

@@1stockcam it’s a 2006 FX4 level ll and the 5.0 is out of a 99’ Eddie Bauer. It’s on the engine harness on the front of the engine that is with the positive and negative battery wires and runs down to the starter solenoid

@@JesseSulffridge-vw9ic I’ll check my diagrams and see if I have any for that. I’ll update when I have more info.

@@1stockcam I guess I’ll just match the wires with each other using a wiring schematic. I thought maybe just someone had done it already and it would make it a lot easier for me. You would think out of all the stuff that is out there for these things to do the swap that somebody would have some information on it that was readily available instead of having to dig for it.

@@JesseSulffridge-vw9ic the 06 up with the 3 plug computer is definitely a little less common of a swap. What are you going to do about the gauge cluster? As I recall 06 used can based, so the explorer v8 ecu won’t be able to send the signals for the stock 06 cluster to work.

Do you have fuel pressure and injector pulse, only one of the two, or neither? Can you scan it for codes? No start I always check for p1260 first

If you send me the pcm I can disable pats for $125. Otherwise you could have a local locksmith program the key for you. You’ll need two keys, because the pats system won’t let you program a single key if you don’t have another master key that works.

I have no experience running individual coils, but I do know there are 3 wires per factory coil pack for a total of 6. Two of those wires are used provide +12v, so you have 4 total coil driver wires to work with. I would assume if you just wire these in parallel you could run wasted spark this way with individual coils. So then the question is which wire colors to use to command the coils. At this point I don’t even know which cylinders are fired in pairs but this should be evident by looking at the wiring and the factory coils. Let me know if I am understanding correctly and I’ll check the wiring for you!

Didn’t expect to see you here man. Love your channel btw(especially the junkyard stuff), cheers!

The one in the wiring videos was right there with ya, 5.0 great running and 280k! I got you covered, you can email me. I didn’t expect the wiring videos to be a complete guide but there’s a lot to add that I’ve learned. Next video maybe? The 5.0 and even the 5.8 is the easy way out. You can use all factory ford parts. Ls not so.

Hopefully I can help, what are you working on?

The ac logic is different between the two, which harness and computer did you use? If you have the 2 wire plug on your alternator, the bigger one goes to a 30 amp constant power. The smaller one goes to the gauge. If either are disconnected then it won't charge.

Did you fix it?

Not that I'm aware of. The only thing that may need to be changed is the alternator wiring, since on some it passes through the 42 pin, and on others it has its own subharness instead.

You'll need a 2000 Ranger automatic engine harness and transmission sub harness. The manual harness is missing all the plugs and wires for the auto solenoids and sensors.

On the Explorer, it's on the battery/starter harness. It depends on the year of the Ranger but they are the same as the Explorer from what I've seen when it comes to the 98-01

@@1stockcam Mine is 03 and the ac plug is the same I tap into it but the ac is constantly running but as soon I turn on the ac from control panel the clutch turns off

I believe in yours, the issue is the alternator gauge on the cluster is either different or lacking all together. On the 2 wire plug on the alternator, that is the smaller of the wires, and that's the one that needs to resistor to switched power to simulate the gauge. The easiest source for switched power should be the bigger one of the two right next to it, which your factory plug already has wired to a relay in the fusebox.

Yeah, hit me with your questions and I'll do my best to answer. I prefer a stock ecu personally for cost and reliability. What trans you going to use?

Im Using the stock 96 explorer trans. I have everything already hooked up in car just need wiring part i will b using stock ecu

Thanks man. You know which one I use right? I have to change it once every year or two. I carry a new spare now in the truck for that reason.

@@1stockcam not real familiar with the different slave cylinders I just found online that the Nissan slave is what everyone used and the one that's on my truck right now is a 3/4 inch or 0.750 mm slave and the master I used f550 . I gess from now on I'll keep a spare around sucks the be 2 years sence I changed it and 600 miles tho . I posted a video to my channel check it out

@@1stockcam what slave do you use and size bore ?

josh siebert 89-92 ford probe turbo. Checked out your video, that’s cool you compared those two slaves. I might try picking up one myself and see what it’s like compared to what I use, because to be honest I’m not even sure the diameter. You happy with the setup you’re using now or is it still not perfect?

@@1stockcam I'll have to check the Ford Probe slave out. For the most part I'm happy with using the Nissan 240SX slave the clutch pedal isn't too hard or stiff when I tried using the Nissan D21 slave the clutch pedal was super rock hard but it had more throw didn't really need more throw because the other slave work just fine it was just too close to the header. So I made a heat shield now and we'll see what happens hopefully it won't cook this 240sx slave. I would like to see you in depth about how you made your clutch slave bracket. did you utilize the two trans bolts to the bellhousing or does your setup bolt to the bellhousing?

What engine was your 06? Does it have the 3 plug ecu or 1 plug? If it's the 3 plug (06 I believe is the first year of this) they have a CAN based gauge cluster network. The older EEC-V explorer and ranger were fed signals from the GEM and the ecu for the cluster

@@1stockcam it has a 2.3 duratec. I think it is a can bus system. Can the stock gauges work somehow. Someone told me they had to change the dash harness to an older truck to use a stock older cluster

@@MrGrzmnky what you need is an adapter that can read the obd2 data and convert it to the ford com network/can. There’s a company out there who makes universal obd2 gauges, they might be able to make a device to accomplish this if it isn’t already offered

So the truck should run with whatever engine and harness i use. Just no gauges correct because of the canbus system

@@MrGrzmnky Correct. No a/c and you'd need to wire the alternator circuit. The Explorer v8 harness only gets power and ground from the truck harness to run and drive, the rest of the wiring from the truck is for things like a/c clutch, gauge outputs from ecu, comm network. "options" basically

You took a v6 out of a 2005 and replaced it with a 2.5 from a 2000?

None actually. If you completely ditch the computer, all you will lose is the ac, fuel pump, speedometer, tach, coolant and oil gauges. Basically the gauge cluster stops working. On some, like my 98, the speedometer will still work even with no transmission or computer at all. In 01 this changed however, and the 95 and older I have no experience with so maybe those are different too.

@@1stockcam Thanks man I really appreciate it

My trucks a 95 swapping in a 98 5.0

@@jessemitchell4228 you can put the yellow wire onto a 30 amp fuse and back to the output post or the battery positive, but the green and red wire has to be bypassed with a resistor or hooked to a gauge. If either of these are missing it won’t charge.

@@1stockcam Okay thanks

Yes, a tune with the pats turned off

On the two plug connector at the alternator the bigger one goes to the 30 amp fuse and the smaller one is the gauge. You can look at the wire color and trace it back. Not all of them had it pinned through the 42 pin, some of the Explorers had it on a separate harness

@@1stockcam I’m running a new harnesses what and am asking for the ranger side of the 42 pin for the alt gauge not the explorer side

@@Jakearb4 look for the green wire with a red stripe. That’s for the gauge. I’ve never seen it a different color, only different location. The yellow is the sense wire, run to 30 amp fuse in the fuse box. This is the sense wire, it’s the bigger of the two. Also sometimes shows up in 42 pin explorer and ranger plugs

S13 or s14? What year chassis and what trans?

I have an ecu with PATS turned off.

I have the stock truck harness on the vehicle side, and the v8 explorer harness on the engine side (of the 42 pin connector, that is) For pats I have an ecu that disables it. It’s something I offer to do for others if it helps people get past that part. Your other option is to tAke the pats system from an explorer and transplant it into a ranger. That’s more work though, and assuming you already have everything from a functional system.

If you want all your gauges to work I’d go with an explorer harness and ecu. Any 96-01 ecu will work with a manual tune, very similar harness. use whatever explorer harness you can find. You might need to re pin alternator, oil pressure, and ac depending on which combo you end up with

@@1stockcam yes I’ll be going to the mall(junkyard) this weekend, plenty of explorers to look at! Thanks for getting back👍

@@1stockcam question, now I do have a mega squirt 86-93 mustang system still sealed, can I use that?

@@Tantobuds619 yes if it’s the one that plugs in the 94 mustang harness you have, it sounds like that may be the easiest solution.

@@1stockcam so I found a 97 mountaineer 5.0 and pulled that harness with ECU, I will say though the mega squirt ecu doesn’t connect to it. Wondering though could I cut the end of a 94 mustang ecu harness and wire it up to the 97 mountaineer ecu end harness so I could use the mega squirt ecu?

98 ranger is returnless. Used 99-01 5.0 explorer rails match and the stock ranger line re routed and plugs in.

@@1stockcam copy, thank you. Im thinking about getting a 302 separate with a new cam then getting a 97 explorer. So i should go to a junk yard and find a 99-01 and take the rails to keep it returnless and simple?

@@AhmadElvis yes. What year ecu are you using?

@@1stockcam i havent decided yet, thinking about the year explorer i get (w/o patts) so i dont have to deal with that.

I think the 95 would technically bean sn95 as 93 was the last year of the fox body. That being said the wiring changed between them as well as the computer. What harness do you have and what’s the code on the ecu you’re using with the harness?

I’m brand new to this wiring stuff honestly but I’m reading the ecu and it says U4p0 EEC-lv Smd -212A

@@cristiancortez357 95 mustang u4p0 at ecm plug the wiring is: Pin 60 black with white stripe, pin 20 black and pin 6 pink/orange are ground Pin 37 yellow +12v keep alive and input to constant control relay in the vehicle. pin37 pin57 both red are +12v - pin37 and 57 are outputs from the constant control relay so essentially a key switch You can trace those all back based on color to the plug that goes to the vehicle make your connections (power and ground) there. Still need fuel pressure and starter circuit but that’s enough for the ecu to run it if you just give power and ground to those wire colors

THANKS Brother big help !!!

Returnstyle has a base fuel pressure of 43 psi with a vacuum reference and returnless is 65 psi without a vacuum reference. The crank fuel settings are the same between them, and injectors are the same. On 65 psi, the 19 lb injectors flow 24 lb/hr. Closed loop fueling will correct at part throttle and idle, but it will throw the WOT fuel off target by more than 10% You could put 24 lb/hr injectors in a returnless ecu using return fuel system and you'd be able to compensate that way.

@@1stockcam Hey thanks for the reply. Im currently swapping a explorer ecu and harness in a 90 bronco. I plan on reusing the stock bronco return fuel system. Other than an upgrade to the pump and injectors. Ill see if I can tune out the 10% drop at WOT in binary editor.(if I ever get around to it. too many projects.) Thanks again friend

The biggest challenge would be the gauges. The 06 up ranger used CAN style network gauge cluster, where the 95-05 uses individual signals. I know there are people out there who have done the swap. I’m not one of them so I can’t say how they got around this part of it

The fastest way to success is to get the entire f150 drivetrain, but the intake manifold is huge so you’ll need the explorer or mustang/car version or else it won’t fit under the hood. You’ll also want a tune to flash out all the auto stuff. I’d say if you are hitting the yards, you get a 99-01 explorer 5.0 engine and harness. And then get the entire transmission, transfer case and shifter from an f150. If you could get both engines and sell what you don’t need then you’d have everything you do. That’s the idea scenario in my opinion

@@1stockcam since I made that comment I've got my game plan together, and I bought an entire 00 explorer for my 99 ranger. It gives me everything, including the motor mounts that are factory bolt ins, the computer that is plug and play minus disabling the park safety switch, and a few other important things. I need an m5odr2 from a 10th gen so I can retain my shifter location and the drive shaft should work, if not I'm a welder so no problem. I won't need the explorer gage cluster either, as they're the same. Just relocate the wire from one port to another for the tach to read the 5.0 properly, a bonus of starting with a 3.0. Also the speed sensor is in the rear end so I don't need the f150 trans mounted one. I've seen fellas put well over 500+ ftlbs to those transmissions and hold together so im confident I can reliably hold what ill be doing to it, which is a xe274hr cam, ported gt40p heads with springs and intake (eventually that stuff will be upgraded to tfs stuff but I'd like it to run first) and maybe a rear mounted turbo for a sweet little street truck thats good in the snow and the mud, and be able to actually tow stuff. Or at least, thats the plan lol

@@DylanC828 man you've come a long ways! got all it figured out I see! Maybe try that 4r70w first til you get the manual setup? Just a thought... something to get you by. That year is one of the best to get. I have zero experience with the autos but I have been itching.

@@1stockcam I've been doing a lot of research lol, I had a basic bit of knowledge going into it but not much past it was possible. Turns out that my 99 is the golden ticket (its actually gold in color lol) when it comes to this swap and retaining the 5 speed and 4 wheel drive. I may have to move the trans crossmember or cut it a little bit but for the most part a lot of the things work together well without much modification. Makes me wonder why ford never offered this as an option to begin with. Anyway, I'm still gathering up parts and I have a little ways to go before I can start pulling things apart but I'm hoping this will be done by winters end, ill record it as I go and cover everything I've done to it and upload it on here for anyone who's trying to do what I'm doing since there's not really anything available, maybe save someone the countless hours of research 🤣 thanks for the reply tho man!

I agree it’s a straightforward deal, fortunately. Keeping things oem and ford is the golden ticket on these if you want “easy.” Swap that explorer axle while you’re at it.

I can try, what are you needing help with?

03 ranger has pats and so does the 00 explorer 5.0. The ecu in the 03 grounds the starter relay. That’s probably why no crank. If you bypass the starter relay with a wire or paper clip does it crank? Did you get a 2000 ecu with pats off?

@@1stockcam i sent out my ucu from the 00 explorer out and have pats removed from it. i can supply 12v to the yellow/blue wire to the starter relay and the truck will start, but i havent been able to get the key to crank it over.

@@wahrewahnsinn on an 03 ranger the starter relay is grounded by the pcm, on the Explorer 5.0 it’s grounded by the chassis. You are most likely missing the ground at the starter relay. It should be a dark blue wire with orange stripe on the chassis side of the 42 pin plug, and the engine harness side of the same plug will have a different color wire. This is the wire needs to be disconnected at the ecu and attached to ground. If you tell me what year explorer engine harness you have I can tell you which wire color and pin number at the ecu it is

@@1stockcam 01 explorer.

@@wahrewahnsinn pin 42 on the vehicle side should have a dark blue with orange stripe on pin 28. On the 01 explorer 5.0 engine harness side the corresponding pin will be orange with a black stripe and will connect to pin 19 on the pcm connector. This needs to go to ground instead of the pcm pin 19. You can depin it at the pcm connector and run a ring terminal to ground at the factory spot next to the pcm. If you want to get tricky you can wire this to an interrupt switch that grounds when you turn it on, and have a fancy anti theft kill switch hidden somewhere that only allows the starter to crank when you have it on.

Also the overdrive indicator on the dash keeps blinking but it still kicks in and out of overdrive just fine.

If you give me the exact obd2 codes that would help understand the issue. Being a 99, if you look at the ecu tag, it should be eqe1, eqe2, 3, 4 or 5. Can you confirm which it has? While the harnesses do change a bit, it mainly deals with the cam sync, egr type, and transmission pinout. Since you mention no codes for those, and the transmission shifts properly, it doesn’t sound like that’s the issue.

It’s giving code p1740, p0141, P0741, P1260 on Global OBD2. On Ford ABS it’s throwing codes “C1230 wheel speed sensor Rear Center Input Circuit Failure, “C1102 Acceleration Switch Circuit Failure, “C1095 pump motor circuit failure. And for the ecu tag give me one second

@@VisualReality801 if that p1260 stays there then it isn’t staying running, correct? You clear the codes and all the same ones come back? The abs sensors and codes won’t interface with or been known to the pcm. The only function of the abs in these vehicles is to send the pcm the vss. However if there’s an issue with that, you’ll get p0500 in short order.

Does it run or what’s the current state?

@@1stockcam Got it! Thanks

Colorado

@@1stockcam how can I get in touch with you

@@CharlesRemigntonSr email, it’s the channel name at gmail

Sure thing, where you at on the swap and what questions do you have?

@@1stockcam so I have a 2000 ranger and a 97 explorer I'm getting everything ready to put te motor in my question is do I need to use the 42 pin harness from the explorer or will the ranger one work? Also can I use the explorer or ranger driveline?

@@codykelley8614 ​ The 42 pin is pretty much the same. Plug the Explorer side into the Ranger side and you're done. Except for the alternator harness. Off the top of my head I believe the 97 Explorer had a divorced alternator harness, and the 00 Ranger went through the 42 pin, so you'll need to repin the Explorer side to bring those 3 alternator wires across to the Ranger 42 pin. As far as driveline I assume you mean driveshaft, as the Ranger transmissions won't bolt to the V8. On my original 302/T5 build I used the stock driveshaft, stock slipyoke, and it worked perfect. I moved the engine to get the length where I wanted it and it was done. If you're using the 4r70w, or you Ranger was an auto, this changes the rules. The 4r70w uses the same spline count as the T5, but the outer diameter is larger. Basically you'd want to keep the slipyoke of the Explorer, and swap it over to the Ranger driveshaft. The u joints are the same. Hope that helps. Good luck

@@1stockcam ok cool thanks I appreciate it

@@1stockcam do you know of any headers that will fit the ranger?

1stock cam at gmail