AAAAAAAAAHhhhh

OK APC GAUGES SUCK. I purchased the 2 color indiglos put them in today, THEY SEVERLY *UCKED MY CAR UP. Everything went smoothly, gauges in dimmer/color change switch mounted. I take off the headlight/dimmer switch assembly find the ground then find a RED AND BLACK (or red and yellow its on the top of the clip large flat wire) tap into that and the ground, gauges work great, let my car run with headlights on and gauges on (since they are triggered by my headlight switch). After 3 minutes of my car running with all that on, I turn it off. I think Kial what a wonderful job you did, *CUK THE HEADLIGHTS ARE ON, MY CAR IS OFF AND THE HEADLIGHT SWITCH IS IN THE OFF POSITION, AND THE GAUGES ARE ON ALSO. EVERYTHING IS OFF. I flip the switch back and fourth, nothing. Both stay on. I have to remove my headlight fuses to turn the headlights off. It now screwed up my car to the point of my whole dash being off when switched on by the headlight switch(cept the digital odometer) and for some reason my airbag light is LIT up, blinkers dont work, side blinkers arent even lit (if i put the headlight fuses back in), taillights dont work either, only on brake contact.

So in conclusion I wire the crap gauges to the headlight switch (or what I think it is, theres two different clips, I tapped in the headlight switch NOT the dimmer switch) and to a ground, now my car is severly messed up beyond my own personal experience to fix it. So my 2001 supercab is in the shop, and im sure they are racking up the minutes trying to fix my electrical problem. APC SUCKS and now im thinking, if I want to keep the crap gauges, I have to wire them to the radio and dim themin the day while the radios on. APC SUCKS AND LIES, there gauges/I screwed up my electrical system REALLY bad somehow. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

------------------
~K*I*A*L

 

Kial
Sounds like you've got bad Karma buddy !
1) did you disconnect the battery before you started to avoid screwing up the GEM's ?
2) Before you took it back to the dealer did you take APC guages out and restore everything back to it original configuration?
Dave

------------------
97 F150 4x4 Ext Cab Long Box 4.6L Auto, stock, in showroom condition Oxford White/Gold BedRug

 

I didnt take off the battery connection.
I didnt think the work we were doing, that was neccesary.
I also didnt take it to the dealer, because they would rip me a new one for putting the aftermark stuff in then screwing with the cars overall electronics. I took it to another shop that I know can help me, even though itll work out being alot of money


------------------
~K*I*A*L

 

First off, its always a good idea to disconnect the battery (at least the negative lead) when doing ANYTHING with electricity in the vehicle, I mean installing lights, tapping wires, whatever. The risks you could run by leaving it connected are more then worth the pain of reprogramming the stereo afterwords (besides, its good to clean out the computer memory occasionally )
As for the lights staying on, was there only two wires coming out of the headlight switch? For some reason I thought there would be more. Try grounding to something other then the black wire (basically any piece of body will do, but a voltmeter will help you find the best one). It sounds like some wires may have just gotten unintentionally crossed, though I have no experience with that portion of the wiring assembly.
As for taking in a vehicle with aftermarket stuff to the Ford dealer, mine always gets a kick out of it . I bought mine in one day on a Saturday to take advantage of a free oil change coupon I had received. I must have sat there gabbing with the oil changers as well as some of the more advanced mechanics about all I'd done to it, etc. We talked about off-roading, shocks, just about everything, they got a big ol kick out of it .



------------------

Matt Adams
Littleton, CO
1994 Ford Explorer, highly modified ( http://bart.is-s.com/~explorers/madams/ )
2000 F-150 XLT Supercab
5.4L Triton V8 Engine
Automatic Transmission
3" dual exhaust
Rhino lining
K&N Filtercharger Intake Performance Kit (FIPK)
JL Audio stealthbox with Phoenix gold amplifier, premium stereo
Genuine Steel brush guard with 4 PIAA 520's mounted on it
PIAA Airdam with PIAA 520 fog's and PIAA 510 superwhite driving lights in it.
off-road and tow packages
and much much more! (no page yet)
Soon to come:
Roll bar (double bar/single bar) with 3 sets of PIAA 80 XT's mounted on it (2 sets of driving, 1 set of fogs)
Storage box in the back
Pistol mod (convenient, easily accessible yet somewhat hidden access).

 

Kial, that's sucks man. Sorry to hear that.

I have a set of NR Auto white gauges coming. I got them for 1/2 price from a private owner (still new in box).
I hope I don't have the same problem. I also found out when direct wiring my radar detector that the black wires aren't always the ground wires. Did a wiring diagram say it was the ground wire? I ended up blowing 3 fuses when I used the black wire for a ground. I ended up just grounding to the roof behind the visor. Same with my KC switch in my over head console.
Hope everything works out for you.
Let us know what happened when you get it back.

 

You would need to cutoff and safely terminate the lower light wires...basically, remove it. The lower light on a 97-99 is a parking light only, no turnsignal or brake on it.

Daniel

 

Interesting you should blame it on the guages when you're the one who did the installation. Sounds like you were in over your head...



------------------
-JonC-
*Silver 2000 4x2 F150 Supercab
*4.6L Triton V8
*BFG 285/75/16 AT KO's
*16 x 8 Panther Custom 108's
*K&N GenII FIPK
*Custom Cat-back w/ Flowmaster 50 Series
*Fabtech 6.5" "Ultimate" suspension lift
*Smittybilt nerf bars
*Extang Black Max soft tonneau
*Stull billet grille
*Clear corners

 

thanks JonC but bad form, I dont need !*&^(*'s like you telling me I was in over my head. I posted this topic to get help. Not for dorks who think its cool to canoe at capo beach, probably doho if you go to capo, telling me Im in over my head. I found out what the problem was and fixed it. the gauges arent made to hook up to out stock headlight switch, they blew five of my fuses. I got it all fixed now, but they are tapped into the radio, I just dim them during the day. c u around jon



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~K*I*A*L

 

easy there, Kial... Wasn't trying to make you feel bad. I guess if I had gone on with my comment you might have understood a little better. In my experience, electrical systems are just about the most frustrating part of a vehicle to modify... especially these new ones! I don't mess with it myself unless I have to, because I know I would be in over my head (probably because I'm a dork too, as you so kindly pointed out!)

Anyway... glad you got it fixed! When are you finally going to honor us with some pictures of YOUR truck?

Hey, aren't you the same guy who flamed BigDawg the other day for posting pics of his truck with some hats on the hood? Yeah... I think you called him a dork, too! Yup, it was YOU! Suddenly I don't feel nearly so bad for "offending" you...

Have a nice day now!

 

hahaha, ok two people Im gonna "flame" but you have a right to be flamed, since you are one? The only people I know that canoe round dana point and capo beach area are a little sketchy if you know what i mean Well anyways YES i am the one that made fun of whoever for his hat presentation. I dont even want to get into that, if you think its cool to post pictures of your budwiser/nascar hat while they rest on the hood of your truck on a online message board...then more power to you bud. See you around johnny, literally.

------------------
~K*I*A*L

 

So then it was not the Guages or APC's fault?

Just curious.

 

*****!

how old are you.
calling someone a dork?
i havnt heard that word in years.

thanks for the laugh.
i have to agree with jon c though.

there is no such thing as getting bad wires.
you can hook them up wrong and then they'll be bad but they dont just come bad.

anyways you can have just one wire out of place and your *ucked.

i also think you need to calm down a bit.
i know you are going to come back with something for this post but i really don't care mainly because of a little thing called maturity.

THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A FRIENDLY SITE WHERE EVERYONE HELPS EACH OTHER. NOT FLAMES THEM FOR POSTING A PICTURE OF THEIR TRUCK NO MATTER WHAT IT HAS ON IT OR WHAT IT IS DOING.

Nobody thinks it's funny when another makes fun of somebody for something they have posted. it just makes the one who posted it looks like he/she is childish or immature.


Now i know that people will occasionaly make fun of somebody but all in good humor and we all get a laugh out of it. However somebody will always carry the smallest thing too far.
You give them an inch and they'll take a foot and just drive everything into the ground.




------------------
2000 silver lincoln navigator 4x4, heated seats, 3 LCD tvs, tinted windows. More to come.

1999 black lightning,
cervinis ramair hood,
4 infinity kappa 6x8,
A.R.E. tonneau cover,
tinted windows,clear corners, piaa superwhites,

coming up soon: power pulleys, slotted rotors,flowmaster exhaust, superchip, 100 shot of nox, belltech 3-4 drop, ramair kit, headers, plus more i just can't think of.

1997 35'Fountain 35Lightning,
mercury 502 MPI,Sleeping accommodations for 4;
-Compass
-Depth Sounder
-GPS
-Hourmeter
-Engine alarm

 

Age is a number.
Immature is a adjective you use on your own personal observation.
I gave my own "observation" to the hat guy, just as you commented on how you think Im acting, and why im acting this way.
Jon C did not help me, instead he tried to quote my fault was me, which it partly was, but this post wasn't a post in which people can tell me how I did something wrong, I need EXERIENCED car owners, as I am not, to try to pin point the problem and give words of wisdom. Not Its my fault. In my first post on this subject I said I thought I did this right and explained what I did, the word thought in MY vocab means reasonable doubt about what I did, Jon didnt need to reasure me I was wrong. Partly the reason I "falmed" Jon. SilverNav I know you are trying to support jon, call me names, and solve the whole worlds problems, but some people just wont listen to your words of wisdom unless they pertain to my situation. Thanks for in omniporus hypothesis of why I act the way I am. Take care.

(ps i probably spelled alot of words wrong, for that i appoligize)

------------------
~K*I*A*L

 

Can't we all just get along??!!??




C'mon guys...and gals if any, let's not jump down each others' throats for something as trivial as this. k, Kial, you made a mistake, it happens. You came to us needing guidance, not bcause you're stupid, or a "dork", but because you were confused. That's what this site is all about. That also doesn't constitute maturity by calling people names. Not saying that you're immature, but merely, that was an immature thing to do. JonC, I understand where you are coming from, but he's right, he just asked for opinions, not to be "put down". Now, if you want to "flame" me for this reply, go for it, but I think that "flaming" anyone on these boards should not be tolerated by Steve (Webmaster) and should send warnings of bannishment to those users. If you all want to make fun of one another, try an IRC or AOL chatroom. That's what they're for. This site is for Ford truck owners to share and help each others' trucks.

Just my $0.02 on the subject.

 

Im not TRYING to be mean, I appoligize for letting the provoker get to me. I thank all of you who are trying to help me, its appreciated. Lets drop the subject, the cars fixed, and I acknowledge its my fault.
late

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~K*I*A*L