An Upfitter Warning : Civilian Ford Explorer... and my $410 oopsie.

Jan 19, 2012
304
Normal, IL
Just forwarning anyone doing upfitting on a 2013+ Ford Explorer Civilian model...


Customer wanted a hand held siren/lighting controller mounted in the center console so it was undercover and out of the way... piece of cake. Mounted the mount... popped off the sides and back of the center console... planned my hole for the wire....pulled out the drill and drilled down through the very rear of the center storage compartment. Everything went fine.... for a while.


Then the key fobs stopped working... then the BCM failed... then the tire pressure alert started throwing errors...


Took to dealership... BCM was a warranty fix (thankfully)... but unbeknownst to me, at the rear of the center console, hidden and sandwiched between the bottom of the inner storage area and the underside of the console is a circuit board which houses the tire pressure sensor receiver module.


Those don't work well with a 3/4" hole drilled right through the middle of it apparently.


It's not visible unless you pull the whole console out and look under the center section. I felt where I was planning to drill and felt smooth plastic. Because it's a circuit board... no metal housing, no plastic housing.. it's a green circuit board like Ford put it in there as an afterthought.


$410 in parts and labor later.... the stupid chip is replaced and everything is fine.


Something about "yeah, this isn't warrantied since you drilled right through the middle of it" ... so... yeah. :sadcry:


Just be careful... look once, look twice... look three times... BEFORE you drill.


Have I mentioned how much I hate the Ford Explorer and the Interceptor for upfitting? :mad:
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
Really good info here, glad to see someone is responsible enough to let others learn from their mistake. Most if not all upfitters have done something similar at one point. If we all post these learning experiences, we can help ourselves and others not repeat them.


This reminds me of a point I learned (and failed to share) after breaking a part off inside a door. Inspection cameras are under $200 on Amazon now for full units with a display, and under $50 for usb ones that attach to your laptop. These are basically endoscopes that doctors put in/down/up people but aimed at the tech/auto repair market. Get one. It's worth it.
 
Jan 19, 2012
304
Normal, IL
Here's the location of TPMS according to the upfitter guide... except it's about 2" back from where the illustration shows. I also don't think this is the exact module that the "Limited" Explorer has... but who knows. I put the red mark where I drilled... .and it went straight through the module. Go big or go home, I always say.


Here's a link : https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/non-html/2013/P-018.pdf
 

MtnMan

Member
Dec 20, 2012
1,533
Eastern PA
JohnMarcson said:
This reminds me of a point I learned (and failed to share) after breaking a part off inside a door. Inspection cameras are under $200 on Amazon now for full units with a display, and under $50 for usb ones that attach to your laptop. These are basically endoscopes that doctors put in/down/up people but aimed at the tech/auto repair market. Get one. It's worth it.

Or, for hardcore cheapskates like me, $70 here: Inspection Camera - Save on this Digital Inspection Camera


Yeah I know, Harbor Freight, :eek: but mine has worked fine and been very useful for several years.
 

Liberty703

Member
Dec 11, 2012
268
Maine
Sucks learning stuff the hard way. Reminds me of a boo-boo we had this past summer.


Dept had brought in a custom cab truck for pump overhaul. We did the pump work as requested. Raised the cab for fluid check/engine check over before performing the pump test. The chassis air dryer is mounted directly behind the hydraulic cab lift piston, which has an angle iron "lock" that is hinged at top and drops into place when cab fully raised. The cab control is located at right side pump panel with a cable actuated release for the lock. Mind you, the piston, lock and air dryer all located in front of right front tire. Come to find out, it's a two person operation to lower the cab because as soon as the lock clears the lip of the piston it needed to be pushed forward or it will clean the air dryer off the frame. It happened, called the Dept... all pissed of we did it, so we replace the $1200 air dryer.


Jobs all done and the send two fire fighters to pick up the engine. We apologize for the extra day because of having to source an air dryer. They laughed and said it had happened to the truck like 4 other times over it's 8 year career.


Nothing like a "heads up". :duh: :bonk: :hopeless:
 

Shawn L

Member
May 21, 2010
2,477
Corbett, Oregon
I bought an inspection camera from harbor freight for this type of simple inspection, I have had it for 3 years now and it works well. it was around 80.00
 

jhallgren22

Member
Sep 8, 2013
46
Norton, MA
In response to John, if you go on amazon Dewalt has a bunch of these cameras. Figured I should post this since Im willing to be a lot of installers have DeWalt drills or similar that they use. And the DeWalt one has a viewing screen that can be used wirelessly. :thumbsup:
 

VII

Member
Mar 28, 2013
44
MN
I agree, we've all been there.


I had a mishap with a charger and their interface module behind the factory console cover.


Little did I know, I snapped the connector plug off of the Key Fob Antennae.


Luckily I figured it out as soon as it happened and fixed it before it left shop.


Funny how a car won't start, or unlock the doors without a key huh?
 
Jan 19, 2012
304
Normal, IL
As promised. Photos.


Look at how cleanly cut that is!


image.jpg


:duh: doh!
 
Jan 19, 2012
304
Normal, IL
This warning only applies to the CIVILIAN Explorer... if you drill straight down at the rear of the center console storage bin thing... you'll drill right into this. But if you look from the underside, it's not visible, and it's mounted to the underside of that storage bin. On the Interceptor SUV, this module is tucked up neatly in the dashboard... but for what ever reason, on the civilian they decided this was the best place for it.


I was drilling down to run the wire for a handheld remote. Like... 2 steps from being done with the job.


I think the BCM issue was caused by probably the amazing shorts that I created when I scrambled this board.... but who knows. I feel lucky they covered that. Hard to say this was a warranty issue though. :)
 

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