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How to turn the overdrive off light into an LED

1K views 14 replies 3 participants last post by  fordfreak300 
#1 ·
I did a search but came up empty handed. I am wanting to take my OD off light out of the info center and put in an LED instead. I am going to put an ash tray in it's place so i can put 97 cup holders in place of the stock ash tray. I also need to know if I can just unplug the info center after doing the LED mod and not have any issues. Any help would be appreciated.
 
#2 ·
The OD Off light is in the cluster, and the info center shows Door Ajar, Low Coolant, Low Washer, Low Fuel (possibly) traction control.

How does the info center affect the OD Off light?

You can unplug the info center without hurting anything, other than not knowing somewhat obvious information.
 
#3 ·
Ahh I forgot where the OD off light was. for some reason i was thinking it was in the info center. Mine OD switch on my gear selector hasn't worked for a bit since I fixed it last time. I am going to have to fix it again. I think the plunger is stuck pressed. The obvious information on the info center annoys me. I have never turned off my traction control but I can move the switch anyway so i have it just in case i want it ever. Is it straight forward for removal or is it part of some circuit board?
 
#4 ·
Removal is straight forward, the idea is that you stick a flat head screw driver in each hole on either side of the info center...don't do that! I did that once and the side of the info center broke. The plastic was probably always somewhat brittle, age has not helped that. Either pull the dash panel and squeeze the clips to get it out, or remove your radio and reach in that way.

There is a circuit board that has a light bulb for each function in a twist in bulb holder, the board has some resistors and such, everything is clearly labled. You could relocate all the lights somewhere else by running wires off the board, and hooking LED's to them. As for the switch, it's not set up how it appears from the outside. the part that you see and push is just a large dummy switch that activates a little tiny switch that is soldered onto the board, and the light that illuminates when TC is off is IIRC an LED. 97 birds and cats had the TC switch in place of the fuel door switch in the console, so that's an option I suppose. Either way it should all be somewhat simple to move all that stuff around.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I actually decided to try to disable the traction control completely. I was doing some reading on it and seems if i put a jumper between 2 wires it should turn the traction control off when i start the car, which is good, but I have to figure out which two wires those are. Thank you for your help Earl! You are always a big help to me and others here.

Edit: to add i found my answer

When you pull the VMM out, there will be a harness that plugs into it. One of the wires is a 12v constant power (at least when the KO) and there is another the goes from the tration assist switch to the ABS computer. Since the switch is a one way (ie, push on, push off) and it defaults to on, you can simply jump the 12v to the switch wire. You will need to jump the purple/orange striped wire with the green/yellow striped wire. These are pins 11 and 12 on the connector.

And as far as the trac lok, it will still use the ta, but you will most likely be overcoming the breaks, just wearing them out. I've done the same with mine.

Joe
 
#7 · (Edited)
Well crap. I really want to turn my traction control off. Any ideas how to do it with out replacing the ABS module with non T/A unit? If i pull the fuse or fuses and turn the ABS off will that keep the T/A off also? I don't have to have ABS. I can just pull the bulb out for the ABS light so I never see it on. Permanently disabling the T/A by it's self would be optimal though. I guess as an end result i could find an non TA ABS computer at the junk yard when i have some extra cash if i can't figure out how to do it now.
 
#8 ·
http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=116163
http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=118219

Those two thread have some good information...I had to do some searching, since I am not real farmiliar with the traction assist on these cars, as I have never owned an MN12 equipped with it...hell all my previous MN12s where non-ABS cars, so even that is new to me on these cars.

Anyway, it looks like traction assist cannot be disabled with a tune on these cars, because it seems to be a self contained somewhat unque system, or at least, operates differently than the more modern systems.

Traction assist on the 99+ mustangs, in my experiances works pretty good, and can be disabled with a tune, and I think there is a module called trac-adapt or something that makes the system default to off when the car is started...if that system could be adapted to our cars, which with enough donor wiring and such, I'm sure it could...but I am getting off topic.

Looks like you have two options. Remove fuses, and you will not have ABS or TA, which, might not be that bad, if you are used to not having ABS.

Or, swap out the ABS stuff on your car to a setup from an ABS equipped, non TA equipped car.
 
#15 ·
I just went out and tested something I read here on the forums. i went out and held the button down for my traction assist and started the car and it stayed off. I think i should be able to get away with just connecting the wires together on it. I will try it and find out.
 
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