11-16 Ford F250 / F350 Super Duty - Definitive Flow-Through Center Console Install Guide

FOREWARD

On the 2011 - 2016 F-Series Super Duty trucks, the lower end models were specced with a front bench seat, with the folding middle seat also serving as a center console. These serve their purpose, however people may find the cup holders to be lacking, and the dead space a bit of a waste by their feet. In this guide we will be going over everything you need to know and do, to properly install one of these center consoles.

PREREQUISITES

For this job we will need the following tools and items:

  • Socket Set (Sizes from 5mm to 21mm are needed)

  • 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 wrenches / impact drivers

  • Various socket extensions

  • Screw drivers

  • Picks / Trim Tools

  • Wire Strippers (and wire + solder joints / soldering iron)

  • Misc. other tools may be needed

Items to order:

  • Dash Bezel: BC3Z-2504608-CB

  • Airbag Control Bezel: BC3Z-25047A04-BA

Obviously you will also need a complete center console, however they can no longer be ordered new from Ford and will have to be found on a local marketplace. Make sure to check the one you buy comes with all the various bolts, covers, brackets, etc.

We will be referring back to this diagram at certain points in the install.

Build Process

Center Console Prep

From the factory, the flow through console has 3 additional power ports installed. 1 110V inverter outlet, and 2 standard 12v lighter sockets. On higher trim trucks, there is a harness under the carpet that runs to single plug on the side of the console to give these ports power. However on a XL trim truck, such harness is not there. Additionally the inverter needs a CANBUS signal to turn on and off, which can be a pain when trying to integrate the OEM inverter. For this project, I ended up buying a basic inverter off Amazon, which had the same 150W output as the stock inverter. (Its worth noting this is a very small amount of wattage, and a much beefier inverter could be easily fit into the large space of the center console for powering high wattage power tools).

In the above diagram, I removed panel 9 to replace he 110V plug and the lighter socket. Since the OEM 110 plug has a proprietary harness, I replaced it with a “screw in” type that is designed for a desk or other flush mount applications, this means I can easily plug it into the output of the inverter.

Links to the items used:

I used basic Velcro strips from Lowes to hold the inverter in place inside the panel. I used TESA tape on all the wires in different areas to prevent anything from rattling around when installed.

The installation required a little bit of dremeling / filing of the stock mounting points so that the round barrel of the flush mount kit could be installed.

For power I made 2 very simple harnesses. The 150W inverter got its cigarette port end chopped off, and replaced with a basic 2 pin deutsch connector. This harness will connect to Upfitter switch 1 under the dash which can supply up to 25A, and is a switch power source. The OEM lighter socket under the arm rest and the rear 12V USB port were wired together to share power and ground, and were also given a 2 pin deutsch connector. I used different ends on the 2 harnesses on the center console so they could not be mixed up when connecting them to the truck side harness.

Interior

Starting off we need to remove the two regular seats from the cab of the truck, along with the center jump seat. To remove the two main seats you need to first remove the circular covers on the feet.

Photo of one of the rear seat bolt covers. The small trim screws do not need to come off, letting the piece stay attached to the foot. Just remove the center circle with a pick.

There is one on each foot of the seat (4 per seat) and you will now have access to the 21mm bolts that hold everything in place. Undo these 4 21mm bolts.

Now with the seat unbolted, lean it back so you can access the harness. Pull the grey handle down to release the harness from the seat. Repeat this process on the passenger side.

To remove the center jump seat, there are 2 bolts on the back feet which are directly accessible. The two remaining bolts holding the seat in require the bottom hold of the seat to be folded up.

There are trim clips holding the seat bottom down, pop these out and lift to access this area while the seat is in the truck.

With the 4 bolts from the jump seat removed, it can be lifted up and out of the vehicle.

I removed the rubber flooring of my truck to install carpet, but this gives a better view of where the bolting points are in the vehicle.

In the above photo, you can see the green boxes are where the drivers seat bolts through the cab, and the orange shows the 4 standoffs for the middle jump seat / flow through console mounting points.

With the interior space now freed up, I installed my carpet and also ran the 2 lines for the plugs into the center console. These can also be installed over existing carpet since the console would cover them.

The power for the inverter went to upfitter switch 1, which is the solid yellow wire under the dash. As previously mentioned, this is a 25A circuit with its own switch on the dash and fuse, so it should be able to handle the 150W inverter without issues.

Once the wires were in place, I installed the center mounting bracket for the center console. This is held in with 2 of the bolts removed from the jumpseat (the ones under the front of the seat). This is part #4 in the diagram at the top.

The center console mounts to this via 2 7mm bolts on the sides.

With the mounting bracket in place, and the wires run we now need to replace some dashboard trim. From the factory the XL trim trucks have a flip out cup holder below the radio and AC controls, this panel will be replaced with the bezel mentioned in the beginning that needs to be ordered. To replace this, we need to remove the face plate of the dash along with a couple bolts.

This guide does a good shop showing how to access these bolts and get to the panel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnhCNoWoSBo

While that guide is showing how to install cup holders on an even more basic trim truck, the steps are identical for the new “slot” piece for the flow through console to connect to.

Removing the panel under the steering wheel also makes it very easy to access wiring and everything else youll need to install. The faceplate is held in with 2 7mm bolts and the rest is clips, whereas the bottom cup holder is held in with 3 7mm bolts (one hiding behind the lower part of the panel under the wheel) and two living behind the face plate. Additionally there are the 2 Torx bits in the middle (which you can see the holes for in the above photo) which also need to be removed.

Now it is worth pointing out that my center console came with the front mounting bracket (part #3 in the diagram). This supports the AC vents for the console. Since I was not planning on removing my whole dash to install the piece to have air flow through my console, I removed this bracket and the AC vent piece from the underside of the console.

The removed piece from the flow through console. On trucks where you have AC passing through to the rear vents, this is used to connect to the dash air system. For my setup, it was not needed.

I have not noticed any structural issues with it being removed.

The piece pictured above will need to be replaced. The item to order is mentioned in the beginning, and the lock barrel moves to the small trim piece with 3 5.5mm screws.

Now with the new lower trim piece installed, we can button the dash back up and then slide the center console into place. The two rear feet fit over the existing bolts, and line up the bolt holes on the sides to screw the 7mm bolts into the center support bracket. The console has guide pins which do right into holes in the new dash trim to keep everything aligned.

NOTE: When I re-used the nuts for the rear standoffs the hole in the center console foot was too large and the nut went right through it. I made a small washer for the one side which fixed the issue.

With the center console in place you can put the optional trim pieces over the rear feet. Installing the seats is the same process as removal but in reverse.

Once the seats are back in, the install is done!

Conclusion

There are a few parts of the process I wish I had gotten better photos of. I plan on making a video supplementing this guide which can show some more areas I had any issues with or I want to make even more clear. If you have any suggestions or edits you would like to see made, please leave them in the comments below, thanks!

2011-2016 F250 Steering Wheel and Audio Control Upgrade / Retrofit Guide for Dummies

Foreward

So since I last did a car related blog post on here, I was adding a trans cooler to my Volvo XC90. Due to it not meeting my needs, and buying a bigger car trailer for the business I decided to upgrade to a 2013 Ford F250, XL trim. This means my truck is about as barebones as it gets. Lots of blank switches, rubber floor vs carpet, etc. Its perfect for my needs around the house and for the business, but in my experience the forums and youtube guides on fixes and upgrades leave a lot to be desired. There is too much fragmentation amongst the different model years, and the truck being made from 1999-2016 means a lot of guides change over time with the chassis. Couple that with the fact that forums exist not only for the different year models, but also by the engine they came with. So with that all being said, here is my definitive guide on how to install an upgraded steering wheel, and add the steering wheel audio controls to a 2011+ Ford F250 / F350.

Prerequisites

Tools you will need:

Items to Order:

  • Ford Super Duty Lariat Trim Leather Steering Wheel, PN: DC3Z3600CA

Build Process

To start, we will be replacing the steering wheel. This is a fairly straight forward process so I will not get into the finer details since guides on how to do this are more than plentiful. Removing the steering wheel shroud is required to access the 3 clips holding the airbag on, and this is what we need the 5.5mm socket for. Why Ford used a 5.5mm instead of just a regular Torx bit is beyond me. We can hold off on disconnecting the battery until we have the airbag popped out of its clips since the wheel needs to be turned to access each side.

From here we will remove the center bolt holding the wheel in place. Unlike the Volvos I usually work on, this bolt was in there TIGHT. I used a 1/2in. T50 Torx bit on my impact gun to break it free, even my 3/8 Dewalt couldn’t get it to budge. Keep this in mind for reinstallation.

With everything unclipped and disconnected. we simply reverse the process to add the new steering wheel in. I transfered over my cruise control panel since the new steering wheel came with controls for the Lariat cluster, which has slightly different buttons.

Now with the new wheel and audio controls installed, we need to hop onto our laptop and do some basic programming to get everything to play nicely. There are separate guides on how to get Forscan installed on your PC, but its really as simple as downloading the program, and installing the device driver on your PC. (The unit I linked and used for this comes with very easy to follow install instructions).

Starting with the red highlighted area, we will connect to the vehicle and read all the modules. Then, clicking on the green icon we will go the the module Configuration and Programming page. We need to change some hex codes for 2 modules. The first one will be the SCCM Module (AS BUILT), select the module and click the play button at the bottom. (Highlighted green) You will be taken to the following screen:

Once in the page we will click the Save All button (highlighted in red). This will open a window where we can save the stock configuration of the module. This is just a precaution incase of a flash failure. Make sure to back these up to a cloud service or onto multiple drives.

Next in the blue highlighted area, we will change the hex data to the follwing:

724-03-01:

  • 0505 0006 3F

Once those 3 fields are changed, click the Write button next to it. Once you have done that, save your configuration again using a different name. Then click the STOP button (next to the green highlighted area), to exit out of the SCCM config page.

Our next step now will be opening the ACM Module (AS BUILT)

Before making the changes, make a backup of the stock ACM config using the save SAVE ALL button as used in the previous module steps.

Now lets change the two lines of data in the blue section:

IMPORTANT Authors NoteS:

(Update 1)

8/7/24 - After doing this configuration, I noticed that my radio lights were not working. This was a fault of the code I used which was pulled from a separate guide. To fix this issue, I found a same year model, higher trim of my truck (in this case my truck being a 2013 XL model, and the “found” vehicle being a 2013 XLT) and replaced the two lines with the as built data from that truck. Here is how I did it:

1. Locate a higher trim model of your truck (XLT+, with Sync is prefered, do not use a truck with the bigger screen option). I used AutoTrader for this.

2. Copy and paste the VIN here: https://www.motorcraftservice.com/AsBuilt

3. Scroll down to the ACM Module As Built

4. Copy the first two lines to your trucks ACM config

(Update 2)

8/14/24 - I had an issue with the codes that I used. While at first everything seemed to be working, after turning my radio off one day, my radio starting displaying NO AUX INPUT FOUND. So clearly there is something wrong with the ACM codes I used. Due to this, I compiled a list of ACM codes I have found from various trucks into this spreadsheet. I will be using a new programming cable and testing these various codes to find which one works best for my system. Once I find one set that works best, I will update the ACM codes below:

727-01-01 

  • 0400 90BB A625 


727-01-02 

  • 0031 

With these two lines changed, click the WRITE ALL button (highlighted in green), and then make a backup of your modified ACM.

The two modules should now be successfully changed, so lets try out our steering wheel controls!

Conclusion

This retrofit is a must if you have a base model F250 or F350. Even if you want to keep your stock wheel, you can use this guide to add just the new steering wheel controls as the wheels all have the wiring pre-installed for them, and removal of the blank button is as simple as prying it out. I still need to figure out the phone controls on the wheel and with the radio, but its not a top priority for me at the moment. I hope this guide helps, and please feel free to share it amongst truck groups, or leave a recommendation down in the comments on what could be done better or different.

Misc. Project - Volvo P3 Desk Chair

Foreward

I am in the process of upgrading my desk setup as my current Ikea desk with a piece of plywood over it and a gaming chair isnt the best look in my house. Given the costs of “professional” desk chairs designed for taller people I decided to take it upon myself to build one from a Volvo seat. The project was actually much easier than I thought, and If I had to build another there are a few changes I would make.

Prerequisites

Tools you will need:

  • Angle grinder

  • Bench grinder (to remove burrs) or grind stone for angle grinder

  • Wire strippers

  • Misc. Torx and metric sockets

  • Flat blade screwdriver

  • Straight blade pick (I use the $1 ones from Harbor Freight)

  • Drill and 1/4inch drill bits (you can use whatever size you like, 1/4 was easy and fit through the stock frame holes)

  • Paint (I used STEELIT)

Items to purchase:

  • Volvo P3 seat. This can come from any model, the bases are all the same. Heated seats can be found in most models, heated and cooled seats can often be found in S80s.

  • 120V AC to 12V DC (5 Amp) Power Brick

  • Desk chair with basic base. Some desk chairs have multiple adjustments and plastic bases. I went with the most basic, free desk chair I could find on Marketplace. You want to also find one with the lowest rise you can, as the base of the car seat adds significant height which shorter people may find uncomfortable.

  • 1/4in. thick steel bar stock / rectangular steel tube. I will touch more on this in the build details, however Stock Car Steel and Aluminum can cut and ship any size of steel you need for your projects without needing to visit a mill or buy huge pieces of steel!

Build Process

I started this build with the seat! These are relatively easy to find depending on where you are in the country. I went to a local DIY pull-a-part junkyard and paid $40 for my seat. The seats are held into the car with 4 bolts under plastic covers. I then used snips to cut the wires going to the harness of the seat, so I had wires to work with. The seatbelt an be unbolted from the seat frame, or in my case I just cut the seatbelt with my snips since I wasnt going to need it. This seat was not heated or cooled, so I will not be going into adding controls for those functions.

With the seat loaded up in my XC90 I headed back home to start prepping the chair for minor modifications.

I will be reusing this image, but the harness bolts into the chairs female harness, the wires usually come wrapped in tesa tape which I removed. I kept about 8 inches of pigtail harness.

With the seat now removed from the car, the first modification is making the rails completely flat. Each end has a bracket that is welded onto the slider so it can bolt into the car. With my design I needed these out of the way, leaving a perfectly flat rail on each side of the seat.

FOR VISUAL REPRESENTATION, THE SEAT DOES NOT NEED TO BE REMOVED FROM THE RAILS

I didnt take any of my own photos for this project (so I am using this photo of P2 rails which are close). There are brackets on each corner that I used my angle grinder to cut off from the rails. These only take a few minutes to cut through and make the bottom of the seat perfectly flat.

Once I had this done, I moved onto testing and fabricating the electronics to make the power functions work. On the P3, this is very easy and consists of a 12v power, a 12v signal wire, and a ground. I would consult the Volvo wiring diagram for your own seat to confirm which wires are needed, so for this case this applies to all 2011+ S60s (and probably V60s).

Here is the diagram I followed with my notes on what you need:

74/31 is the 20 pin connector that runs from the car to the seat. The only 3 pins you need to worry about on the car side of the harness are pins 14, 15, and 16.

Pin 14: Blue / White is a signal wire from the CEM, this is a signal to the Stop Logic to allow the seat to move. Connect 12V to this wire.

Pin 15: Brown / Red is 12V power to the seat control module (3/27). Connect 12V to this wire.

Pin 16: Black / Green: This is ground for the module.

A side note regarding the other pins, SRS module, and air bags:

There is some concern by some that there is a danger in not removing the air bag from the side of the seat. The route I went to avoid incidents was to remove any and all wiring in the pigtail going to these modules. All of the pins outside of the 3 listed above can be removed, and is why the small straight pick is listed in the parts list. You can remove the small red caps from each pin and use the pick to lift the clip and slide the pin end out. Additionally, the airbag firing system needs a signal from the OWS or Occupant Weight Sensor. Going off the wiring diagram, if the OWS does not have power, even if power was sent to the airbag firing system it would not deploy since it needs the circuit completed by the OWS signal.

Be sure to remove the black/grey cable next to the white/blue cable as it is part of the airbag firing system!

Now you may be asking yourself well how do I apply 12V to these wires when the walls in my house put out 120V AC? Well for that we need the cheap adapter brick I linked at the top of the page. The unit I bought came with a barrel jack to screw terminal adapter which we will connect the 3 wires from out pigtail into.

I trimmed about 1/2in. from the end of each wire with my wire strippers, and twisted the 2 positive wires together at their end before inserting them into the connector. I put some electrical tape over everything before tucking it up into the seat just for extra protection. The power brick I then attached under the seat with some zip ties and tucked all the wires away.

The power brick, zip tied under the chair inside the original seats rails with the other components.

The de-pinned connector to the seat.

With the electrical fully sorted, I then turned my attention to mounting the seat to the rolling chair base. I made sure to pick a donor office chair that had minimal adjustment points, and a standard 4 bolt base. Some higher end chairs have multiple pivot points and more complicated bases. I used a piece of ~8inch wide by 1/4inch thick steel flat bar. (Measure your base width before buying material) I went with what I had on hand at work in our scrap bins, otherwise I think I would have gone wider for stability. I then measured the distance between the rails both front and back and cut two more pieces of 2inch by 1/4inch steel flat bar to make my cross members. I mocked everything up with the seat sitting on the metal and the metal on the chair base so I could line everything up properly and make marks on where I needed to drill mounting holes and where the cross bars would need to sit. I did not do any crazy measurements here, just got everything looking “right” and marked parts with a paint pen so I could disassemble and bolt / weld everything together.

I (poorly) welded my brackets, however bolts could also be used to hold the cross members in place.

Here is the bracket mid construction. I still needed to drill the holes for the rails to bolt to, and I gave it a coat of flat black STEELIT paint. I also ended up flipping the bracket over in installation to lower the seat rails a bit to buy myself some lower seating position. Like I have previously mentioned these chairs sit very high compared to a standard chair due to all the motors underneath them, so choose your base chair wisely.

All of the hardware used was 1/4 inch bolts from Lowes. I also used some stacked washers on the front bolts for the frame rail since the hole for the original bolts in the car are quite large.

The last thing I did was run an 8ft "designer” extension cord out of the back of the seat from the power adapter and left all the slack in the seat back pocket. This will allow me to plug it into my desk without having to run the long extension cord from my wall to the chair, and it can be neatly tucked away inside the seat back pocket when not in use.

Conclusion:

There are a few things I would change about this build. The first thing is that I would have used a mild rectangle steel square tube instead of flat bar for the cross members. With the way I flipped the bracket upside down this would NOT have added any extra height but would have added some extra stability side to side. Additionally a higher quality base would have been nice to use as there is some play with the sheer amount of weight its now carrying. Lastly, I still plan on adding arm rests using some generic bolt on arm rests from Amazon, I just need to get around to ordering them and possibly adding some more brackets to allow them to attach where I need to.

I hope you all enjoyed this little project, it completely blew up on Reddit which I did not expect! For a 2 day project that I sort of made up as I went I am very pleased so far with the outcome. If you have any suggestions please feel free to leave them down in the comments.

The Definitive P2 XC90 External Transmission Cooler Writeup

FOREWORD

If you have a 2007+ V8 (or 3.2) Volvo XC90 and plan on towing, one of the first things youll find is pages upon pages of forum threads talking about transmission fluid and cooling. This guide, I hope, will serve as a definitive guide for someone looking to install an OEM transmission cooler for cheap!

Please note: If your car was equipped with the Tow Package from the factory. This cooler will have already been installed.

PREREQUISITES

For this project you will need the following tools and materials:

  • Impact gun OR wrench + socket set with various metric sizes.

  • Various torx bits.

  • Various phillips and flat blade screwdrivers.

  • Trim / Bone tool (non-marring scrappers also work).

  • Harbor Freight U-Clip and Screw Pack

    • Not needed if necessary u-clip is removed from donor vehicle.

  • Harbor Freight Automotive Fastener Pack

  • Long Reach Funnel (I used a specific one from IPD designed for reaching transmission fill holes).

  • Hose Clamps

  • Idemitsu TLS-LV Automatic Transmission Fluid

  • 3/8ths Hose to -6 AN Male Fitting

  • 3/8ths Hose to -6 AN Female Fitting

    • Optionally a 3/8ths Barb Fitting can be used, however I went with AN fittings since it makes it easier to separate the lines to do fluid changes.

  • 5 or 10 Quart Measuring Buckets (Easy to find at almost any hardware store).

  • OEM Volvo XC90 Transmission Cooler with lines.

    • Things to note: You can easily find these on all T6 models as they came standard from the factory with this cooler. They will have one line that runs from the top of the radiator cooler down to the unit, unclip this from the top and leave clipped in at the bottom. The return line from the external cooler to the transmission is extremely hard to unbolt, so we will cut this line as far down as possible towards the transmission.

    • I found that squeezing the clips and gently twisting the hose allowed it to pop free easily without a single broken clip anywhere along the install and test fitting process.

    • This unit can be purchased new from Volvo here, however this is expensive and also requires unbolting the lines from the transmission to install. the replacement return line from the cooler.

Guide

Throughout this guide, I may make references (and link to) other guides on Swedespeed and other various forums. This will be done to save myself time, and often these guides have better photos for the task at hand. This guide is also being written with the assumption that the end user has basic mechanical knowledge, and is familiar with their vehicle to some extent. This is NOT a hard project, and can be done using almost all basic hand tools. Additionally, if the parts mentioned have been pulled from a junkyard vehicle, much of the process is the same, just in reverse. This guide may help you in removal of the donor unit if followed in reverse order.

To start, lets begin with removing the front bumper of the vehicle. I followed this guide here. (NOTE: Do NOT follow the guides way of removing the headlights, there is a main harness connector further down from the lamps that can be disconnected to remove the headlights without unplugging the harness from the unit itself!) I used a strong non-marring plastic tool to pop the corner clips close to the fender, they were very strong! And helps to work at them slowly, releasing a tab one at a time. The two clips under the bumper were destroyed in my process (which is why I bought the cheap set of automotive clips from Harbor Freight). With the bumper off you should be left with this:

Next we will remove the lower metal skid plate to give us better access to the hoses and bolts. I used a deep socket for these as they have 3 bolts on each side, with one being up inside the front structure of the car.

With this skid plate out of the way you will have easy access to the transmission lines as well as the mounting points for the cooler. Lets begin mounting the cooler in place without the hardlines installed. You need to remove the 2 bolts that hold up the power steering fluid cooler. The external transmission cooler sandwiches between the various radiators and coolers, and uses the same bolts as the PS cooler.

Now that the cooler is mounted in place, you can disconnect the return line from the top of the radiator-integrated ATF cooler. The diagram below shows how the new lines will be run.

This diagram shows the flow of fluid as it completes its loop out of the transmission and into the coolers. Top is stock, bottom is the route with the tow package / cooler.

We can now focus on prepping our modified return line that will bring the ATF fluid from the external cooler back into the transmission. This is where the AN fittings I used come into play. I chose AN fittings due to their availability, as well as ability to hold fluids at various temp ranges and pressures. This also allows me to disconnect the lines at any point for a fluid flush without having to remove any hose clamps. I added a 3/8ths barb to -6 AN Female fitting to the cut off end of the return line that will go out of the external cooler and into the transmission.

Now we can connect the two lines to the external cooler. The inlet hose and the outlet (return) line. We are going to use the unterminated return line as a drain line for doing the ATF flush.

The two brackets on the cooler lines should line up together, and there is only one way for them to sit next to each other. This is where you will need the u-clip and screw, as it holds these two brackets to the plastic mounting point on the radiator assembly as pictured above.

While the system was apart this is the perfect time for an ATF flush. The external cooler adds extra capacity to the system, so new fluid is needed anyways. I followed this guide on Swedespeed, but instead of using a hose out of the outlet of the built in radiator cooler, I bent the outlet hose of the external cooler down into a bucket. I did 2.5 liters at a time, as a lot of fluid gets “stuck” in the torque converter when its running.

https://www.swedespeed.com/threads/how-to-xc90-6-speed-transmission-fluid-flush.204760/

Once I was happy with the level of fluid in the system, I went to the last modification step which is cutting the OEM return line to add my AN fitting. if you refer to the diagram earlier in the post you will know that we have to connect the outlet line of the external cooler to the original return line to the transmission. For this I cut the line fairly close to the metal end, and added a 3/8ths barb to -6AN Male fitting.

My hose clamp on the male end wound up over some of the hex of the fitting but it did not affect the intall.

You can use a standard wrench to connect these, or a specific AN wrench. Either way, with the two ends threaded together we now have a complete loop of the system. Make sure to put the car in reverse and drive a few times to make sure your ATF fluid level is okay. Add more if needed.

With this all done it is time to do all the steps we took in disassembling the car but in reverse. Adding the skid plate back, then the bumper and headlights. You have now installed an OEM cooler for pennies on the dollar compared to buying it new or having a shop or dealer install it for you!

As always, if there is anything you think I missed, or any recommendations please feel free to leave them in the comments or share your install process.

TFT Display with P3Tool Guide

Just writing that blog title filled me with a sense of dread. The TFT cluster swap is a topic so thoroughly discussed on the forums that I am scared to even open that can of worms on this website. Not only is it a slightly complicated mess, but often when I do write ups I try to be as technical and cover as much of the topic as possible meaning this could turn into a LONG post. So buckle up cause this is gonna be a nerdy one

Introduction

The TFT cluster swap is a common modification for the P3 chassis Volvos to update the original “watch face” style gauge cluster (also referred to as a DIM, or Drivers Information Module) to the facelifted digital style found in the 2014+ models. This applies to all P3 chassis cars like the V70, S80, XC70, XC60, and S60. The V60 is left off this list as it was only sold in the US from the 2014 MY onwards and as such already has the TFT display.

The digital cluster is preferred since it adds back in some information for the driver like engine temps, as well as offering different display themes (some of which can be modded and changed further with editing tools). Since it shares the same shell as the pre-facelift DIM, they are a near “plug and play” swap when it comes to physically installing it into the car.

These updated DIMs can often be found on eBay and now even in junkyards as these cars become older and sent to dismantlers.

Prerequisites, Parts, and Supplies

Before we start taking stuff apart and soldering wires, lets get all of the items we are going to need / use for this cluster swap.

Hardware

  • Windows PC laptop

  • Volvo DICE unit

  • Battery tender

  • 2014+ TFT Display (multiple part numbers available*)

  • 2 Volvo cluster pins (I took these from a P1 cluster, more on this later).

  • Soldering Iron

  • Torx Bits

  • Pick / Pinning Tool

  • 20 AWG Wire

  • (Optional) Replacement Instrument Panel Glass Lens (31376800)

Software

  • Cars CEM PIN Unlocked

  • Up to date DICE drivers

  • P3Tool w/ active license

And here is the part where I would have a well written and photographed step-by-step instructions on the rest of the process, however…

The Swap

I started working on this article in January of 2023, it is now mid August of 2023 and I have still to “finalize” this swap. That being said there are some updates now later in the year, and I do in fact have the cluster installed. In the August update of P3Tool Johnny added full functionality to do the TFT swap and even included tools to rewrite software on the TFT to better get them to work on various models. I did not end up taking photos of my process for the install, luckily this is a very well known process and there are multiple guides online you can follow to do the wiring and physical install of the cluster.

The TFT I refurbished is a V2 model, these can be identified by the additional venting on the rear.

The “V1” Model without venting

“V2” Model with Venting

“V3” Model only found in very late model XC60s

The TFTs got progressively better with the later model years, with slightly faster CPUs and slight quality of life updates. Any of these can be used as they are all the same size and use the same plug.

I followed all the instructions online for the hardware side of things, taping into the two wires from the ODB2 port, etc. Got the cluster installed and went to work in P3tool. This is where I will share how my install went and the changes I needed to make to ensure everything was working.

First we need to set some parameters, these are in parameter number order so some may not be applicable or wanted for your install:

  1. P#013: Screen Skins

    • 0x04 = R-Design

  2. P#040: DIM Type

    • 0x02 = DIM Type Basic LED

  3. P#101: TPMS

    • 0x01 = Without TPMS

  4. P#112: Indirect TPMS

    • 0x01 = Without indirect TPMS

  5. P#247: Fueltank Sensors

    • 0x01 = Fueltank, 1 sensor

The DIM type change is required, along with the Indirect TPMS and Fuel Tank Sensors. I have TPMS disabled on my car since I am using wheels from a V90 without TPMS sensors in the valve stem. Some of the TFT clusters come from cars that do not use TPMS but rather iTPMS which measures the rolling diameter of the wheels to determine air pressure. I had a permanent TPMS light on the TFT until I switched parameter 112 off Undefined. Additionally the TFT uses data from parameter 247 which is 1 sensor for FWD, and 2 sensors for AWD. Without this, the fuel gauge will either not read or read improperly. (I am still working through testing this.)

Next, lets move over to the new P3 DIM tab in P3Tool.

Here we will begin to prep the old cluster for removal (they can function fine with all of these parameter changes made, and even the extra wires into the plug).

Here is the step by step instruction:

  1. Read Milage from original DIM

  2. Read EEPROM from original DIM

  3. Full Backup of original DIM

  4. Install new TFT DIM

  5. Full Backup of TFT DIM

  6. Select Fuel Tank Model (Select based on FWD or AWD)

  7. Select Model Year of your car

  8. Select Base Flash

  9. Click Write Flash

The DIM will go blank as the data is being written to it. Once it is done, it should light up with everything working. Make sure to reset the SRL and set the Time before unplugging as these can not be done without Sensus (in models without Sensus center screen).

Initially configured before fixing the fuel gauge.

Changing the fuel tank parameter.

The config and guide here should work for all 3.2 V70s in the US as they are all the same spec. Keep in mind this is just the first revision of the software so expect some hang ups. Always make sure to make backups and keep your original DIM handy as there are reported cases of some TFT clusters becoming corrupted during the flashing process.