Hello all.

New to this forum, but not to forums in general. I'm a big poster on Honda-Tech, and have owned two Honda sports cars. Just bought my first truck, first american vehicle, and first ranger, all in one! 1999 Ford Ranger. I'm gonna be posting a short series of threads of issues I haven't been able to work out through research and tinkering, so I hope some experienced people can lend some information my way.

First issue, is that I really don't like the gauges on the ranger. For one, all of them are RELATIVE measurements, ie your needle points somewhere between Low and High but doesn't tell you anything about actual measured values. For instance, when fully warmed up the water temp gauge reads half way. I can ASSUME that's roughly 190 degrees or so, but without numbering I have no way to know for sure. Same for battery voltage (my god, that would be so helpful). 8 to 18 V or 9 to 19 V. Oil pressure gauge is a dummy gauge, but for sake of continuity a numbering of 0 to 80 psi would be ideal.

Anyway, does anybody know of a website to visit to find replacement gauge faces with instrumentation like this, with numbers?

 

Something like an Ultra Gauge is a quick add-on and works with any North American vehicle made/sold in North America from 1996 and up.
It uses OBD II data to display whatever the computer can read.
Look here: UltraGauge OBDII Scan tool & Information Center
There are different brands, this is just an example

Computers don't read volts, oil pressure or gas level

If you want custom gauge just Google: custom ford ranger gauges
They make faces with anything you want on them and in any color you want

 

Unfortunatly, most drivers do not take the time to anaylize a gages output, but rather a simple quick scan of the needles tell them everything is alright.

For me, I always thought the digital gauges a person can buy that provides a reading, rather than a needle sweep, was a pain. For me, if I see the needle pointing at a spot on the gauge, I know I have a good "reading".

Its costly to provide these types of sensors/senders from a automotice manufacturer, so this is why they simply provide what you see today. A simple switch to indicate oil pressure, and move the needle to its halfway point tells a driver all is good.

Could be worse; BMW has removed their oil dipsticks from their engines, as most BMW owners probobly don't even know what an oil dipstick is, or where to find it, or what the oil level on it even tells them!

 

Does anybody know if they make a face plate for the ranger gauges like this?

 

I doubt it, unless you go custom.

Good reads here: https://www.ranger-forums.com/interi...lights-124011/

And here: https://www.ranger-forums.com/interi...t-leds-104562/

 

I've been working on a custom gauge cluster that fits the stock location. There are pics in my build thread. Lots of work and kinda pricey, but that's usually how it goes when you want something custom.

 

I purchased the s/s overlay for the Ranger without a tach in the dash with hopes to use it as a custom gauge setup but have done nothing so,far.

Took my Jeep dash apart and now working on a custom dash out of alum with Digital gauges, one 4" speedo and two 2 5/8" gauges in the dash and three more on the dash but over the radio and looking for othe pillar pods too.

A lot of options to chose from and digital gauges are ok once you get used to them.
Your brain does the conversion from digital to analog reading.

Also, a lot of the newer gauges both analog and digital have built in warning sensors, you set the readin you want a signal to come out of it and it will turn on an LED or buzzer, your call.