Illiminated Sill Plates

[y2ksilverbullit]

Very interesting. Thanks for the information. Now I'm very curious.

Same here... I wasn't going to mess with getting the sills, but if it can utilize the ambient lighting then I'm very tempted..

Sponsored

 

[aggieStang]

Hi, I am PJK's son. I thought that I might share the process of putting in the illuminated door sills and getting them to work with the ambient lighting system. I work at a local Ford dealership in Seattle, so I asked one of the senior techs if he would help me install the door sills on my dad's LE and he said, sure!

First, we took out the old door sill and started to install the new one when the tech noticed that there a was wiring for door sills because of the factor connection underneath the old door sill. After discovering that he then pulled up the electrical diagram for the vehicle and found that there is a module that controls just the ambient lighting and the rear windows if it were a convertible. The next step was to make sure that our LE had all of the wiring for that module and so in order to get to that module we had to pull out the sub woofer located in the trunk. !

Can you elaborate on the location of the ambient lighting module?

 

[Mustangchief]

My son did good, didn't he?????

Absolutely, hopefully he stays and works his way up to Senior Tech. Ford needs guys like him.

 

[SVTFreak]

Absolutely, hopefully he stays and works his way up to Senior Tech. Ford needs guys like him.

+1!

I may talk to service guy when I go get my pil changed and see what he says about it.

Interesting if it really is that easy and even ford didn't know it...

 

[Mustangchief]

up the electrical diagram for the vehicle and found that there is a module that controls just the ambient lighting and the rear windows if it were a convertible.

Was this module FR3Z13C788? might just have 13C788 on it.

 

[Alaa Sparky]

50 Years Pack

Hey,
I'm new here and to the Mustangs world,
Your help is so appreciated

Any updates! Did they make illuminated Sill Plates that work with My Color?
Well I have the 50 Years Package Conv., is this issue included to packages also or I can just Plug/Play an illuminated factory plates?!

I was planing to remove my original Aluminum plates and see if there's a wire inside already that I can just plug the illuminated ones directly and everything works fine...so yea ... I don't wanna damage anything in my new ride. What shall I do!

Thank you everyone

 

[SVTFreak]

Did you read the last few posts in this thread? Basically, you can make it show one color by choosing which wire to use but there may be a work around. Only one person has been able to get my color working correctly.

 

[Alaa Sparky]

Did you read the last few posts in this thread? Basically, you can make it show one color by choosing which wire to use but there may be a work around. Only one person has been able to get my color working correctly.

Yup as I said I'm new here. I read Write2connor post after posting mine, didn't know the ordering of the posts' dates. So the Package is the same as the Edition! And are we gonna have like special plates for the 50 Years that actually work with My Color?

Thank you SVTFreak

 

[bamberge]

Okay, here goes my story. I purchased the customized illuminating sill plates from fordshowparts.com for LE #1696. I opted to follow the route taken by PJK and Write2Connor and took my car to my dealership to have them update the BCM to activate the power to the illuminated sill plates. After confirming that the factory wiring does in fact support the use of illuminated sill plates (it's a common wiring harness across models), they found there was no PID option in the BCM firmware to enable/disable the power to the illuminated sill plates. A query to Ford Technical Support reveals that for the 50th Anniversary Limited Edition models, and for the 50th anniversary package, the illuminated sill plate were "optioned out" and a stamped aluminum Mustang sill plate (un-illuminated) was installed instead. Not only that, the BCM firmware was specifically modified to remove the PID option to enable/disable the power to the illuminated sill plates, since it was not needed. Ford Technical DOES NOT recommend re-flashing the BCM firmware with one from a different car that has illuminated sill plates. We responded asking if there were any other PID options, besides power to illuminated sill plates, specifically "optioned out" of the BCM firmware for the 50th Anniversary LE's and whether or not an update to the BCM firmware could be provided to add back in the PID option to enable/disable the power to illuminated sill plates. I absolutely do not want to run wires through my car and "tap" into wiring that is already installed to handle illuminated sill plates just because the BCM firmware does not currently allow for them. Does anyone from Ford Corporate monitor this forum? How many other LE owners have purchased, or plan to purchase, their customized illuminated sill plates?

 

[SVTFreak]

Yup as I said I'm new here. I read Write2connor post after posting mine, didn't know the ordering of the posts' dates. So the Package is the same as the Edition! And are we gonna have like special plates for the 50 Years that actually work with My Color?

Thank you SVTFreak

I didn't mean for my comment to sound so callous. Sorry about that.

 

[Sagacity]

I have the special sill plates but have held off on installing them because I don't want to run wires if a computer flash will solve the problem. I doubt Ford will take the time to fix the problem so I have been looking into other options.

I looked at some RGB controllers and was considering wiring them in using a wireless controller so I could change the colors whenever I wanted and maybe adding a few illumination LEDS to the controller at the same time to light up the undercarriage below the doors when the puddle lamps are activated.

Would really like to just wiring them into the harness with the computer flashed to take advantage of them.

 

[MandM9999]

Would love a solution to this, it seems silly that the 50 Year LE's cannot have illuminated still plates that work with ambient lighting...
I haven't ordered mine (yet), specifically because I'm waiting for Ford to come up with a solution!
Please Help Ford!!!

 

[Alaa Sparky]

I didn't mean for my comment to sound so callous. Sorry about that.

It's fine man.
I really hope Ford fix this issue with a crucial easy solution.

 

[y2ksilverbullit]

Would love a solution to this, it seems silly that the 50 Year LE's cannot have illuminated still plates that work with ambient lighting...
I haven't ordered mine (yet), specifically because I'm waiting for Ford to come up with a solution!
Please Help Ford!!!

I'm with you. Not ordering until Ford allows for firmware update to be able to use all colors. It's sad you pay almost $50k for a car and something like this can't be an easy fix for the manufacturer to accommodate less than 2,000 people....??
:headbonk::ford:

 

[Mustangchief]

I installed mine yesterday. Here is a video (at bottom) running through my color. You can go about this in a few ways. The easiest is to do what PJs son did, just re-flash the BCM-B. Or you can go a more cautious route like I did, buy a second BCM-B and have it programmed, keeping the original intact. This is more work intensive but I think the safest. Also, I have the new workshop manuals from Helm. It has pretty much everything you need to know about the car and wiring in it. It does not have to be done at a dealer, anyone who has a VCM-II can program it. I'm not sure if the snap or other programmers can do it. It takes about an hour my way as you have to dis-assemble some things to get to the BCM-B. Here are the steps I took.
Buy a new BCM-B (part #13C788) $52 on line or at a certain dealer who advertises on this site.
Find a dealer or friend who has a Coupe with the same options as you and lighted sills (I doubt you need anything but the lighted sills on a premium model, the only controls in the BCM-B are for ambient, turn signal and brake lights) I chose a model that did not have adaptive cruise as it sends signals to the brake lights and may cause some conflict if you load a config from a car with adaptive cruise.

- Once you have the donor car and scan tool, simply upload the BCM-B configuration to the scan tool. (Do not mess with the BCM config)

- On your car, install the sill plates if you already haven't, they plug right in. Do not splice anything like the directions tell you to.

- Remove your BCM-B
-- Pull the weather stripping back on the right side of the trunk. (careful, it leaves black gunk on your hands.
-- Remove the spare tire cover (floor piece, you should see your air pump now)
-- Remove the Right side luggage trim panel two plastic pins. (If you don't have a trim removal tool, STOP! and get one. They are only a few bucks.
one pin is at the far back towards the bottom, and the other is near the top where you pulled the weather strip back from.
-- Remove the lower Sub Woofer trim) There are three torx screws in the bottom of the subwoofer trim panel front middle back (near the floor)
-- Remove the subwoofer and amp (one unit) by taking out the two bolts on the floor and torx screw at the two oclock position
-- the Amp will be able to be tilted forward so you can reach behind it and disconnect the connector under the amp back bottom(there is a release in the back middle of the connector, pushes in easily) now set the unit aside.
-- Pull the grey trim out of the way (you don't need to remove it) you will see the BCM-B, Pull off the two plugs (release is in the back middle)

- Plug the connectors into your new BCM-B
- Go through the steps to program a new BCM-B from the scan tool.
- Check your sill plates to make sure they are working in my color. check you turn signals and brake lights.
- If all works well, swap out BCM-Bs
-- loosen the two nuts, slide it up and out. Now you can remove the nuts without dropping them into the rear quarter.
-- Put your new BCM-B in
- Put everything back in reverse order.

If you don't want the extra BCM-B, just do the programming part, no need to tear up your trunk. Again, I would get the donor config from a car without adaptive cruise.


any lighting errors are from the camera, the lights work flawlessly.

Sponsored