motorjock205 Posted July 30, 2008 Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 Well, I just bought a homelink remote off of EBay and it should be here sometime next week...I've seen one of these installed in the overhead light console and I think I'm going to give it a try, even though I have no idea how to get the light/alarm sensor thing down from the roof...Does anyone know how it comes down? I've heard just pull it down, but I haven't tried it... Also hoping that this works, because for 45.00 shipped, it's a lot cheaper than the homelink/compass, temp mirror...which is also cool, but a lot more than I can afford right now... I'll let you guys know how it turns out when I do the install....I'll try to take some pics in case anyone else wants to do it...I couldn't find a black one to match my interior, so I'm going to have to paint the small outer cover, I'm hoping that some Krylon I have around the house will work out ok...again, we'll see...unless someone else has a better idea.... Here's a pic of the little unit...I know someone has done this before, because I've seen a post about it on another forum, but don't remember which one...would be nice to know what wires to splice into to make it work, but again, it's going to be an experiment....Wish me luck!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ingram4868 Posted July 30, 2008 Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 I hope it works, I'd love to install one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cali_KR Posted July 30, 2008 Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 Definately keep us posted, these cars (for these $$$) should have come with a homelink, not some bogus compass in the mirror...just my .02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ingram4868 Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Definately keep us posted, these cars (for these $$$) should have come with a homelink, not some bogus compass in the mirror...just my .02 I wonder why the Ford people thought that people who spent the big bucks for one of these cars doesn't know where they are headed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekheavy Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Definately keep us posted, these cars (for these $$$) should have come with a homelink, not some bogus compass in the mirror...just my .02 Some of us don't even have a compass in the mirror. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motorjock205 Posted July 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 I have found a link on another site that outlines the install of one of these little jewels pretty well... http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.p...age+door+opener I'll follow these and see how it all goes and report back on the install when I get the unit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ingram4868 Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Last year I think someone made the comment that there was no room in the overhead light piece because of the alarm sensors in there????? I could be wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motorjock205 Posted July 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Last year I think someone made the comment that there was no room in the overhead light piece because of the alarm sensors in there????? I could be wrong Well, they are further outside than the lights are, but I guess we'll see... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radical08 Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 My solution for the homelink was I bought a Ford rear view mirror that was self dimming, with compass and has 3 homelink buttons on the mirror. My original mirror zip. Only took 30 min to install and no issues at all anymore. Yes more costly than the Ebay button but I went the mirror route. You can also get a mirror with outside temp but I roll down the window for that info. :happy feet: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twobjshelbys Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 My solution for the homelink was I bought a Ford rear view mirror that was self dimming, with compass and has 3 homelink buttons on the mirror. My original mirror zip. Only took 30 min to install and no issues at all anymore. Yes more costly than the Ebay button but I went the mirror route. You can also get a mirror with outside temp but I roll down the window for that info. :happy feet: Me too, except I got the temp sensor. I had to route the temp sensor through the firewall. I drilled it but apparently there is a cable harness access if you remove the inside wheel well cover. The first one I got "vibrated" but the exchanged unit is rock solid. Ordered it through Team Ford in Vegas. The only thing I'm not totally satisfied with is the electrical connections. The kit comes with some taps that you attach to the downstream side of a two fuses in the fuse block. The problem is that with the taps the fuses keep falling out. Looking for wiring harness info to tap into the harness that goes to up the A-pillar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motorjock205 Posted August 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Well, I got back home this afternoon from a weekend motorcycle trip to Cloudcroft, New Mexico, and found my Ebay homelink remote in the mail box, so I went to work following the instructions that I found on another site... The fitting is the hardest part...you don't want to take too much material away, but it takes a lot more than you would think to get everything so that it will line up and work... Someone else said that that they didn't think that the remote unit would work with the motion sensors, but it does! The motion sensors actually give you a better way to secure the unit in the long run as it is held in place over where the remote is installed with two screws...What I did for a little extra pressure on the unit was to install a "spring" that my wife uses on metal picture frames to hold the picture in from the back into the metal frame...you can get the kits that have several of these "springs" at Hobby Lobby where they sell the metal frames that you put together...I mounted one of those on the back of the remote with the curved part against the remote and the flat part pointing up towards the motion sensor unit...then I screwed the motion sensor back down and it holds the remote in securely...I used a little JBWeld to hold the spring on the back of the remote so that it would not move out of place... Wired the whole thing up, went to homelink.com and downloaded the programming instructions for a remote for a 2008 Ford Excursion and my brand of garage door opener, and it works like a champ! My little remote was tan, but I had some black trim paint in the goodie cabinet, so I sprayed it black and it matches the interior perfectly.... One other thing I did while I was in there...I had noticed that the motions sensors really didn't pick up very well if you left your windows down, set the alarm and went back a few minutes later and waved your arms inside...you really had to be up high for the sensors to pick up your movement...so, while I was working on this, I removed the two little pieces of plastic that go in front of those sensors and now they pick up much better if I leave my windows down and hit the alarm now, you can simply put your arm in and it goes off honking the horn and flashing the lights...much better in my opinion.... For the $45.00 it cost me to buy the remote, have it shipped, and the time it took to install it, about 5 hours, taking my time, it's well worth it.... I didn't take pictures, but the install that I found and listed in a previous post does a pretty good job of explaining it...I did NOT use the pencil erasers and stuff to make it work...I did file the back of the face plate on the remote down so that it would fit a little closer, and I did do a lot of sanding on the inside to get it sanded down a little thinner to make it all fit like I wanted it to... It's well worth the effort, but I wish Ford would have done it instead of me having to do it myself.... What the heck, it works, and I'm happy now!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ingram4868 Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Thanks for sharing your experience with this. It is something I really want to do also. Are there many electrical wires to connect that require the use of a meter or soldering? My tool kit is limited for electrical work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motorjock205 Posted August 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Thanks for sharing your experience with this. It is something I really want to do also. Are there many electrical wires to connect that require the use of a meter or soldering? My tool kit is limited for electrical work. Two wires. that's it...black to ground and whatever color the other wire is, hook it to a constant hot which I found to be white on the car side of the plug and white with a green (or blue, eyesight isn't what it used to be) stripe on the console side...I didn't solder anything, as a matter of fact, the wires that were on the unit were in bad shape, so I actually used some speaker wire I had laying around and made the connections by just wrapping the speaker wire around the other exposed wires then taping everything up nice and neat. Ford didn't solder anything, they used a cloth type tape in there, so it should be fine...I'll try to post a few pics of the spring and how I put it in there to hold everything in nice and neat... As promised, here are a few pics of the spring that I used and where it's located using the motion sensor for support... The plug that holds the wires for the remote unit had to be trimmed just a bit in order to fit inside the console...once the wires are attached, there is a small spring that holds them into the plug...everthing aft of that can be trimmed off in order to fit the unit inside the console...it can be seen in pic #3. I used basic tools, the console just pulls down from the roof...two clips on the side hold it up there...the two wires used on mine were the #1 wire White with blue or green stripe as hot and the #3 black wire for ground...there are six ports in the plug from left to right 6,5,4,3,2,1 on the back side of the plug with #1 being the one that will be closest to you when you pull the light down. Probably as clear as mud, but if you have any questions, give me a call...biggest thing is getting the opening big enough to allow the rubber buttons to fit inside it but not so big as to be outside the cover on the outside that you can see...I got real close to making my opening too big trying to get the rubber buttons in there...just go slow and it'll work out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ingram4868 Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHELBYBRO Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Wait a minute you guys have a compass in the mirror? WTF I thought at least a GRabber would have some nice stuff like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motorjock205 Posted August 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Wait a minute you guys have a compass in the mirror? WTF I thought at least a GRabber would have some nice stuff like that. They added them, just like I've added my little homelink remote myself....none of the SGT's came with the Homelink, Compass, Outside Temp mirrors in them from Ford... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHELBYBRO Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Oh I get you. Thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerS Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Nice job Carl. Looks good. Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motorjock205 Posted August 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Nice job Carl. Looks good. Roger Thanks Roger! I was just tired of chasing the garage remote all over the car all the time :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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