Overhead Console

[mad2155]

My overhead console in my 2000 Durango has just the two overhead lights. I found one on ebay that has the two lights, sunglass holder, temp., compass and i think MPG. How hard is it to switch? Is the wiring hard and do i have to buy more computer components to help with the other features? Please help.

[SinCity R/T]

My overhead console in my 2000 Durango has just the two overhead lights. I found one on ebay that has the two lights, sunglass holder, temp., compass and i think MPG. How hard is it to switch? Is the wiring hard and do i have to buy more computer components to help with the other features? Please help.

You have to make sure that the overhead console you buy comes from the same exact year of your vehicle, the computers are setup differently every year. The wiring for all the sensors/computer will not be in your vehicle if it didn't come with it from the factory, so you may need to rampage a junkyard or the parts counter to come up with the rest of the hardware. Once you have the wires run in the vehicle it should be a plug and play operation at the console itself.

[thephallenking]

I'm going to assume this would also be true for my '99 Dak. I really like the "optional" overhead. DC doesn't do any of the dummy wiring huh? I know some of the other manufacturers do. As far as the computer goes, would they not use the same one with or w/o the overhead console? Seems the wiring should just be PnP too???? I would love to do this, as it would also make a great place to put some tweets!

[dgc333]

I had the overhead console with just the map lights, sun glass holder and garage door opener compartment on my 99 Dakota. I picked up one with the trip computer, compass and thermometer and installed it.

I went to the local bone yard and cut the whole harness with the connectors from another Dakota that had one (the person I got the unit from had just cut the harness about 12" from the connector at the computer). I then unwrapped the harness and depopulated the the needed wires from the connectors. You will need the twisted pair of wires that ties into the body computer buss, the pair of wires for the temp sensor, a switched 12v wire and a ground, the other wires are already there from the map light assmembly but the connector to the map light is differnent than the one that connects to the assembly with the computer so you will need to swap those wires to the new computer connector.

I routed the wires under the headliner and down the drivers A-pillar and tied them to the exisitng harness with tie wraps to keep everything neat.

The two wires for the temp sensor pluged directly into the empty connector positions on one of the connectors on the back of the fuse panel (by depopulating the pins form the doner connector it's a striaght plug in to your harness with no cutting or splicing). The wires from the fuse panel out to the core support for the temp sensor were already there but the connector style was different in the engine compartment than the sensors I found at the junk yard so I just spliced on a connector that fit the sensor and mounted the sensor.

The twisted pair of wires plug directly into the corrosponding empty locations on the connector next to the main wiring harness connector under the dash.

The switched 12v lead also plugs into an empty postion on a connector on the back of the fuse panel.

I put the ground wire under the ground stud on the body next to the fuse panel where several other grounds are made.

On the other end the three wires for the map lights were swapped into the computer connector.

Since I already had the overhead console the one with the trip just snapped into place and I was done. Set the compass calibration per the FSM and I was done. It works great.

I spent about an hour studying the wiring diagrams in the FSM so I would know what wiring I needed to get from the junk yard and where to plug them into the harness in my car. The doner harness took about 15 minutes to harvest. Took another 1/2 hour to unwrap it and get rid of the uneeded wires, depopulate the pins from the connectors and tie it up neat. It was about 1 1/2 hours to actually install the wiring computer in my truck.

You definately will need to refer to about 10 different pages of the FSM to identify the wiring the connectors and the pin locations in the connectors to do the swap.

[dgc333]

I'm going to assume this would also be true for my '99 Dak. I really like the "optional" overhead. DC doesn't do any of the dummy wiring huh? I know some of the other manufacturers do. As far as the computer goes, would they not use the same one with or w/o the overhead console? Seems the wiring should just be PnP too???? I would love to do this, as it would also make a great place to put some tweets!

If you are interested in the overhead console with the map lights, sunglass holder and garage dor opener compartment I will sell the one I removed from my 99 Dakota for $25 plus shipping. On this variation there is a littel clip filling the opening where the computer would be.

[thephallenking]

I have the overhead with the lights already... but I am looking for one with the compass. I live in smalltown Kansas and all the junk and salvage yards here think everything is made of gold. If anyone might have access to the console and the wiring at a not so outrageous price I would be willing to compensate for some time spent and shipping of course... Anyone interested?

[thephallenking]

If you are interested in the overhead console with the map lights, sunglass holder and garage dor opener compartment I will sell the one I removed from my 99 Dakota for $25 plus shipping. On this variation there is a littel clip filling the opening where the computer would be.

Cracks me up that they actually call it "CLIP" too... forgot to mention that earlier... LMAO.