Interior Upgrade Package

You get a battery charge gauge and an oil pressure gauge at the bottom of the center cluster below the fuel gauge and temp gauge, respectively.

The oil pressure is rumored to be a "faux" oil pressure gauge that works more like a dummy light - either no oil pressure, or great (approx 2/3 on the gauge) oil pressure. Haven't really looked into it myself, because it's a tight new engine and isn't fluctuating anyway. PLenty of other stuff to take in already!

The Message Center has (from memory) Odometer and Trip odometer, Average MPG, a "Fuel Economy" bar graph thing with 5 different bars (looks like a bar chart) that tells you if you're sucking gas or conserving, average MPH, trip timer, gallons used, and gallons remaining until empty. It also pops up a "low fuel warning" message at 50, 25,20, 15, 10,9,8,7, etc. remaining miles on the tank, that you have to acknowledge with the "Reset" button.

Fairly helpful stuff and worth it IMHO. Took th'kids on a trip to an amusement park yersterday and averaged 21MPG for the whole schmeil. Saw 26.4 MPG on one fairly long leg.

loudog said:

On my buddy's 05 GT, he took it in for it's first oil change, and the numbskulls at the dealer put in 5w30 instead of 5w20 oil, and his oil pressure gauge went down from 2/3 to 1/2, so he immediately took it back and found they put the heavier oil in. So, I suspect the gauge might actually work - although it may not be as quick to move as a mechanical OP gauge. :shrug

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Let me give you some insight on the oil issue for this Triton engine from experience. Use the factory recommened oil viscosity. This engine is suseptible to oil sludging if you use a heavier oil, which will cause a blockage at the pickup screen in the oil pan. I know because it happened to me on my F150 triton engine. I was using 20W50 and was driving on the interstate going about 80. Just happened to look at my gauges when I saw the oil pressure drop to zero. I immediately took my foot off the gas and shifted to neutral, turned off the ignition and coasted off the highway. The service dept. said I seized the engine and said it needed to be replaced at a cost of $5000.00. I was a little sceptic about their diagnosis, since I turned off the engine so quickly, so I asked a friend of mine who is a pretty good wrench to look at it. He came to the dealer and picked up the truck with his tow truck. Bottom line, the oil pan was sludged up pretty bad and the front main seal was blown. He repaired the engine for under $500.00. It ran for over 20000 miles before I sold it. No problems.