Ford upfitter switches

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Maybe one of you Ford mechanics can answer this question. I am trying to hook up an air compressor to the 15 amp (switch 4) to the upfitter switch in my 2010 F350. The owners manual says there are blunt cut wires under the dash on the left side of the steering column. I did find the bundle of wires there and about 15 blunt cut wires. According to the owners manual the brown wire is supposed to control the 15 amp circuit which is switch 4. So when switch 4 is on I should get 12 volts to the brown wire if the ignition is on. Well I get 4.5 volts to the brown wire and the upfitter switch has no affect on it. The 4.5 volts goes to 0 when the ignition is turned off. All of the other wires have no voltage except for the green with yellow tracer which has 12 volts all the time. I need a switchable 12 volts and thought the upfitter switch would be the way to go. Can someone tell me whats up. I checked the fuses and found the upfitter fuses and they are okay and give me a constant 12 volts.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Thanks but I already looked at that and mine does not look that way. Those wires are not there and neither is the relay they talk about.
 

mikeandconnie

Well-known member
It's been a few months since I hooked my switch up, However, The first blunt brown wire I found was under the left side of the my steering column with many other blunt wires, It was reading 4.5 volts and the switch did not operate it also. It gave me a run around until I looked over and found 4 wires were located about 8 inches over on the next harness closer to the side of the truck. It sound like you may have the same wire. But I'm not sure about the 2010 F350. I have the 2008 F350. But our owner manual sound the same.

Mike
 

WilmanJim

Well-known member
Jim,
Don't know if you have this or not but it might help. Scroll to the bottom for 2008 and newer. Also, I think there might be some pass through wires under dash and under hood that go throught the firewall so you don't have to push new ones through.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Jim,
Don't know if you have this or not but it might help. Scroll to the bottom for 2008 and newer. Also, I think there might be some pass through wires under dash and under hood that go throught the firewall so you don't have to push new ones through.

Thanks for the info. I already saw it and even printed it out. Still could not find the wires. I am about to go and recheck. I may resolve to using the power window power wire to give me a switchable 12volt source and say the **** with the upfitter switches.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
I FOUND THEM. Finally after 2 days of looking I found them. The wires are way up under the left side of the dash almost next to the kick panel. I tried measuring the voltage and it works on switch 4 (15 amp) which was what I was looking for. Thank you everyone for your help. I was about to give up. It is hard doing it in 100 degrees in that confined space under the dash. What I am trying to hook up is the Air Lift remote controlled compressor for the air bag system. Thanks again.
 

beasleyrl

Well-known member
Jim - I had to laugh when I read this. My wife and I were looking for that same wire last night and found the same 4.5V wire you did! We found them too but it certainly isn't as obvious as the manual would have you believe. You have to get by the ones that would appear to be the obvious set.

Roger
 

2010augusta

Well-known member
Jim are you sure 15Amp is enough to run the compressor, or are you powering a relay to run the compressor?

We use switch 1 of the compressor, 3 for aux back-up lights, and 4 for lighting in the 7-door bed storage bins. Still looking for something to use with #2.

You need to get out of TX it was a pleasant 57* here this morning.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Jim are you sure 15Amp is enough to run the compressor, or are you powering a relay to run the compressor?

We use switch 1 of the compressor, 3 for aux back-up lights, and 4 for lighting in the 7-door bed storage bins. Still looking for something to use with #2.

You need to get out of TX it was a pleasant 57* here this morning.

I am actually powering a relay which powers the compressor. It is the Air-Lift remote compressor and it is small. The instructions say to use a 15 amp circuit. Here is the link to what I got. BTW the install is done and it works like a champ. Now I can stand outside the tow vehicle and work the air bags with the hand remote. No gauges or air lines to the cab and the hand remote unit give the pressure readout. A sweet system. Thanks again for the help everybody.

http://www.suspensionconnection.com/cgi-bin/suscon/72000-wireless-air.html
 
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