18 Taurus Cluster swap

First of all, I do realize that this is probably not going to work, but I figured I would ask here in case someone knows more than me. I had a 2018 Fusion I put an MKZ cluster in. I sold the Fusion and got a Taurus SHO, but I kept the MKZ Cluster.

Plugging in the MKZ cluster basically kills the car in essence. The PRNDS lights up, but nothing else happens. Can’t turn the car on, no chimes, nothing. I realize this is likely due to a couple things I’ve found out. 1, The keys are stored in the Taurus cluster 2, the MKZ cluster is a CGEA 1.3 vs the Taurus which is 1.2? and 3. The taurus doesn’t have a GWM which the MKZ cluster relies on.

The above issues are probably why it doesn’t boot which I realize.

I suppose there is no way to get it working at all right? I wanted to ask here before I got rid of it. After looking at some of the sync swap stuff I wondered if I needed to undo a pair of CAN wires to get it to boot or something along those lines. The PATS/key issue would be another thing to try and sort out of there is any possibility of getting it to work.

Yeah this is not going to work. The systems are just not compatible enough to do this.

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The Fusion runs on a CGEA 1.3 network and the ICAN network originates in the GWM. Your Taurus has a CGEA 1.2 network and the ICAN network originates in the IPC module. So when you changed them you made it so there was no ICAN network origination. That and there are a coulple wire changes in the plug that also make it so it will not work.

The IPC in the Taurus takes the ICAN signals and relays them to the MSCan network. The Fusion IPC does not do this. 11-15 Explorer and 13-19 Flex use the same IPC’s that would work in a Taurus.

Thanks. I knew it was something like that, but could not remember who originated what…

Thank you both for your answers. Is there such a thing as adding a GWM to cgea1.2 vehicles? If not I will probably sell the cluster then.

I have been trying to figure out that exact thing. You can add a Gateway module but it conflicts with the BCM and IPC causing all kinds of crazy stuff to happen. Short answer at this point is no you cant.

No. The GWM is not defined in the CGEA 1.2 version of the networking. But, that does not mean it would not work if you could rewrite the network tables for all the modules to communicate thru the GWM, thus ending up with a CGEA 1.3 network. This has been experimented with by a few folks I know who all ended up unsuccessful. In some cases, it was easier to implement a pseudo software emulator with a small onboard computer attached to the CANBUS in the vehicle to process and translate commands on the CGEA 1.2 network. I would have to say great for the fun factor, scary for the safety factor.

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