found cluster w/ tach... - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

WVcamry3sfe · 03-02-2007, 07:19 PM

hey, i found an I-4 cluster with a tach on it at the junk yard last time I raided it for parts. I am thinking of going back there on sunday because I need to get a new hood, but I figured I should nab this part that I want while I'm at it. My question is, how do I get to it quickly? It is supposed to be snowing in PA tomorrow, and I don't wanna be sittin out in the cold all day trying to figure out how to get the damn thing out of the car, as the yard is a "U-pull-it" type place. Also will I need to get any particular wiring items out of the car, as the car i am putting the cluster into is an automatic w/out a tach.

anyone have any pictures that could help show me how to get the cluster out of the dashboard quickly? thanks!

atobe · 03-02-2007, 08:25 PM

lets see 5 screws... 2 on each side where the window defoger and hazard button is... and 3 in the middle where the cluster is.. and then u pull off the cluster cover...unplug the defog/hazard button and where the PRND2L is also.. and there's 4 screws holding the cluster on.. unplug everything in the back of it... 3 big ones...and that's about it... you can do it in 5 mins top with a philips screwdriver.... use a short stubby one because the one in the middle is hard to get to if u have a long one.

WVcamry3sfe · 03-02-2007, 08:41 PM

thanks, that helps out a lot!

***HomeGrown*** · 03-02-2007, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WVcamry3sfe

Also will I need to get any particular wiring items out of the car, as the car i am putting the cluster into is an automatic w/out a tach.

Wow, your place is open on Sunday? That must be nice. Anyway, the cluster will be plug-n-play, you won't need any connectors or wiring from the donor car. Be advised that when you do the swap, if you want to retain your original mileage you can swap out the speedo head. You will just need to pull the needle & swap out the faces. For some reason they're slightly different, and your original speedo head won't swap directly into the tach cluster without first doing the face swap (that's the way mine was, anyway).

I gotta hit ebay or a yard for a new cluster for my wagon. It's got the wavering needle issue at just about any speed. I think TBay mentioned that this was a common issue with the speedo head.

white90dx · 03-05-2007, 02:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeGrown

Wow, your place is open on Sunday? That must be nice. Anyway, the cluster will be plug-n-play, you won't need any connectors or wiring from the donor car. Be advised that when you do the swap, if you want to retain your original mileage you can swap out the speedo head. You will just need to pull the needle & swap out the faces. For some reason they're slightly different, and your original speedo head won't swap directly into the tach cluster without first doing the face swap (that's the way mine was, anyway).

I gotta hit ebay or a yard for a new cluster for my wagon. It's got the wavering needle issue at just about any speed. I think TBay mentioned that this was a common issue with the speedo head.

Swap the whole speedo unit, not just the head. DO NOT REMOVE THE NEEDLE!!!

And for future readers of the thread: Gauge clusters are a plug-n-play swap as long as they match motor to motor (4 cylinder into 4 cylinder, 6 into 6).

-Charlie

***HomeGrown*** · 03-05-2007, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by white90dx

Swap the whole speedo unit, not just the head. DO NOT REMOVE THE NEEDLE!!!

-Charlie

You pretty much have to remove the needle if you need to swap speedo faceplates, as I did. The faceplate mounting locations were slightly different between my original head and the tach custer I got. Removing & replacing the needle was no big deal. You just gotta use a reasonable amount of care when doing it.

white90dx · 03-05-2007, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeGrown

You pretty much have to remove the needle if you need to swap speedo faceplates, as I did. The faceplate mounting locations were slightly different between my original head and the tach custer I got. Removing & replacing the needle was no big deal. You just gotta use a reasonable amount of care when doing it.

Why would you change the faceplate? When you find the cluster with the tach, just make sure it matches the graphics on your current cluster... then swap the whole stock speedo assembly into the cluster with tach. There are only two different graphic styles I'm aware of, so it should be easy to find either one for your purposes.

-Charlie

***HomeGrown*** · 03-05-2007, 01:05 PM

lol! I said it twice in my posts: The speedo faceplates had DIFFERENT MOUNTING. You physically couldn't swap my original speedo head into the tach cluster because the mounting holes were configured differently than that of the tach cluster I got. That's why I had to swap the faceplates.

Funny I haven't heard anyone else mention this, maybe I'm the only one who's run into this.

white90dx · 03-05-2007, 06:13 PM

I've only messed around with '90 and '91 model year clusters, and they were all compatible as far as I remember.

-Charlie

***HomeGrown*** · 03-05-2007, 07:38 PM

IIRC, my cluster was from an 89....

TBayToyotaBoy · 03-05-2007, 08:27 PM

One thing I noticed in this post: WVcamry3sfe, you mentioned that your Camry doesn't have a tach...if you want the tach to work once you get it in, you'll need to remove more than just the cluster...your wiring harness won't have the plug to feed the tach, and it'll sit idle in your dash taunting you.

And that brings up an old pet peeve: why did Toyota make manual cars without tachs? My old 4WD Tercel didn't have one, and neither did my first 5-speed Corolla (an 88). What a pain! I guess it must've been an 'econo' effort to keep the msrp down.

***HomeGrown*** · 03-06-2007, 07:15 AM

TBay, the tach cluster is plug-n-play, with all the necessary wiring already in place. It was on mine, and that's what everyone else has said.
And yeah, I can't stand a car without a tach cluster, ESPECIALLY one with a 5-speed!

white90dx · 03-06-2007, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeGrown

TBay, the tach cluster is plug-n-play, with all the necessary wiring already in place. It was on mine, and that's what everyone else has said.
And yeah, I can't stand a car without a tach cluster, ESPECIALLY one with a 5-speed!

^^^^ What he said.

TBayToyotaBoy · 03-07-2007, 12:10 AM

Well that's pretty damn cool! I hadn't even noticed that on the scrap yard cars I've picked apart over the years...next time I'll look more closely at the dash harness.

nuron · 03-07-2007, 08:51 PM

TBay, so if I want the tach to work, I have to get the harness from the car I took the tach from? I thought it was plug-and-play like people said. I better cancel my ebay bid!