installing tachometer - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

GuJu MaN 89 · 10-03-2005, 03:49 PM

my 97 corolla doesnt have a tachometer and i was wondering is it hard to install a external one? like the wiring and such? what parts would i need?

***BLUEMEANIE*** · 10-03-2005, 03:58 PM

just get a cluster from a 93-97 that already has a tach. simple plug and play.

GuJu MaN 89 · 10-03-2005, 04:01 PM

ive seen some on ebay for $30 but what do i plug the wire into? is there allready a wire in my dash for a tach that i can plug it into?

kinda like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/93-94...spagenameZWD1V

but ive seen some cheaper

***BLUEMEANIE*** · 10-03-2005, 04:11 PM

you gotta buy the whole cluster, not just the guages. There are three harness pluged into the back of your current tachless guage cluster, they will plug directly into the cluster with the tach and everything will work.

GuJu MaN 89 · 10-03-2005, 04:20 PM

so the new cluster will have 3 plugs that the current wires will plug into? there wont be a seperate plug for teh tach? im still looking for a cluster, found some on ebay but without a tach, also for the miles on the car, can i change that on the new guage cluster so it matches the real miles?

toyotaspeed90 · 10-03-2005, 08:41 PM

otherwise... you'll need a 12V constant, a 12V switched, a negative (ground), and the tach lead (black/negative) which is on the coil under the dizzy cap.....

Ukrainian102 · 10-03-2005, 09:58 PM

You have to buy a whole cluster and there are three plugs on the back. It will be plug and play. As for mileage, speedometer assemblies cannot be swapped between so you're stuck with the wrong mileage on your car but w/e.

I've done this, check my cardomain for more info and pics.

kevin_alvarez · 10-04-2005, 10:32 AM

o my god thank you for starting this thread, i've been trying to install an external tach for a while with no success.....i guess i've going at it all wrong. good luck to you Gujuman

Flashmn · 10-04-2005, 10:53 AM

4A-F gets its tach signal directly from the negative side of the coil right?

GuJu MaN 89 · 10-04-2005, 04:31 PM

whered u get the cluster from?

Ukrainian102 · 10-04-2005, 07:47 PM

Search car-part.com for a junkyard near you with what you need. Just be sure to call head to the junkyard and MAKE SURE that the cluster they have has a tach. I once wasted 1 hour of driving there to find out that they had it listed with tach on car-part but it really had no tach.

GuJu MaN 89 · 10-04-2005, 08:10 PM

and there is no way for it to display correct millage right? just get a little letter from dealer saying its incorrect?

Ukrainian102 · 10-04-2005, 08:17 PM

Well, I'm sure you could do it somehow, but as tach clusters for the AE102 are few and far between, I'd rather not mess with mine and break it.

As for the little note from the dealer, it's no legal document or anything, so if you're selling the car there's no guarantee that someone will believe you about it. Take pics of your old cluster with the old mileage to show if you want to sell the car. But I'm not gonna be selling mine any time soon anyway so I don't really care.

GuJu MaN 89 · 10-05-2005, 03:04 PM

and lets say i want to buy a external tach, should be like $50 right? what type of wiring do i have to do and how easy is it? i dont care how long it will take just how easy is it?

***BLUEMEANIE*** · 10-05-2005, 03:10 PM

pop the needle off, remove the speedo guts and swap them with the new cluster. you'll then have the correct mileage. thats what I did. The speedo face screws on differently on both but the guts from both accept either face mounting.