Cluster Swap with Oil and Temp Gauges Wrong After Sender Swap

[Comavalanche]

If y'all are like me and your Comanche has had quite a few PO's, it's likely that some hackery has gone on. I figured I'd make this post in case anyone is having trouble with their Oil and Temp gauges even after replacing the sensors for the correct sender units. It took me a while to find a cable-driven instrument cluster in the junk yard, but I found one out of a Renix Cherokee.

 

My instrument cluster was the one that had dummy lights. One PO thought it would be a good idea to use autometer gauges instead of a cluster swap. I hated these gauges because they didn't fit properly, looked bad, and the trans temp and oil pressure gauges didn't even work. The plastic cover was also cracked in multiple spots. 

 

First I took the instrument cluster out. (Check out the holes cut out wider and the autometer gauges ground down on the bottoms for fitment...)

 

 

Once I had the cluster out, I found connector "A" (the one that connects to the middle of the cluster)

For people who don't want to splice into the factory harness, this part is where you stop reading lol I didn't want to at first but since whoever owned this truck before me went bats***t crazy with splices and extra wiring I figured it doesn't matter at this point.

 

Using the electrical wiring diagram from the FSM posted in this section of CC, I found that pin 2 (light blue wire) is for the oil pressure sender, and pin 14 (violet wire) is for the engine temp sensor. There are two violet wires going to the same pin, one for the sender and one to ignition. In the picture above, the top violet wire is for the sender.

 

Now I needed to find out which wires were for which senders. "Lucky" for me, the PO wrote them down on the old cluster... :rolleyes:

 

So at this point, I cursed the PO for doing all this extra work and splicing, while in turn becoming a future hack PO by using crimp connectors and splicing into the factory instrument cluster connections  :rotf:

 

Pink to light blue, white to violet  :cheers:

Then I put the new dash in and cranked it up :rotfl2:

 

All the gauges work and I now have a tripometer! One downside is that since I have the column shifter I lost my gear selector indicator thing. But I think I can figure out which gear I am in without it :driving:

 

And here's a picture of the wiring situation under the dash.....

I call it the Ritz-Carlton of rat's nests!  :doh:

[schardein]

LOL, wow, I've seen some bad wiring in my day, but that's... not good.  Sorry dude.  Good job on the cluster.

[HOrnbrod]

One downside is that since I have the column shifter I lost my gear selector indicator thing.

Here's an easy solution for the shift indicator from Ididit.

 

[pitbull4x4]

Where is the best place to get a shift indicator like that one ???

[HOrnbrod]

Search for these:

 

Ididit 2600250051 (Black bezel) or

Ididit 2600250040 (Polished aluminum bezel)