DzienManche Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 Everything on the cluster is operating nice enough. The only problem is that I think the spring or something is wrong with the tachometer. I don't want to blow $250+ on a full cluster just to rip out the tacho. Some mechanic swapped the cluster out with a later model XJ or MJ cluster, but there are several gauges that just flat don't work on that one. I tried to use it as a donor and pull the tachometer out of it to swap... but No dice. I think it's 87+. Any thoughts or lines on a new one that can drop in to my stock cluster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 Which gauges aren’t working? You need to swap temp and oil pressure switches to sending units when upgrading from warning lights to a full cluster. Had a previous owner not do that for me. Also if you put a 6–cylinder cluster into a 4-cylinder truck (or vice versa) the tachometer will read incorrectly due to the different number of ignition pulses per revolution. I believe there’s three year ranges of cluster, some have the ability to adjust for 4 or 6 cylinder engines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 Only 84-86 tachs can not be adjusted and since their age, their circuit boards and components need some love. 87-96 should be adjustable. If you say it has a broken spring, then the tach needle shouldn’t move back to 0 and should stay where it’s at. That being said, you could have bad grounds that would be interfering with the signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DzienManche Posted July 23, 2023 Author Share Posted July 23, 2023 6 hours ago, eaglescout526 said: Only 84-86 tachs can not be adjusted and since their age, their circuit boards and components need some love. 87-96 should be adjustable. If you say it has a broken spring, then the tach needle shouldn’t move back to 0 and should stay where it’s at. That being said, you could have bad grounds that would be interfering with the signal. Yeah I mean there is movement and I can feel resistance when the car is on and I try to move it, testing to see if there is tension. I have an '86 XLS. The tach can spin freely when not connected. When I turn the ignition the tach goes from under 0 to max and stays there until the car is off. Not sure if the battery being continuously connected and disconnected while I had other electrical work going on may have affected it. I was reading that it may be getting too much power? I don't have wiring diagrams for the rear instrument panel connector to test voltage, I'm not sure what goes to what. All my fuses are fine and I have full functionality of all the components on the cluster, so idk if maybe the wires are just messed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 Oh hang on. Is it the blue face? If it is, like I said, the components on the back for the tach are poor quality and fail and make the tach do weird things like what you have got going on. They need to be replaced if the tach were to work properly again. You can also update to the 87-90 cluster but you have to change out your speedo cable. The later tachs are adjustable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DzienManche Posted July 23, 2023 Author Share Posted July 23, 2023 1 hour ago, eaglescout526 said: Oh hang on. Is it the blue face? If it is, like I said, the components on the back for the tach are poor quality and fail and make the tach do weird things like what you have got going on. They need to be replaced if the tach were to work properly again. You can also update to the 87-90 cluster but you have to change out your speedo cable. The later tachs are adjustable. I think so? Why would I have to change out the speedo cable though? I think this other cluster I have just threads right on. Unless you are meaning to completely change the speedo of that to keep my mileage accurate? I think the gas gauge on the other one was faulty or something. I'll try to drop the old into the "newer" one tomorrow and give that a shot and see if things will work. It's an automatic, so I don't really need the tach to work, it would just be nice to have a fully operational cluster lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 Can you snap a pic of the cluster? The 87-90 requires a different speedo cable to use which is a clip on style with a nylon clip. 84-86 had just a metal end that plugged into the cluster and was held in by a clip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DzienManche Posted July 23, 2023 Author Share Posted July 23, 2023 7 hours ago, eaglescout526 said: Can you snap a pic of the cluster? The 87-90 requires a different speedo cable to use which is a clip on style with a nylon clip. 84-86 had just a metal end that plugged into the cluster and was held in by a clip. The tach pic is what I'm working with on the old cluster, the second one is the back of the "newer" cluster with the adjustable Tachometer. It was in the truck and running ok. I think there is just some issues with a couple of things. There are slightly different pins on the back but I was going to swap them again just to see what was and wasn't functioning. maybe move the stock gauges over if I can. I just don't want todrop over $250 for a new cluster just to get a tachometer that works from 86. I can't find any substitutions either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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