i have a 2000 ford F-150 with a 4.2 liter v6 in it with 104,000 miles on it. it did not come with a tach in it from the factory and it is a 5 speed. ford sells new instrument clusters with a tach for about $250. when you buy one of these do you plug it in and does it work, or do you have to do some re-wiring? also, what controls the digital odometer? do you have to re-program those? if anyone out there knows about doing this or has done this i would appreciate the information. thanks!

 

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Not sure about 2000, but your dealer will probably have to program it to mate with the computer and theft deterent system. It will also have to be set with the vehicle's current mileage. I believe this has to be done by the factory. It is against Federal law to not set this or to set it inaccurately. It would not surprise me if these costs doubled the price of your tachometer.

The RPM signal is probably present, however, as part of their cost engineering, Ford has been removing unnecessary wiring, so it may not be. In the past, vehicles were always wired for available options, but increasingly I find they aren't.

 

A cheaper way to go is to add an aftermarket tach, but you will need a module (autometer has them) to pick up the tach signal from the computer.

 

What triton said, with all the costs from the dealer, it will probably be a lot cheaper to go with an aftermarket one and you can get a shift light with it if you're into that.