Quick ignition/tach questions....
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Cross-Country
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 69
Likes: 1
From: Outside of Cleveland, OH
Quick ignition/tach questions....
I have what may seem like a dumb question. I have a notion of adding a simple tachometer to my 78 lariat. I know most have 4-5 wires, and they are connected to the ignition coil, correct? Also, some have said they need to be to the positive and negative terminals of the coils. Are the terminals well marked? Are they easy to tell with the harness? When the weather breaks in a few months, I was going to change the coil, so I thought it would be a good time to add a tachometer. Any input would be appreciated!
New User
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
From: Snohomish County, WA
1 wire to tach signal wire - goes to negative side of the ignition coil.
1 wire to power the light in the tach (usually)
1 wire for ground
1 wire for power wire to power tach (excluding light)
usually a provision to select 4, 6, or 8 cylinder engine on the back of the tach gauge.
FYI the ignition coil connector slides down and off. I found that out the hard way trying to pull it straight back off and had to order a new one and wire it in ::whoops::
1 wire to power the light in the tach (usually)
1 wire for ground
1 wire for power wire to power tach (excluding light)
usually a provision to select 4, 6, or 8 cylinder engine on the back of the tach gauge.
FYI the ignition coil connector slides down and off. I found that out the hard way trying to pull it straight back off and had to order a new one and wire it in ::whoops::
Lead Driver
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 9,597
Likes: 1,172
From: San Jose, CA
Yes, if you still have mostly stock wiring, your "horseshoe" connector will say TEST/TACH on the negative side, with sometimes a "-" symbol and the other has a "+" symbol for positive.
The positive side will also have had a little metal can-like condenser/capacitor/thingy on a short wire for radio noise suppression.
The wire color of negative is indeed Green with a yellow stripe.
The positive side for reference is Red w/green stripe.
That's an interesting experience and tip that 400v8f250 related about pulling the connector off. I have only pulled back on them (with good luck so far!) but am going to have to go play with them again to see about that.
Might just have been lucky so far.
Thanks for that.
Paul
The positive side will also have had a little metal can-like condenser/capacitor/thingy on a short wire for radio noise suppression.
The wire color of negative is indeed Green with a yellow stripe.
The positive side for reference is Red w/green stripe.
That's an interesting experience and tip that 400v8f250 related about pulling the connector off. I have only pulled back on them (with good luck so far!) but am going to have to go play with them again to see about that.
Might just have been lucky so far.
Thanks for that.
Paul
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