Tachometer???
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Tachometer???
I bought an aftermarket tachometer for my 96 ranger. It has the worst directions ever, it looks like a 2 year old drew them. It has 4 wires for the tach they are red green yellow and black. The directions say to wire the yellow wire to the battery + and the black to the battery -. I did that and then it says to wire the green to the coil -. And then the Red to the ignition +. This doesn't make any sense to me I dont have any idea which wires are which and where they are located for the red and green wires. Is there somebody that can help me? Is there a better way to wire it up and can you send me some pics of it or a diagram of some sort?
Post Fiend
Joined: Jul 2005
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From: Durant, OK (SOSU)
I believe the red wire goes to a wire with power only when the ignition is on. The green goes to the coil negative wire, which in this case can be used by the wire sending the tach signal to the PCM (your PCM gets an RPM signal whether you have a tach or not), just tap into the wire. Don't run the black wire to the batt negative terminal, just ground it somewhere.
If you need any more help, just drop me a PM.
RP
Zach
If you need any more help, just drop me a PM.
RP
Zach
Post Fiend
Joined: Jul 2005
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From: Durant, OK (SOSU)
I'm not sure on the 2.3L, my Haynes is unhelpful to say the least. I'm not sure which coil on the 2.3L you'd run it off of either. It shows T/W and T/O wires running off of the primary coil and T/LB and T/LG wires running off the secondary coil. I assume you could tap either coil, but I'm not sure on the wire. It shows no ground or negative wire off either.
RP
Zach
RP
Zach
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jul 2002
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From: Moneta, VA
You can splice into the PCM, which should be mounted on the passenger side firewall/fenderwell. You will need to splice into pin number 48, which will be a brown or tan wire with a yellow stripe, to obtain your engine RPM signal. Not sure if that would go to the green or red wire, but I'm thinking green.
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If you look at the ignition switch harness under the dash, you should find a Green wire with a Purple stripe. If you measure this with a digital volt meter, it should show 12 volts when the ignition switch is on and 0 when the ignition switch is off. This is the ignition positive for most applications.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 765
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From: Moneta, VA
Just a guess here, but you could try running the red wire to a 12V source that only has juice when the ignition is on. The RPM signal is coming from pin 48 on the PCM and I'm about 95% sure that is where the green wire goes. Usually, aftermarket tachometers are wired up this way:
Red - 12 V when ignition is ON
Black - ground
White - 12 V w/ ignition ON or illumination on the head light swith
Green - To the Tach test connector or tach test on coil (or RPM signal from PCM)
Red - 12 V when ignition is ON
Black - ground
White - 12 V w/ ignition ON or illumination on the head light swith
Green - To the Tach test connector or tach test on coil (or RPM signal from PCM)
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jul 2002
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From: Moneta, VA
Do you have you tach set right? There are different settings for 8-, 6-, and 4-cylinders. I think you'll need it set to 4-cylinder. Should be a switch somewhere on the back. Try the other settings and see what happens.
Usually when people tap the wrong wire, they'll get either a constant rpm reading (regarless of rpm) or something between 400-1000rpm.
Usually when people tap the wrong wire, they'll get either a constant rpm reading (regarless of rpm) or something between 400-1000rpm.
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Well its set to 4 cylinder (I did try the other ones) I tapped into the PCM wire and into the ignition wire and grounded to the chassis and then put a wire to the battery what could I be doing wrong?
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