Wow, it's as simple as swapping 17 & 18? That's too easy........
Also, it follows what fordzilla has said about only having the (r?) turn indicator and brake warning indicator switch places. Would 17 and 18 be those 2 curcuits, by any chance?

 

No....left directional and seat belt warning light.

 

Brake warning light is pin 14 in both. Right directional is pin 15 in both.

 

Hmmm, my seat belt warning light will have a heck of a time trying to work without a bulb.....
That's odd, as I'd figured it was those other 2.....

Looking like I may just swap 17/18 and unhook the "8" on the back of tach.......
Far simpler than any other method.

 

You dont need to unhook the "8" as it will not have a ground. This is due to you having a 6 cyl engine. The ground path is completed in the engine harness, and only if it is a V8 engine. I can post a picture if you would like.
Jim

 

I'd have guessed it was grounded at the back of the tach, rather than running a complete seperate circuit just for that one connection.
I would certainly like to see where it would be completed for a V8, and left open for an I6.
Might also help anyone else wanting to do the same swap.

 

Here is a photo of the engine harness. The center connector in the group of 3 in the lower left of the photo is the feed for the tach. Yours will look like this as it is a 300 6 cyl. If you look at the connector it will have 2 wires on the firewall side and only one on the engine side of the tach feed plug. A V8 engine harness will have 2 wires in and 2 wires out of the tach feed plug. The ground will tie into the same ground the DS2 module uses, which is in the Dist. The Tach feed plug is located on the left inner fender.
Jim

 

Interesting, thanks Jim!
I guess that means that using a 6 cyl engine harness with a V8 would make the tach (if equiped) read incorrectly, unless that extra wire was attended to.....
Not that I have any intention of swapping to a V8 myself. I'm too fond of the 300 for that.

 

I swapped in a tach-equipped cluster this week, and everything else works fine, just not the tach. My truck previously had a non-tach cluster with gauges, not idiot lights. What should I check to see about getting my tach to work?

(Note that I currently have an aftermarket Sunpro tach teeing off the tach test wire from the coil. Engine is a 302.)

 

Is it plugged in?
Is it turned on?
Is there paper in it?

Seriously, is it plugged in? Look by your DS2 box, there should be three connectors down
there; one of them is 2--wire connector - I think it uses a green and a black wire - it's what
feeds the tach, at least one of the wires on the the other end (green one?) end up at the coil

Somebody here - Jimbo Beam? - has a pic of a wiring harness on his driveway (or
something) it's labeled pretty well.

 

Look under the hood, on the left inner fender, for the center plug in the set of 3 (see photo above). On a V8 you will have 2 wires in and 2 wires out.
Some have found that this was never plug in together as there was not a tach originally installed. The green wire in this plug feeds the tach.

Jim

 

Plugged in: The cluster wiring connector is plugged in, yes. I didn't touch the tach part of the circuit paper, and it appeared to be connected to the tach as it should be.

Turned on: The key can be in the run position as I'm driving, and the tach just stays in the same spot it does if the key's off. All other electric gauges function as normal.

Paper in it: Yes. It has the tach version of the circuit paper. I noticed no corrosion, damage, etc. anywhere on the paper.

And the connector you guys describe is plugged in. I checked and there is no corrosion, at least on the male half. In fact, it appears almost as though it's never been disconnected til today, when I checked it.

It appears to me that the green wire from this connector goes to the DS box, not the coil. I'll go double-check real quick and let ya'll know what I find out.

EDIT: I followed the wire from the connector, and the green wire under the hood goes to one of the DS box connectors; it goes into the connector right where the green wire from the coil goes in.

I cleaned the tach connectors under the hood as well as the DS connector with the coil wire going to it. No change. Unclicked one side of the cluster connector and make sure it was secure, and it was. No change. Pulled the fuse for my addon tach, no change.

Just throwing this out there, but could this have something to do with the fact that this cluster came from a fuel-injected truck? My truck is carbureted.

 

It does go to the DS2 box, that is where it picks up the signal from.

You could move your sunpro tach to this connector to see if the signal in getting to this connector OK, (engine side).

 

I'll try that real quick.

 

Well I know this is a little late, but you should have tested your tach before you installed it. You just jumper wire power, ground and the tach signal from the coil negative. All this is just done under the hood using the car battery. I have brought home bad ones from the junk yard. The tach is really just a delicate meter movement, or a low cost voltmeter, depends on how you want to look at it. If it is dropped or jarred it can damage/break the fine wire in the meter movement.

At my junk yard it is cheaper to buy the paper circuit and the tach separately. But then you don’t get the trip meter.

Jim