Tach trouble

[jrjr]

Well, when I bought my 97 the prior owner told me that it had an aftermarket alarm system that he had someont remove. When they deleted the alarm system the tach and radio stopped working. Radio I am not worried about now. I just replaced the heater core and blend door so I saw all the wiring that had been worked on and I can see why they had issues with the alarm system.

Who ever installed it simply stripped a section of wire and wrapped the new wires around that and taped it up. I really cannot believe people actually do this. In any event it looks like whoever removed the system did a decent job as I can see solder joints here and there.

So back to the tach. I have the schematic and from the looks there is just two connections for all the gauges in the cluster and they are common. Am I correct in assuming that it is just a data stream and its decoded at each instrument? I wasn't able to get to the back side of the cluster yet since the driver side of the dash didn't get moved out much so I will pull that out on its own.

Just wondering what to look for in a trouble shooting situation. Just 2 wires to each instrument? Any hints or tips to be on the look out for?

 

[jrjr]

What I am thinking now is that maybe the cluster is the issue. Haven't gotten to take it apart yet, always something else to do it seems. Any ideas out there?

 

[jrjr]

I found a guy on craigslist parting out a 97 F150 and he want's $50 for the instrument cluster that has a tach. He told me that I would have to get a dealer to flash it once installed.

Is this true? Not just plug and play?
How much should this cost if so?

I did pull my cluster and changed out the light bulbs. I saw nothing wrong with it but I may not know what to look for either.

 

[jrjr]

So, After hours of online research and calling dealers, I am going to purchase a cluster from a wreck and try it. I called 10 or so different dealers and most of them immediately said I had to bring it in and have it flashed. A couple of them said no, you can drive down the road with no cluster. A few mostly said "duh, what's a cluster?" Can you imagine..... from a Ford service department!

Finally I talked to one tech that sent me to his foreman. This guy spent some time, looked it up, and said that most likely I would be fine but there are some hybrids out there in these years. There is a separate pats module according to his book and it didn't look like it talked to the cluster.

He also said that I should have a theft light in the cluster that blinks whenever the vehicle is off. I don't have that. There is a theft light in the tach side that illuminates Key on Engine off but it doesn't ever flash. When locking with the remote twice the lights flash and horn beeps but no theft light.

Any thoughts are welcome.

 

[jrjr]

Ok I changed the cluster with one that I got from a salvage yard. The new cluster worked just fine except for the tach. Still a no go. Must be a broken wire..... At least I have eliminated that now. Hope they will take the cluster back!

 

[jrjr]

Never did get the tach to work and am going to revisit this trouble. Any suggestions? Thanks