Cluster mayhem

[1tonchevy]

Originally Posted by jdmaffeo

I did this to my truck. I went from the idiot light gauge cluster to the tach cluster with full gauges. You are going to have to do 4 things.

1st thing that you are going to have to do is trace each wire at the main harness plug and determine what it goes to and then label the wire. I used a volt meter to accomplish this task. The plug has a number for each wire 1-18 if I remember correctly.

2nd thing that you will have to do is look at the circuit board on the back of the new gauge cluster and determine several things. Each gauge and light has multiple pins etc. going thru the plastic into the cluster. You need to determine if it is a ground or an actual signal from the sender. In the case of the lights you will have a ground and a positive. Look at the harness that plug is on and determine the number that the the wire must be in for it to work correctly. I made 2 charts. One for the old cluster (in case it didn't work) and one for the new cluster. Once you have traced all the wires and the circuit board you will have to move some of the wires in the harness plug (fairly easy). Tracing the wires is a pain in the butt, but you have to do this. I had cut off a plug from a truck in a junk yard to have extra pins and the same color coded wiring if needed. I think I made a jumper wire for a ground wire that I needed.

3rd thing that I had to do was add an oil pressure sensor by the distributor that I got at a junk yard. A water temperature sensor (new). I added a resistor to the alternator wiring. This is needed because the bulb served as a resistor and once you have a gauge there is no resistance and my alternator wouldn't charge. There are no sensors to change for the fuel gauge.

4th thing is take your time. This project drove me crazy, but i like the finished product!
I hope this helps some...

ok thanks. i'll have to tackle it some time soon. working on my drop and cab right now..