Help with tacho cluster wiring

[robotrob]

I've bought a tacho cluster from a ford festiva to fit in my Mazda 121 and the wiring is different, though the plugs are the same.

Has anyone encountered this before? My Mazda is an 87 and the Festiva was a 93 I think.

Anyone have wiring diagrams for me?





Any help appreciated

[robotrob]

Ok so my car seems to match this:

But my new tacho cluster doesn't. Anybody know of any alternative wiring arrangements?

[F3BZ]

is the tach cluster from a LHD Festiva?

[TominMO]

In this situation in America, if you just plug in the new one everything will work except the tach. You have to run a wire from the negative terminal on the coil to the appropriate screw on the back of the new cluster to get the tach to work. That's because early Festivas didn't have the tach wire included into the wiring harness.

Plan B: On the White plug, notice the Y/Gn wire at terminal I (eye). If you have a yellow/green wire going to that terminal, that is probably the tach wire. In that case, plugging in the white plug should make the tach function too.

I find it hard to believe that they would make radically different designs for different markets, just due to economy. You could just plug the black and white plugs in and turn on the ignition to see what happened. We are only talking 12 volts here. Especially since both your clusters are in KMs, not miles, and presumably both were made for the Oz market, it should be OK.

You will have to re-route the speedo cable over to the side to accommodate the speedo's position in the new cluster.

[F3BZ]

probly doesn't matter. tach clusters with white graphics were only available over here up till 1990. never did myself but others say this is a qwik plug n go. just have to stretch the speedo cable a little for the tach cluster. have you tried just plugging it in and seeing if that works? supposedly the wiring for the tach cluster is already present in the connectors but go to dead pins on the non tach cluster but will be utilized when plugged into a tach cluster. is there a Y/GN wire attached to position "I" on your connector? if so, this would energize the tach. here is a schematic from a 121 Europe shop manual.

[nonamekid]

DO NOT PLUG THIS IN!! It will burn out your new cluster!

The US clusters are wired different than Euro spec clusters. When we plug those in here, they burn out the clusters. There is more than wiring diagram for clusters. It appears that your orange cluster is wired like the US clusters, but the other one is wired differently. It doesn't appear to match the euro spec wiring. You will need to repin your plugs to match the cluster you are using.

[robotrob]

I plugged it in for about 5-10 seconds.. What usually burns out on the cluster? Does anybody have the euro-spec wiring to help me repin it?

[robotrob]

is the tach cluster from a LHD Festiva?

Both LHD Australian delivered, my Mazda seems to be US spec, the Festiva cluster is euro spec

[robotrob]

*mine seems to be euro spec, anyone have US wiring?

[bravekozak]

Just release the terminals from the connector with a terminal remover tool. It says on the back of the cluster waht each terminal is for. Just follow the copper brick road. Push the terminals back into the connector until they click. Bingo, bango, bongo.

[robotrob]

Yea I'm figuring that's what I'll have to do, thought I'd be lazy and see if anyone had a wiring diag for the other cluster lol..

I'll give it a go now, wish me luck

[robotrob]

Ok this worked for me:













All wires taken up except a brown and white wire which I believe is for the choke so I taped it back up into the loom..

I wouldn't mind hooking up the low fuel and door open light. Another time maybe

Thanks for all the help and F3BZ I probably couldn't have done it without the diagram you posted, a lot of going back and forth between the two diagrams and the two cluster and scratching my head

[TominMO]

Glad you got it figured out. US Festivas don't have a low fuel light BTW. (I found out the hard way.)

[robotrob]

Hehe, this cluster has a low fuel light and a door open light, the low fuel light mocks me by coming on with the ignition lol. only other pin is for a check engine light that's blanked off, I've fitted 3 door tank out of an Australian aspire and the sender seems to have an extra wire, so I'm hoping its for the low fuel light

On the subject of running out of fuel, either the ohms don't match the gauge or the pump isn't pushed down enough in the tank (mounted my own pump to the sender) because it starts fuel surging at around quarter of a tank and runs out at 1/8th

[TominMO]

Yeah, we got the CEL when Festys first came here in '88. Maybe yours doesn't have one because it's an '87?