My adventures with a tach

[Diego]

I was in the local Pick-n-Pull today looking for some parts for my Chevy truck and I stumbled across an orange tach cluster. I pulled it and when I installed it in my 88 festiva the tach did not work. Now everything I have read says it should have been a direct swap but upon further investigation I found the the green/yellow wire that is supposed to supply the signal to the cluster was non-existant on both the coil and on the cluster plug. There was not a pin in the plug at all. So after running a new wire from the coil to the cluster everything is kosher. I found one burned out bulb on the right side of the speedo before I buttoned everything up but when I test drove the car I found the needles are not lit up so it is a little hard to read. So i guess i need to pull it back apart and find what else is out. It may have been a headache but it only cost 15 dollars.

[25Horseplay]

Another thing to do is put the light from the non tach cluster on the tach cluster. The non tach cluster light has more bulbs, you just need to lengthen the wires alittle. I read somewhere that the early cars didn't all have the tach leads in hem.

[muscle_Car1]

The bulbs under the white bar on top probally are busted

[Diego]

I also got lucky in that the old cluster showed 2034XX miles and the new shows 2039XX miles.

[packrat427]

My tach was so bright when I put it in , I have to turn the dimmer all the way down . It is so bright , it reflects up to the windshield and makes it hard to see at night.

I need to pull it out and do some modifying , to make it look totally different .

[neanderpaul]

I bet you have an 88 or 89 L. I found the same thing in my 6th festiva 89 L. Good Job on the solution.