how to: fix s13 wiring for gauge cluster/custom gauges

[compactfean]

To the ecu. Is that wire 12v with key on?

[compactfean]

You can rather. Splice the y/r wire from the resistor to the ecu y/r wire (that would be stock) or do like the. Other Guy and splice LG/b wire to ecu y/r wire. Try the first way first since that's how its supposed to be stock (safe). Than the second way. While your at it can you test the voltage of the LG/b wire?

[doomedfob]

YES i get about 12 volts for both! well for green/black i get 12.4 and for yellow/red to ecu yellow/red i get 11 something. I think my tach is shorted out. my tach should of been working. I'm actually gonna get another cluster and i'll see whats up

[doomedfob]

How would I get my gas gauge working?

[compactfean]

On the back of the cluster there are three screws that hold your tach in. If you fallow the PCB there is signal power and ground. Do you have power and ground back there? If you do than yeah, your tach is probly bad.

[doomedfob]

oh dammit. Well i'm gonna have to get a new tach then. For my gas gauge would I just follow the fm wire and rewire it?

[compactfean]

Take a piece of wire and hook it up to ground. Take the other end and touch it to the bolt behind the fuel gauge that says FM. If the gauge moves that means your sending unit is bad. If it doesnt move. I would suspect a power or ground issue to the gauge.

[compactfean]

oh dammit. Well i'm gonna have to get a new tach then. For my gas gauge would I just follow the fm wire and rewire it?

if there is something wrong with the wire than yeah you could rewire it. i would check continuity from the "fm" wire to the sending unit. if continuity is good than the wire is not the problem.

[compactfean]

How would I get my gas gauge working?

the cool thing is that if it is the sending unit. ours are old school and work like a potentiometer and theres a little needle that wears a groove into the unit. usually you can bend the needle so it rubs on a different spot and voila. brand new sending unit.

[compactfean]

so back to you 89-90 240sx owners going SR20DET that dont want to buy a new cluster, if you take the resister from your ka, wire it from 12v ( i would wire it to a coil power wire) and then run the other wire from the resistor to the yellow red wire that goes from ecu to cluster, that should make your stock tach work.

[doomedfob]

I'm gonna try this out tomorrow. I'm gonna try to buy a new cluster and see how that works. I need to buy some more wire as well.

[doomedfob]

How would I get my gas gauge working?

the cool thing is that if it is the sending unit. ours are old school and work like a potentiometer and theres a little needle that wears a groove into the unit. usually you can bend the needle so it rubs on a different spot and voila. brand new sending unit.

Do you have any pictures for this?

[compactfean]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37h9xjRdKn0

[doomedfob]

oh goody thank you. Oh Im gonna be working on this for a while..

[compactfean]

If you do pull the sending unit, make sure to stick that gasket in the freezer. Otherwise it will expand and can't be reused. Where I live none of the parts stores cary that stupid thing...dealer only.

[compactfean]

so this is an example of what to check on the cluster. black is ground and notice how it t's off and goes up? it is the ground for the speedo and fuel gauge which is yellow and black wire which is the ground wire that goes all the way back to the speed sensor. but it also continues to the far left plug to the black ground wire. so if ground is good than go to the next step. red is power. every bulb and screw it touches it powers it. that goes back to the far left plug whitch is the green wire. when looking at the wireing diagram it then goes to a 10 amp fuse located by clutch pedal. this should have 12v with key on and can be checked at the screws as well.
orange that i have in the pic is the fuel meter. that bolt is what you would ground to see if the fuel gauge works.
yellow- is the speedo signal from speed sensor. be aware that the color of the wire is yellow/blue but on the wiring diagram it says y/l.... maybe it means light blue?
green- is the converted signal that the ecu uses. this goes to the yellow/green wire. if you have a tuned ecu with launch control then this wire must be hooked up to ecu speed input.

[compactfean]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05lFAKN9uy4
for those of you wanting to go aftermarket that doesn't use a jdm signal like pivot,apexi etc. this is the tach adapter you need. also for shift lights. almost all American tachs work with the signal coming from this adapter

also if you have a jdm cluster here is a link for converting kph to mph. and voila 180 mph speedo

http://www.zeroyon.com/index/content/view/20/47/

[doomedfob]

Hmm.. I'm assuming my clusters just screwed up then. I checked all my fuses for the lights but still :/

[compactfean]

Did you check voltage at the screws? And how about continuity for the ground at the screws? It is possible that the PCB is shorted somewhere.

[doomedfob]

So I'm getting about 12 volts for the tam when ign is on and tp is 4vs. None of the other screws have volts in em. When ign on and checking ohms I get 13 on tp, 0 on ground with .001 at times , tm gets .10, tam gets o/l, and tp, the screws with the Japanese characters one of the left that doesn't have a + gets 0 while the one with plus gets .20, the screw under them get 0, and finally the fm
Screw
Gets
.003 and the other two get 0

I'm somewhat confused on checking continuity sorry! but what i did was check ohms from the gnd screw to all the other screws and thats what I got

How do I ground something? :/ im slightly confused. I want to check my fuel gauge.

[compactfean]

Thats your problem....your not getting power. Check the green wire for voltage. That's what gives your gauges power so they can work. If the green wire has power let me know and I have a solution for you. If it doesn't than simply cut the green wire and run a 12v ign power to it.

[compactfean]

your on the right track. when you put your dvom on ohms. and stick your black lead to ground (anything metal to chassis) and positive to lets say the ground wire for your cluster. if it show 0 or .002 that means there is no resistance and the ground is good. on the other hand you test your temp sensor signal and get 13 ohms that means there is some resistance between the temp sensor signal and ground but thats how the temp sensor works. if you take a wire and connect it straight to the temp signal on the cluster and then ground the wire straight to the chassis the gauge will max out because instead of using the resistance of the sensor, your bypassing it causing more continuity (continious flow) which makes the gauge go up. thats how the fuel gauge works also. less resistance the fuller the tank. more resistance (lets say 500 ohms) the less you have in the tank. if you take a wire and connect it to lets say the "FM" screw and then run the other end of the wire to a bolt on the chassis then the gauge should peg,IF YOU HAVE POWER AND GROUND TO THE GAUGES. if you have ever installed aftermarket gauges you know there is power, ground, and signal for it to work. the stock gauges are the same.

[compactfean]

so for example looking at your ohm readout. if you used your dvom with ground to chassis when testing everything fm has .003 ohms than you have a full tank of gas at this moment.

[doomedfob]

Its working! I only had to split my stereo 12v in. ahh... thank you so much.

[compactfean]

Hmmm shouldahadav8 had the same exact problem. Makes me wonder what the low down. Is with this damned green wire issue. Maybe the fuse box shorts out. Idk. Good job man!

[compactfean]

Bump for poneyrunner

[S133P3R]

Thanks for bumping this lol. My damn speedo suddenly jumped to the maximum right turn past 115 and has been acting a damn fool for the past 3 days. Using a gps for a speedo sucks balls.
Is it hard to get the dash off?

[compactfean]

The dash or the cluster? Cluster is way easier.

[S133P3R]

if it's not the speed sensor or the Lower harness I'll have to pull the cluster out and test the leads. Does the dash have to be removed to get the cluster out?

[compactfean]

No, remove the knee panel under the steering wheel, unbolt the steering column (only 2 bolts), plastic around steering column, plastic that holds your hazard button and what not (this plastic piece is why you must lower the column or you will break it trying to get it out.) And finally the cluster. Do not pull the cluster with the key on......., I've heard of people shorting out the printed circuit board.