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Instrument Cluster Swap


dayoff53

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This is largely a cut-and-paste from a reply I posted in the general discussion group. Many of you have already done this swap, but for those considering it, I am posting some of my experiences.

If you want to add a tachometer to your instrument cluster, you can swap your current cluster for one from a Toyota truck that had a tach. You can use a cluster from a 4Runner of the same era, but will find that you lose the transmission gear indicator lights, as the 4Runner had a floor shifter and the indicators in a separate unit. So, you can get an instrument cluster out of a T100 (I used a 1995), but you have to make sure it has a mechanical speedometer connection rather than an electronic one. You will lose the ECT "Power" indicator light, but that is a very minor inconvenience, as you can visually and by feel tell the position of the ECT switch.

To remove the instrument cluster, you start by removing the lower left dash - one bolt at the bottom left corner and 4 screws - disconnect the dimmer switch and maybe the speaker. Pop off the cover around the ignition switch - it just pulls right off. Remove the plate around the heater/air conditioner controls - pull the four knobs, then carefully pry the plate from the right side and pull to the right, as it has tabs that hold it under on the left side. The a/c switch will come with it. Remove the upper left dash - one screw at the upper right of the a/c switch cover you just removed, two at the top of the instrument cluster, two more (I think) somewhere - I'm writing this from memory. There are two more electrical connections to unplug and you will have to move the transmission lever down into 1st gear, which means you have to turn on the ignition and hold the brake in. Then carefully pull it out from around the instrument cluster and from under the upper dash board - there are a couple clips that hold it in, but it is not very fragile. Finally, remove the four screws that hold the instrument cluster in and pull it out enough to unplug the 4 electrical connectors and the speedo cable. As to the latter, once you find the right place to push (toward the back end of the protrusion on one "side" of the housing), it comes off pretty easily.

With the help of my brother, I just finished an instrument cluster swap on my 1992 Winnebago Warrior. For the sake of others who do this and start at the same level of ignorance as I, here's what I found out.

You MUST swap the oil pressure sender on the block - the original sender is just an on/off switch and will not work with the new gauge. I have read, in fact, that it will burn it up. There was no problem swapping the oil pressure senders (we got ours from the same donor T100 as we took the instrument cluster from) except that the electrical pig tail didn't fit the new sender, so we cut the boot off of it and remodeled the connector a little so it would stay on, then we used some butyl sealant to replace the function on the boot. To get at the sender, you will have to remove the fan belt and swing the alternator out of the way.

We DID reset the odometer to the correct mileage. This was a lot of work and required a great deal of care and patience. It was painful, too, as I had to add about 10,000 miles to the donor odo to get to the 32k on my Toy. To do this, we used a punch to carefully open up the crimped "horns" that held the odo axle and we were able to remove the unit from speedo assembly. With some playing around, I was able to figure out how to adjust the wheels, which I did one at a a time starting with the left most wheel. I won't try to explain how it is done in detail, because you really just need to play with it. Basically, though, you need to hold the little tabs in a straight line while you turn the wheel to the right of the one you are trying to adjust. Turn that wheel back and forth through it's entire travel and it will advance the one to the left one digit for each cycle. When you get to the 1 mile digit, you adjust it using the far right wheel, which has no numbers on it but would be the 1/10th mile wheel if it showed tenths. Since it does not show tenths, I set the odo to the next whole mile above the mileage on my original odometer. Then, you have to put the whole thing back together, praying you don't break off those "horns" as you again crimp them around the axle.

With the odometer put back together (and, BTW, mine reads PERFECTLY correct - in 31 miles, the 1/10 mile digit was not perceptibly off AT ALL), it was then just a matter of installing the instrument cluster in the dash... or so you would think.

Turns out the tach was erratic as all get out and registered way high once we got it all put back together. If others have similar problems, here's what I found out: When we used a diagnostic tach (plugged in to the spade connector designed for that purpose right next to the fuse box under the hood), the tach in the instrument cluster worked fine. Using the screw on the potentiometer(accesible through the face of the tachometer - you may have to bend it up a tad to get a little screwdriver on it), we could get it adjusted correctly. Then, we would put the dash back together... and the tach would be way off and jumping around all over the place. We tried removing the small add-on printed circuit board (rectangular with 3 leads coming from it and attached to the main circuit board for the instrument cluster - not all instrument clusters with tachs will have this), but the results were the same. Finally, we realized that unplugging the diagnostic tach is what caused it to go haywire, so we scratched our heads and tried to figure out why. Finally, we checked what the diagnostic tach was doing electrically and found that there was about 1434 ohms of resistance between the pulse lead and the negative terminal of the battery. We then checked the add-on pc board and found the same 1434 ohms or resistance between the black wire and the light colored wire. Sooo.... we put that little pc board back on the instrument cluster but connected only those 2 wires, attaching the black wire to its original terminal, but attaching the light colored wire to the "P" (for pulse) terminal. Ta Da! It worked like a charm! The tach is now very steady and reads correctly at all RPMs.

There is no indicator light for the "Power" setting of the ECT. Here is a work-around I haven't actually tried: The "new" instrument cluster has a "4WD" light that is not being used. I should be able to figure out what lead was designed for the "Power" indicator and pull it from the connecter it is in and replace the "4WD" lead with that one. Then, when I put the ECT in Power mode, the "4WD" light should come on. I probably won't take it apart again to do this, but if anybody does and it works, let me know!

As to the speedometer - we had to pull the needle off to set the odometer and we had to experiment to get it set correctly. Every time we would put it where we wanted it, when we pushed it on to the shaft, it ended up too low. BE CAREFUL removing the needle, BTW - pry carefully with two small flat blade screw drivers so as not to bend or break the shaft. With the needle set just below the "0" mark, my speedo registers within 1 mph at speeds from 20 to 50 - close enough for me!

Finally, the temperature gauge works differently from my original. The original generally set at about 1/3 or the range of the gauge and would crawl up to the middle or just a hair above on the longest, hardest uphill pulls. The "new" one sit just about dead center when the engine is warmed up and doesn't move more than about a hair's breadth on the nastiest long climbs. I am convinced that it is working, but it sure isn't giving much information. I only hope that it will climb up if there is ever any serious overheating.

That's it! My "new" instrument cluster looks and functions beautifully. Good luck with yours!

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  • 6 years later...

Rolling the odometer to correct reading was very tricky but can be done, just make sure you first take close up pictures before you disassemble the odometer if you choose to do that part of it.

If you solder these two connectors together 4WD will then light when ECT button is pressed.

IMG_0453.JPG.3ea08ee307c13fc3d4c6d621d2824a0e.JPG

Take it one step further and open the front of the instrument panel, cut out 4WD, tape in ECT in its place, and you now have your ECT light back.

IMG_0452.JPG.8861bca7643b799642ff584609f41b2b.JPG

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Nice! Thanks for the above posts.

Turns out I just did the t100 cluster swap and had the jumpy tach needle as well.  I didn't adjust the potent., I just turned the key on and then readjusted the needle back down to 0.  I will move the light colored wire (yellow) to the P terminal and see if that fixes the jumpiness.

Good to know I can get the ect power button back by shorting the above 2 connectors, but notice one leads to the airbag light, not the 4wd light, which is on the other side.  So it looks like the airbag light will light up when the ect button is pressed, not the 4wd light??

You also lose the hazard light with the t100 cluster swap, but you do have the prndl lights which are not on the 4runner cluster.  Am also replacing the cluster lights with led t10 194 and t5  74 green LEDs.  Will post pic when done.

Thanks for the tip!

IMG_20180117_005911593.jpg

IMG_20180117_005920783.jpg

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To replace the v6 oil pressure sender, the electrical connectors don't match as described above. From the yotatech site thread, I ordered a connector and a pin as described below.  It's underneath the alternator, Was able to get the old switch sender off with a 1 1/16   6 point sender socket from underneath with an extension, but it's tight and may have been easier to swing the alternator out of the way from the top as described above. The new sender (for the gauge) I got online, non oem.

Delphi autom. Connectors.

Connector  829-02962965-B

Pin     829-02977112

I ordered from Mouser.com, good customer service.

These are supposed to work, with slight modification, for the elect connection, per the 10 page yotatech thread.

 

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Hmmmmm,

You are probably right. It was quite awhile since I did it. Maybe it was the air bag light and not 4WD that will light after the solder jumper is done. I dont think I lost my hazard lights with the new instrument cluster. Not sure what you meant by that?

Ed

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Just finished the swap today.  Yes, after the solder jump, the airbag light becomes the ect light. I had a spare ect plastic cover plate from the old cluster that I used so looks and works great now!  Thanks for the tip.  My dash brake light is now on and won't go off, but I don't think it's related to the t100 new cluster.

I put green led lights in which are brighter but the two lower small gauges on each side are dimmer than the rest. Led lights with lights on the sides and top work better than the ones I got with the lights just on the top, due to location and shapes of plastic reflectors inside the cluster.

Moving the yellow wire to the P cluster terminal fixed the shaky tach needle also as described above.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The e Brake dash light WAS due to the T100 cluster. The yellow wire connector does go to the P cluster connector.  I had left the red wire connected which is what made the brake light always on.

Still gotta install the oil pressure gage. Trying to reach from below.

New cluster with green led lights will post shortly

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  • 2 months later...

did you guys have to add any tach signal wire to your clusters? i just swapped in a cluster from a 94 T100 but am getting nothing from the tach, note I also swapped out my motor to a 3.4L

note sure if my 92 was wired for a tach from the factory or not

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I did not have to add a tach wire, mine just worked when the cluster was plugged in. My engine is the 3.0 though, not the 3.4. should be able to add the tach wire to make it work though. You might check yotatech, I'll bet someone has done it with the 3.4..      Who did your swap? 

I've installed the oil pressure sensor when I changed out the radiator. It's all working great, have od, ect power lights and all gauges working.

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My 92 ITASCA had a mechanical speedometer and the tach worked without a wire added when it had the 3.0 motor and when i upgraded to the 3.4.

I only had to plug in the new cluster, pull off the tach needle and reset it to 0, and then adjust the POT to eliminate the shaky needle.

Ed

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  • 10 months later...

I have been reading through this topic for a few days and I have read a few other similar swaps on the internet.  I will do this swap as well so I can get the tac and trip meter.  I found an cluster on Ebay and it should be here by next week for the swap.  Would any body know the exact part number or model of the oil pressure sensor to get the reading on the oil guage?  I would like to do it all in one shot.

Thank you in advance.

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Make sure it's a t5 automatic cable speedo cluster as you'll lose your prndl with the 4runner sr5 cluster.

Go with an oem oil sender from toyota. It reads nice and high. My non oem sender from RA failed after 1 year. It read low and then one day went from zero to pressure and vice v while driving. Very disconcerting. Oe m is more expensive but worth it. I spliced in a new snap on connector i got online, fit perfect. Will see if I can find the part numbers. It's tough to reach the sender on my v6. Got it hand tight then another gradual turn with an open end wrench, 14 mm i think, used the white plummers tape on threads. 

It's above the round oil cooler in my v6. Maybe should have swung the alternator up out of the way. Gotta tighten the belt today, as I put on a new one, so I'll look to see if I can tighten some more.

Adding an outside thermometer this week with an "add a fuse circuit" to the cig lighter fuse.

Put a switch on my bu camera so I can turn on anytime. Tapped into the map/dome light.

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6 hours ago, Grung2U said:

Would any body know the exact part number or model of the oil pressure sensor to get the reading on the oil gauge? 

Referring to Rock Auto (with Gauge):-

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/toyota,1991,pickup,3.0l+v6,1277872,electrical-switch+&+relay,oil+pressure+sender+/+switch,4588

It appears this would be what you want:-

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=488646&cc=1277872

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Here's what worked for me.

Connector from eBay below.

83520-34010 oil sender about $65 from an online Toyota dealer.

The BA from RA is only $25, but lasted 13 months before it went bad and read low and fluctuated. Of course the RA warranty was 12 months!

Don't forget to disconnect the old dummy light switch BEFORE you connect the new gage, or you might fry and peg the new clusters oil gage.

 

Screenshot_20190227-074742.png

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Perfect!!! Thank you guys so very much. This is just what I needed. As for the cluster,  I made the mistake of getting the 4runner initially because I was excited and it was $60. I realized it after reading a few more post. So I went ahead and got the T100 cluster with the gear display from Ebay for $80. After it's all done, I'll have to put the 4runner cluster back up for sale.

I'll be ordering the oil switch tonight.

 

Cheers.

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Your welcome!  Glad to help.

Again, mine is the V6 engine. Make sure the t100 cluster you purchased is cable driven if that's what you have already.

My cable is starting to make noise and is jumpy sometimes. Would have been a good time to lube it with the cluster off.

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 hey all, i would very much like to do this cluster swap in my 92 winnie. i think with all your great posts with great info i can do this. just need to know if anyone has a good, reliable source for a cluster? any comments, advice or help with this is greatly appreciated. winnie comes out of storage april first. i would like to do this asap, hopefully before i hit the road this season. thanks again. joe from dover.

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Got mine from eBay. T 100 cluster has the prndl if an automatic. Make sure it's a cable speedo if yours is. Could also try a pick and pull. Will lose your ect light unless you do some minor soldering  and transplant an ect label as described above. Gotta match the odometers; check out YouTube.

Also YouTube videos on dash removal as well.  check out yotatech also if questions aren't answered above, many there have done this.

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There are lots of clusters on Ebay, both cable speedo and electric. All are very reasonably priced. OfferUp also has them too. I got my 4runner cluster from OfferUp and the T100 cluster from Ebay. 

If you do not care for the prndl, I'll sell you the extra cluster I have off of a 4runner. I was gonna list it anyway. 

I will be tackling this project next weekend, after my oil sensor arrives.

Good hunting.

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grung2u, thanks for the offer, i do wish to have the prndl with the cluster. i will look for one with the info provided. thanks to all for the replies. joe from dover.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the new cluster in without a hitch.  It was straight forward and easy, probable could be done in about 30 minutes but it took me about an hour because I did it in the dark.  The more difficult part was to remove and replace the oil pressure switch... really tight space.

While I was in there, I did the oil/filter and transmission fluid as well.  I just purchased the RV a few months ago but I know it was parked for three years based on the registration.

HOWEVER, my tachometer does not work when I fired it up.  It does not even budge.  I'll do some more research and work on it this weekend.  Any thoughts on what to do or where to look?  I have read something about adding a wire from the coil to the back of the tach but I am not certain.  When I open it back up, I'll have to replace the bulb behind the Park and Drive as well since they are not working.

Any advice is welcomed.

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11 hours ago, Grung2U said:

my tachometer does not work when I fired it up

There are a few things you may have to deal with to get the tach working.  You probably need to feed it a signal from the coil.  I spliced into a coil wire (green one I think, I can send a picture if you need to do this electrical mod) to run my add-on external tach. You have to find the spot to feed this into your tach (see links below).  However, there are other important considerations to consider:  did your instrument cluster come from a 6 banger or a 4 banger? If anything other than 4 (I'm assuming you are 4 cylinder?) then you will likely need to do additional resistor mods to get it to read correctly. I'm assuming 6?  If you are going 4 to 4 then you probably just need to run the tach wire to the appropriate spot on the cluster.   If it was 6 then it might be more complicated as it will likely require a change in a resister to scale the tach signal correctly.  There is also a small adjustable pot on the back to adjust the setting from 4cylinder to 6cylinder.  Hopefully you have enough info on the donor vehicle to figure this out.  Best info is over on yotatech, here are some links to get you started:    

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f160/sr5-gauge-swap-tach-not-working-252406/

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f160/tach-mod-questions-271752/

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/89-pickup-instrument-cluster-swap-2482/

Now, perhaps you can help me with an instrument cluster question related to this comment:

11 hours ago, Grung2U said:

I'll have to replace the bulb behind the Park and Drive as well since they are not working

I need to pull my instrument cluster in my '87 22re because I've got some burned out bulbs.  I'd  like to know if it is straight forward to get to the bulbs or if I need to be prepared for something more complex.  Once the front piece of the dash is off and the four screws holding the cluster in place are out, I'm under the impression that the tricky part is getting the speedo cable (mine is mechanical I believe) and the electrical connectors off.  Any hints on this process if I'm just replacing bulbs?  Also, I bought a batch of 194 bulbs but I was wondering if there is more than one bulb type.  I think some later ones have "T5/74" type bulbs in addition to the 194's but I couldn't find a definitive answer on this.  I'd like to avoid having the dash all apart while I go source extra bulbs once I get in there...

Oh, and one last thing, did you swap your odometer from the old one to the new one?  Apparently this is possible if they match up on your old and new clusters.  

Edited by AtlantaCamper
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7 hours ago, AtlantaCamper said:

 

Oh, and one last thing, did you swap your odometer from the old one to the new one?  Apparently this is possible if they match up on your old and new clusters.  

The odometers are not compatible for swapping. That leaves you with three options.

1.  Leave as it is.

2. Have a tach shop set it. They charged my friend Tim $60.

3. Set it yourself which is not that simple. Bend the tabs on the side of the odometer so you can slide out the horizontal pin holding the dials in place. Spin the dials back and forth until they are where you want them. Re-assemble. The first one I did I had to look at an assembled one to figure out how to get it back together. The second one I did I took close up pictures with my phone before I took it apart for reference.

Ed

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Bulbs very easy to remove and replace, just half twist and remove. It looks like there are 2 different bulb sizes; larger ones for the background light and small ones for indicators.

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With a small screwdriver between the rollers lever them over one at a time with a twist of the screwdriver set each to what you want. Test your skills with the old one. Don't ask how I know this. Decades ago in the auction bizz there was a guy that frequented the auctions I still remember his name, Mario Leak he could lay under a dash and reset speedos never would let anyone watch I still don't know how he did it. Maybe a hypersonic drill motor going backwards!

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A quick update here.  I removed my stock instrument cluster from my '87 22re EFI with auto (a boring non-tach cluster).  It has 12 bulbs, all the same size.  The "194" bulbs fit in all of the twist out sockets in this cluster.  I fixed my two burnt out bulbs (including the reasonably important "brake" indicator) and got it all put back together in less than an hour. I did find a little tip to make it easier to remove the mechanical speedometer connector in the back.  On the engine side of the firewall the mechanical speedo cable is held by a few metal clips.  I removed the cable from these clips in the engine bay and this gave me enough slack to pull the cluster forward out of the dash about 6 inches in the cab.  This made it much easier to reach back and unclip the speedo cable and three electrical connectors.  

 

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  • 1 month later...

Update:  Just got back from a kids spring break trip to the Grand Canyon.  I ran a wire from the coil to the "p" behind the  tach to get it working and it did but at twice the rate.  So, I adjusted it down using the little pot screw on the side of the tach with an open paperclip and verified with an independent electronic tach to be sure of the setting. All worked great... EXCEPT... even after new bulbs, the "P" and "D" does not light up when parked or in drive.  I tried to wire it to neutral and L2 respectively but both light would come on so that will not be practical.

Does anyone have any idea as to how to get the "P" and "D" lights to light up?

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Trace which pin connection on which connector PARK comes into the cluster. Pull that connector off,  turn key to on, see if 12 volts is present on that pin. That will tell you if the issue for sure is in the cluster or somewhere else. You should reference a schematic. I or someone could post it if needed.

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hey there ednelson, if you could post a schematic it would be appreciated very much. after months of searching on ebay, i found a cluster that meets all the requirements . the condition and price was very acceptable. it should be in my hands may 10th. i have a friend that has vast experience with automotive wiring who is willing to do the swap. he would no doubt welcome a schematic for reference purposes. thanks to all who posted here with the detailed information for completing the swap. i am excited to have this project completed. i will post again when it is finished. thanks again to all. joe from dover.

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Here

On 5/4/2019 at 9:54 AM, hunkaman said:

if you could post a schematic it would be appreciated very much.

This is from 1995 T100 but all years are 97% the same for the clusters. For Grung2U on connector C12 Pin 1 (P for Park), It shows wire is Violet/Yellow going to that pin but the color could be different. Another way to test the Park light is put your old cluster back in, if P still lights up then something is wrong with your new cluster.

combw.pdf

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Yes, it all works perfect with the original cluster. I'll have to tear into it next weekend.   Thanks for the response. 

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thanks ednelson, i will print the schematic. have not begun to do the swap yet. i need to order the new oil sending unit that was mentioned in previous posts. thanks again ed. joe from dover

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