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A general question about gauge clusters...

L

Letsride

CEG'er
Joined
Jan 10, 2009
Messages
38
I have a 98 L4 Gl without tach. Can the V6 clusters with the tach be used or does it have to be one from a 4 cylinder? I searched and see there is a lot of info about the SVT clusters but none about the regular V6 clusters being swapped.
 
search for a post by me or, IIRC, zorrex about using the V6 clulster in a zetec car. it can be done but needs some slight modification.
 
Quick update on this. I found a cluster out of a 97 Mystique and the conversion was plug and play. It is important to match the engine with the right cluster and to make sure the harness in the car is the same as the donor.

Hope this helps someone in the future. I'll add pics of what you need to look for in the harness later.
 
Yep, all Mystiques GS or LS, auto or manual came with a tach. Just match the year and engine. In your case the year difference was luck, because if your car was a 98.5+ (still technically a 98), you wouldn't be able to use that 97 cluster.
 
Well it is also important to check your harness to see if the tach wire is present. I looked in about 8 cars (4 bangers) and 5 of them did not have the tach wire in the harness...(regular contours from 97 to 00).

To the poster above....yes that gauge will work for you. Worst case is that you do not have the tach wire in your harness but its an easy fix. All you would need to do is pick up the tach signal from the computer.
 
All computers have a tach signal. Never a need to "run" a tach signal. My completely base model Contour has a V6 cluster powering a tach as we speak. Custom, yes that will work, even if it IS a V6. If it happens to be a V6, send a PM to striker or me and we can fix the situation :cool:
 
Zorrex you are totally missing my point. Not all cars have the tach WIRE in the cluster harness. Yes all computers have a tach signal and that is why if the wire is not in the harness you have to add it and get the signal from the computer.
 
zorrex said:
All computers have a tach signal. Never a need to "run" a tach signal. My completely base model Contour has a V6 cluster powering a tach as we speak. Custom, yes that will work, even if it IS a V6. If it happens to be a V6, send a PM to striker or me and we can fix the situation :cool:
Click to expand...

Thanks. I was looking to get the I4 cluster just because i did not want a big v6 badge in the middle of my cluster when i don't have close to that kind of power. :laugh:
 
Letsride said:
Zorrex you are totally missing my point. Not all cars have the tach WIRE in the cluster harness. Yes all computers have a tach signal and that is why if the wire is not in the harness you have to add it and get the signal from the computer.
Click to expand...

What I'm saying is that I'm pretty sure it is in ALL cars. I don't believe there is a differentiation in the wiring harnesses between a Mystique and a Contour with the SAME options and Zetec. Said Mystique will have tach, said Contour WON'T. I have yet to hear or anyone running a tach signal, hence why I am sure that ALL late 95-98 clusters are intercompatible, and ALL 98.5-00 clusters are intercompatible (save for SVT's, which utilize a different speedometer).
 
if worst comes to worst(that being you can't find a cluster) you could always buy an after market tach like the rice burners do,of course they leave the stock tach hooked up as well, so redundancy comes to mind here lol
 
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