# Tachometer: Is it true?



## Guest (Nov 8, 2002)

My Nissan Xe 94 do not have any tachometer... I am driving those sentras for the last 5 years, and I am pretty confortable with the "sounds" of the motor... However, I would like to have a more precise RPM info...

Now, I ask my Nissan Dealer what they think about that, and someone there told me that it MAY cause a lot of problem to a motor to install a new tachometer in it... Problem like the motor not starting up...blablabla... 

It this true? A friend of mine told me it was bullshit...

Any comments?


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## Zexel (May 15, 2002)

I think it's bullshit. I did my own tach exactly a week ago and my car is running fine. I have a 91 XE. It was kind of a bitch to put it, but damn does it work!


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## phil_minchoff (Oct 29, 2002)

I'd definitely call bullshit on that one. I have a 94 with no tach as well, and although I know the gearing and speed and sound and shifting wasn't a problem, I still wanted a tach. I bought an autogage monster tach, hooked it up myself and haven't had a single problem with it. Its all good.


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## Guest (Nov 8, 2002)

Well, it's nice to know! So I'll buy one soon..

Now, for a complete newbie in cars mod, can you tell me if this is a complicated procedure? There is tons of tach that are sold, some of them seem to be very complicated to installed.

I'm just looking for a tach EASY to install, that will show me the RPM of my engine!  Any suggestions?  

Thanks for all your help!!!


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## Guest (Nov 8, 2002)

I don't know if they make them for a Sentra, but I've seen some 240SX's with Tachometer, Turbo, and Clocks on the drivers door pillar...


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## Zexel (May 15, 2002)

b-dyche - They're called A-piller gauge cups. Yeah, they only make them for B14's...it's gay!

dee-jays - Autometer is great. 4 wires to hook up even though it's easy, it's still very time consuming. Mine took me 4 hours, but then again we had to test all the wires, then take them apart and solder and figure out a way to run the wires. I also had my dash totally out because I like where I put mine. If you don't want to do it yourself or don't have any time, take it somewhere and tell them where to mount it. I ran my wires to...

Light source - Clock in dash bezel. Always hot and lights up when you turn on your lights

12v source - Airbag fuse. I just wrapped the wire around a fuse tip and plugged the fuse in. Works fine for now.

Ignition Coil - Simple enough. Run to Neg. side of Ing. Coil

Battery - Ran to Pos. side of battery. Also, since I had my dash totally out, I ran my 2 wires to the Battery and Ign. Coil through the firewall w/ my speedo cable. Works fine. I think the AirBag fuse was the hardest part...and finding which wires were always hot and which ones became hot etc. If you need anything else just let me know!


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

Since you'll end up asking this when you get one anyways, here's the wires you need to hook up your tach. Your tach will have 5 wires if it is backlit. Run the positive wire to an ignition on, positive source, that way it only works when the car is on. Ground the ground wire (obviously), find the blue wire with a black stripe coming out of your ECU and connect your tach sensing wire to this. For your backlight on the tach, pull your dimmer switch out of the dash and connect the backlight's positive wire to the dimmer's red wire with a blue stripe, and the backlight's ground wire to the dimmer's red wire with a yellow stripe. Your tack will only come one when the car is on, it will light up when you have your lights on, and it will dim with the dimmer control along with your other dash lights. If you have any questions drop me a PM or E-mail.


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## OPIUM (Aug 18, 2002)

Zexel said:


> *b-dyche - They're called A-piller gauge cups. Yeah, they only make them for B14's...it's gay!*


No, they make them for B13's as well. Here's mine:



















I got it from http://www.gaugepods.com 

And installing a tach won't mess up your ride. I call BS on them cause they felt like fuckin with someone or something. Who knows....


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## Zexel (May 15, 2002)

Oh...my bad. I've never seen them on a B13.


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## phil_minchoff (Oct 29, 2002)

I'm still agreeing with all the above, and I really like those gauge pods for the B13. But as far as installation time, I was able to get my tach installed and wired in about an hour. It all depends on how you run the wires, where you run them to, and your knowledge of the ignition coil. If you know how to run wires through your fuse box, its an easy way to get 3 of them out of the way- its right under the dimmer switch, and if you install a tach say on the A-pillar (where I put mine), that means you only have to run the wires about what, a foot? Running the wire to the ignition coil is the only place that took the most time. For starters, I hope you have a hole in your firewall, that will save you a lot of time. Once you do, locate the coil, its between the valve cover and the intake manifold (driver side). When you do, you'll notice it has neither terminals nor a box design with a negitive hookup. You have to 1) cut away the black casing going into the top of the coil. Once you do, 2) you'll find two wires, positive and negitive. This is where the fun comes in, on my car, one wire was black w/ red stripe, other was green w/ yellow stripe. Believe it or not, the green/yellow is the negitive wire. Take your wire from the tach and tap into (do not cut) the green wire, connect them the best and safest way you can, protect them from the elements, and you should be in business.


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## Zexel (May 15, 2002)

Yeah, that's why mine took forever. I think I wouldn't like it anywhere else than where it is. I ran a lot of my wires the hard way I think. Because I had to "Tips of the trade" there to help.


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

toolapcfan said:


> *Since you'll end up asking this when you get one anyways, here's the wires you need to hook up your tach. Your tach will have 5 wires if it is backlit. Run the positive wire to an ignition on, positive source, that way it only works when the car is on. Ground the ground wire (obviously), find the blue wire with a black stripe coming out of your ECU and connect your tach sensing wire to this. For your backlight on the tach, pull your dimmer switch out of the dash and connect the backlight's positive wire to the dimmer's red wire with a blue stripe, and the backlight's ground wire to the dimmer's red wire with a yellow stripe. Your tack will only come one when the car is on, it will light up when you have your lights on, and it will dim with the dimmer control along with your other dash lights. If you have any questions drop me a PM or E-mail. *


Ummm... ok ok.... so if i connect the "Blue_Black-stripe" cable to an aftermarket tach. it will work? wasn't it the cable for the OEM Tach? or was it the "Blue_White-stripe" ?


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## nstalr01 (Jul 21, 2002)

Ractive has a 3 3/4in color changing tach that works on 4,6,or8 cylinders bya flip of a switch. it is also very easy to install. there is an ignition wire,tach wire, and ground.


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

Sergio, since you're installing an OEM cluster, I'd be sure to use the blue with a black stripe since that's what they would have used OEM if your car had one installed at the factory. Let's say you weren't installing an OEM, but an aftermarket tach, you would still want to use the Blue with a black stripe. 

On a side note, why do you guys keep talking about running wires to the coil? Not to be a dick, but I'm trying to help this guy get his OEM cluster installed in an OEM manner. Drilling holes through the firewall and connecting the tach wire to the coil is far from OEM and certainly not anyone's first choice for installing any tach, OEM or aftermarket. 

Another side note, if for any reason you ever need to run wires through the firewall, the way I recommend is to poke a hole in the big rubber grommet where all your wiring runs through to the engine compartment. It all comes out of that hole next to your battery. It's a PITA to fish the wiring through there, but it's probably the best way to do it IMHO. That's how I ran a piece of 4 gauge to my stereo amps.


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

toolapcfan said:


> *Sergio, since you're installing an OEM cluster, I'd be sure to use the blue with a black stripe since that's what they would have used OEM if your car had one installed at the factory. Let's say you weren't installing an OEM, but an aftermarket tach, you would still want to use the Blue with a black stripe.
> *


Ok... so what the "blue-White-stripe" cable does? is it like the same for the blue_black-stripe with more voltage or something?


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

> Ok... so what the "blue-White-stripe" cable does? is it like the same for the blue_black-stripe with more voltage or something?


Something like that. I've never checked the voltage on either wire. The Blue/White wire is what goes from the coil to the ECU, and the Blue/Black is what comes out of the ECU that goes to the OEM tach.


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

toolapcfan said:


> *Something like that. I've never checked the voltage on either wire. The Blue/White wire is what goes from the coil to the ECU, and the Blue/Black is what comes out of the ECU that goes to the OEM tach. *


Ok... looks like i'll have to find the Blue/Black wire from the ECU instead of using the one i already have wired in the harness... funny that it came with the wrong cable pre-wired instead of the one that actually works...


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