# 94 XE Gauge cluster swap



## Guest (Nov 1, 2002)

Yes I have done a search, no results..................

Ok I have a 94 Sentra XE and want to put a gauge cluster in that has a tach, I have the gauge cluster that i want to put in but i dont know how the wiring goes.

The plugs off the new gauges look the same as my old ones and my plugs in the car fit into the new cluster, but it is not right.

When i compare the plugs yes they are the same but the wires are in different parts of the plug.

Has anyone done this swap? i have found instructions on how to do it but not for my specific year, i do not have a speedo cable mine is electronic. so the instructions i have are pretty much useless.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanx
Damen


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2002)

i've done a cluster swap from my '91 XE to a GXE cluster...

I used the Haynes car repair book to rewire things around. The sockets are the same for both clusters, but the various wires aren't.

As for the digital vs. analog instruments, I have no clue if you can simply plug the signal wire in both types.. I would not think so, but hey, maybe Nissan ECUs can handle those!

You can also figure out many of the new wire locations. If you compare where all the connections end up on the old and new clusters, you can start replugging..


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

Hi, i'm waiting for my new cluster to arrive also.... take a look in this link: http://jsaxophone.freeservers.com/photo.html


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## Guest (Nov 4, 2002)

yea i have seen that too but it does not tell me where to put my wires in the plugs to get my new gauges to work.

i need like a wiring diagram or someting. haynes and chiltons does not help

i need the specific diagram that shows me where in the plug to put my wires and where to get the tach wire from in the car

like where do i "tap" into to get the tach reading


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

ok.... i found it.... take a look at the tach install document at the beggining. 

http://www.geocities.com/jsaxophone2000/


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## ScarCrow28 (May 14, 2002)

i breifly wanted to do such a swap but dont' want to sacrifice my accurate mileage numbers.

knowing how many miles are on my car is a good thing. i don't want it to lie and say its higher, or even lower then it actually is.

if you could swap that part out to the donor clustor, then i might reconsider......


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## samo (Apr 30, 2002)

You can roll the milage on the cluster by hand, but it takes a while... a long while.


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## ScarCrow28 (May 14, 2002)

samo said:


> *You can roll the milage on the cluster by hand, but it takes a while... a long while. *



lol

well then maybe i'll buy one, when ever i'm bored i'll start rolling it back, and eventually as i put more miles on my current one the two will meet and i can swap.

of couse i'm assuming i'd actually find one with more miles on it then my 145k. if the new one had less, then that methiod would get me nowher as usually put about 500 miles a week on my car. that would be a lot of turning.


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## Michael DeLoach (Apr 30, 2002)

To make sure you have the correct mileage is really pretty simple. When I did my swap I opened up both clusters and removed the speedos and put my original speedo in the new cluster and closed up back up. The speedo is held in with a couple of screws.


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## ScarCrow28 (May 14, 2002)

thats the answer i was looking for! i'm assuming you mean odometer, not speedo.

now your getting me excited about a guage swap again. but all that friggen work to take the dash apart........lol


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## Michael DeLoach (Apr 30, 2002)

The speedometer and odometer are one unit. The cluster swap is fairly easy. If you end up needing any assistance let me know.


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

*odometer*

Milleage? why dont you guys just pull out the odometer pin holding the numbers out and roll the numbers by hand?


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

I've heard they have a tamper indicator, so it's apparently not that simple Serg.


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## Adam (Apr 30, 2002)

http://www.nissanperformancemag.com/september99/tach.shtml


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

JHC! Who writes these things? I mean, my god, if you're going to do a write-up why wouldn't you do it right? This is worse than the Tsuru write up, which tells you that it's going to inform you as to what wires go where, but then, when you keep reading, what do you know? There's no info on the wiring, the whole purpose of the write up in my opinion. Any dipstick can figure out how to take out their headlights or their instrument cluster, it's figuring out the wiring that's important. As for this particular cluster swap write up, here's a synopsis for you: "Blah blah blah, bunch of worthless information, then, need to know the important stuff like what wires go where? Well here ya go, go buy a wiring diagram. Okay well, here's a pic of one wiring diagram, but not of the one that represents the one thats in your car." 

WTF?! Let's see, a person needs two wiring diagrams, one that represents their cluster wiring and one that represents the wiring for the cluster their putting in. So that you can make sure the right wires go where. I wouldn't trust it to chance, that just matching up colors is necessarily going to work. It might but I'm not willing to take that chance myself. 



> i need the specific diagram that shows me where in the plug to put my wires


Exactly, and that write-up is worthless in that regard. I apologize Damen 78, but I don't have a scanner to scan you the proper pages from my FSM, and it would take a decent amount of time for me to read through the wiring diagrams and tell you exactly what wire from your existing wiring goes where on the new cluster. Time that I can't afford to spend right now. 

I'm sorry for going off like this, but I am sick of shitty write ups on this stuff. Doesn't anyone proofread this crap before it get's archived in the magazine? It might as well not even be there, as worthless as it is. I'd gladly do a proper write-up on it but I really don't have time. If I was doing the swap myself, yes, I'd make time to do it since I'd need the info myself to do the swap.


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## Adam (Apr 30, 2002)

You have to realize that was written back in 1999, in the infancy of SOLM, there wasn't any other information at the time, so of course it's not going to be as good as one written now. Hell I don't think we even had the forums at that time, we switched to b15sentra.net's forums shortly after so this guy had to do everything on his own, with nobody to ask questions of.


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

toolapcfan said:


> *JHC! Who writes these things? I mean, my god, if you're going to do a write-up why wouldn't you do it right? This is worse than the Tsuru write up, which tells you that it's going to inform you as to what wires go where, but then, when you keep reading, what do you know? There's no info on the wiring, the whole purpose of the write up in my opinion. Any dipstick can figure out how to take out their headlights or their instrument cluster, it's figuring out the wiring that's important. As for this particular cluster swap write up, here's a synopsis for you: "Blah blah blah, bunch of worthless information, then need to know the imoprtant stuff like what wires go where? Well here ya go, go buy a wiring diagram. Okay well, here's a pic of one wiring diagram, but not of the one that represents the one thats in your car."
> *


Yep. thats why i put this link: http://www.geocities.com/jsaxophone2000/ The Doc. in that page shows a detailed diagram where to put the cables and where the cable was in the TACH / NO TACH diagram.... and as far as i know this page was made by "1997 GA16DE" one of the users of this forum also... here's the link: 
1997 GA16DE 

I think that the info he has on the site it's right and very detailed.


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

It sounds like common sense to me, but, do you know how many people don't wire it like 1997 GA16DE did? They do a bunch of extra work soldering, splicing wires, or half assed with wire nuts and electrical tape (don't even get me started on the use of electrical tape, it's as bad as duct tape) when it's super easy to do like he did. I've yet to see a wire harness that doesn't come apart and Nissan makes it even easier than most. Even in the worst cases, using the same method, of depressing platic tabs or metal pins, you can back a wire and its terminal out of a harness socket. Swap your OEM, uncut wires into the right spots on the harnesses and connect and you're done. You'd still want to check to make sure the wiring is right, '97's could easily be different than '91-'94's. Having browsed my FSM wiring diagrams quite a bit, I can tell you that if a person has the wiring with their new cluster, merely swapping your wires from your harnesses into the right spots on the new harness, doing like 1997GA16DE did, everything will work perfect. Unless the cluster you bought to put in the car was of a different year, then you'd have to check wiring diagrams to be sure.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2002)

See I agree with tool........I have looked at every link every website and every picture i can find on this forum and any other sentra based forum even went to the damn nissan dealer here in 
Tucson and still nothing. 

Serg I really appreciate your help but i have seen the website and the pictures on how to remove the pins and his drawing of the cluster with what wire goes where and the colors but there is one problem our sentras are different years and his wires are not the same color as mine. 

See that is where i messed up real bad cause i printed his drawing (as detailed as it was) and it was really good. but i printed it out and went out to my baby and started the project friday afternoon. i took out the cluster and started removing the pins and wires from the plugs only to realize half way through that my wire colors were not matching up.

So here i am...........12 wires just hangin and no idea where th F*** they go. 

Basically here is what i do have workin Gauge lights, Turn Signals, and the clock thats it. so i am stuck right now untill i hear back from a couple guys on this forum that are here in tucson. 

I appreciate any and all help from you guys on here. I just wish i could find exactly what i am looking for and i cant so i am a little frustrated.

but thankyou guys

Greg


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

So Greg, you don't have the wire harnesses with the new cluster to compare to, or is the cluster from a different year sentra? I sent you a pm and an e-mail about this. Let me know. I can probably figure the rest out, but I need to know.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2002)

yea i sent you an email too 

i do have the wire with the new cluster but you will have to read your email heheheh its long

Greg


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

I replied to that e-mail, basically saying that tachless clusters have less wiring than tach clusters, so I don't get why you have leftovers. Give me the colors of the leftover wires, I'll look in my FSM for answers. BTW, know any Faber's down there in Tucson? If so they're my cousins.  Heh, I was down there for my cousins wedding, and drove halfway to Phoenix by myself trying to find some place called Westward Look or something like that in some guys dualie chevy that I didn't even know, and the thing didn't shift very well. Kinda scarey, but I turned around at the biosphere and made it back to my grandma's place. heh.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2002)

i replied to you again also basically they are not extras per say they are just ones where i dont know where they go cause i dont have anything to specify where to put them and i cant remember where they came from origanlly. and i have wires in thier origanall spots still but also cant remember which have been swapped and which have not. cause my dumbass did not label anything.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2002)

and i dont know any fabers i have only lived her for 3 yrs and i move around often cause i am in the military i am stationed at Davis_Monthan AFB.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2002)

Hey tool your pm mailbox is full buddy


Ummmmmm but what i wanted to ask you is

If i give you a list of all my wires (25 i think) can you tell me where they go and then i will look them up on the back of the cluster and put them in the corresponding plug slot. and also can you tell me what wire out of the ECU i tap into for the tach? i tapped into the one that 1997 ga16de had listed (blu/ora/silver spots) but it is not working or i got some other shit wrong.
and also 1997 ga16de said something about another ING wire need so splice into the original so you have 2 ING wires
on his document can you tell me if i need that and where it would go on the cluster??

let me know tool

thanks man
Greg


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## PrOxLaMuS© (Aug 11, 2002)

Thats also why I posted those exact instructions and a link to it about 1 month ago..... http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=7064

Same thing... but it has been posted


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

What makes it time consuming is that there isn't a single page where it shows all the wires going to the cluster. One page might show the cluster harnesses but only shows where a few wires go into it, so you have to hunt through other diagrams to find the rest. Although all these other links and pages help, none of them are exactly what a person needs to do the swap. Go ahead Greg and e-mail me the list of all the wire colors and I'll figure it out, but it'll take me some time. Then since the questionable part will be done, I'll write it all up so people won't have to go through all this garbage in the future, well at least people swapping into a B13.


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2002)

Well its not the length that bothers me if its long but helps me then i am happy yea pro you are right it is for a B13 but.........you have to understand it does not apply to MY B13 because if YOU go and look at the link that YOU supplied and keep pushing even though i said it dont help it is for a 91/92 sentra which has a speedo CABLE..... my SPEEDO IS ELECTRONIC and i think i have stated that a few times now. i do appreciate the help 
pro but when i say it does not work then please belive me that IT DOES NOT WORK. and my capital words do not insinuate yelling by any means i am just trying to get my point across. ok and he does not even do a good job on the write up. his links to drawings suck because his drawings show nothing helpful.






Thank you Rob,,, I will get them all written down tonightand sent to you. i was at work all day and when i got of i had to replace a CV boot and my Crank Seal(front) so i am really tired right now but i am going to go out there and write all this down so i can be done with it fairly soon. ( my only speedo is my radar detector hahahahaha) i will email you soon Rob

Thanks all
Greg


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

*Cluster Swap*

Ok, looks like nobody has the correct wiring diagram to do that swap.... finally i received yesterday the right cluster to do my own swap, electronically controlled speedo with tachometer... now i have 4 clusters without tach and one with tach all electronically controlled, i'll do a wiring diagram by looking at both clusters and hopefully have it ready for this weekend... i'll keep you all informed. but now i have a doubt, where should i find the tachometer cable? what color does it looks like?


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

I'll find out for you when I get home Sergio. And why did you buy four clusters without tachs?


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

toolapcfan said:


> *I'll find out for you when I get home Sergio. And why did you buy four clusters without tachs? *


Ok, thanks... 
Well, originally i ordered one WITH Tachometer... but they kindda have a wrong description for the part so they send me the first one thinking it do has a tach but it doesn't.... so i replyed telling about the mistake... so they send another from another yard that was with Tach, and again the same problem..... and that's how it goes so i have 3 tachless in my room, 1 installed on the car and the right one with Tach waiting to be installed finally.... hehe... i was kindda loosing hope....


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

Sergio,

The wire from the ECU that goes to the tach is Blue with a Black stripe. 

I thought it was, but I wanted to make sure. When I put a tach in my XE I used a different wire from the ECU, it still worked, I used the wire that came from the coil to the ECU, which is Blue with a white stripe. This might work fine for an aftermarket tach like I used, but it could ruin an OEM one. So go with the Blue with a Black stripe, especially since that is what was done OEM.


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

toolapcfan said:


> *Sergio,
> 
> The wire from the ECU that goes to the tach is Blue with a Black stripe.
> 
> I thought it was, but I wanted to make sure. When I put a tach in my XE I used a different wire from the ECU, it still worked, I used the wire that came from the coil to the ECU, which is Blue with a white stripe. This might work fine for an aftermarket tach like I used, but it could ruin an OEM one. So go with the Blue with a Black stripe, especially since that is what was done OEM. *


Blue with black stripe... ok.... i'll find it.... also i read that this wire can be found behind the radio.... is that true for all models or just some newones... now looking at the diagram posted by 1997 GA16DE the cable he used was blue/orange/silver_dots but i guess it's only for 1996+ cars....


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

hey guys, I was given a link about this page, so where are we at? I don't really have alot of time to go through this entire thread (I have a class in a few minutes) but I can probably help you out with your swap. Those first 2 pages above were written by me and there is also a link in my signature.

first off, the diagram I have is meant for the b14, but I'm now hearing more about this and I'm almost certain that the b13 could be the same swap. The 200sx SE and the B13 SE clusters should look identical (except for there being a clock in the b13). Pretty much download that word document on my page and using my wire switching method, try to hook up the new cluster wires like in the diagram.

You shouldn't have any problems as long as the new cluster looks like this:









unfortunatly, I'm not too familiar with this cluster (it may, of course, still work with my instructions)


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

*...ok... NOW I'm confused....*

Hello, so i finally took the time to compare both clusters, one WITH Tach and one without it, both electronically controlled. 
Mine came tachless from a 1993 Sentra E, and the one with Tachometer it's all electronic but don't know from what year. 

Looking at the diagram posted at "1997 GA16DE" Website the wiring is a lot different since these clusters both have 4 connectors, not 3 like in the diagram. Some cables at the right are in the correct pins but at left it's completely different. 

I'll do an schematic tonight identifying wire "names" on these clusters and probably tomorrow will get the wire colors from inside the car to have an idea what cables goes where and to be able to roll-back in case the experiment doesn't work...


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

toolapcfan said:


> *Sergio,
> 
> The wire from the ECU that goes to the tach is Blue with a Black stripe.
> 
> I thought it was, but I wanted to make sure. When I put a tach in my XE I used a different wire from the ECU, it still worked, I used the wire that came from the coil to the ECU, which is Blue with a white stripe. *


Hi, i compared both clusters made a map of all the cables and today i removed my cluster to take a look at the cables... now i have all locations for my current cables to the new cluster in paper. What i can't find is that Blue-Black_stripe cable... is it already in the cables that connects to the cluster somewhere? i found the Blue-White_stripe cable already wired to the harness connected to a No/Connection point in the actual cluster.... is that the "TAM" wire ? i found that "D-TAM" wire goes to GND also so no problem about that one...

What i also noticed is that there's same cable colors in like 2 connectors... so will be better to label all the wires with tags just in case, also to disconnect battery power to prevent blown fuses or ECU since there's battery power always on to power the clock.

If everything works i will be posting pictures of the clusters and wiring in case someone needs to do the same with this specific type of clusters pretty soon.


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

1997 GA16DE said:


> *hey guys, I was given a link about this page, so where are we at? I don't really have alot of time to go through this entire thread (I have a class in a few minutes) but I can probably help you out with your swap. Those first 2 pages above were written by me and there is also a link in my signature.
> 
> first off, the diagram I have is meant for the b14...*


Quick Question: how many connectors the B14 Cluster has? isn't it like the B13 cluster? mine looks just the one you put in the first picture but has 4 wire connectors instead of the 3 shown in the "tach install.doc"

Also, where did you found the "TAM" wire?


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

toolapcfan said:


> *I've heard they have a tamper indicator, so it's apparently not that simple Serg. *


Also checked that today.... there's only a metal pin holding the numbers... to remove it i pushed it to the left side if you're looking at the cluster front and tested it by removing 100 miles from the actual reading. It continued to work perfect, no lights, no beeps.

Also the Speedometer/Odometer units are interchangeable between the Tach/No_Tach Versions. Same circuitry, same connectors, only 4 screws holding it.


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

damen_78 said:


> *Well its not the length that bothers me if its long but helps me then i am happy yea pro you are right it is for a B13 but.........you have to understand it does not apply to MY B13 because if YOU go and look at the link that YOU supplied and keep pushing even though i said it dont help it is for a 91/92 sentra which has a speedo CABLE..... my SPEEDO IS ELECTRONIC and i think i have stated that a few times now. i do appreciate the help *


Hello, did you got the new (or old) cluster working? how many connectors does it has? i made a map of all the cables and where they go to the original tachless cluster in case you need it... also a map for the tach. version, still trying to find the TAM wire but everything should work fine, even the speedo. I noticed there's same color cables in like 2 connectors... that could be a problem if all wires are removed... also have wire-colors_to_signal chart.


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

*Wire Names for 1993 Sentra E*

Here's my current Wire names and colors, will be interesting to know if they're the same as the '94 since it is also electronically controlled speedo.

All Cables goes: Cable Color - Stripe Color - # of silver dots

FM: Green - Blue - 1
GND: Black
TM: Yellow - Green - 1
T/R: Green - Yellow - 1
ACC: Blue
BAT: Red - Black - 1
DOOR: Red - White -1 
BRK: Yellow - Black - 1
CHG: Yellow - Red - 1
CHK: Purple
CHECK ENGINE: Orange - Black - 1
NC1: Blue - White - 1 : Don't know what it is. Conn. to Nothing.
4P_GND: Black
4P: Red
1P: Green
ILL: Red - Yellow - 1
BEAM+: Red - Black - 2
OD OFF: Black - Yellow - 1
FUEL: Red - Black - 1
2P: Yellow - Green - 1
ILL+: Red - Blue - 1
BEAM-: Black
AIRBAG1: Black
AIRBAG2: Red - White - 1
SEATBELTS1: Yellow - Black - 1 
SEATBELTS2: Yellow
OIL: Yellow - Green - 2
3P_IGN: Yellow
T/L: Green - Black - 1

AIRBAG and SEATBELTS are pair of cables connected directly to the light_bulb. 

1P thru 4P are the 4 screws of the speedometer looking at the back of the cluster in normal position, starting at the left_UP clockwise.

NC1 Cable was connected to an empty space in the cluster that seems to go to a bulb location without bulb and without any signal behind the bulb_hole.

30 Wires in total... some other GND cables excluded since they all look Black - No Stripe - 1 Siver dot.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

well, if there are 4 connectors, then I'm almost lost as well. you should find the TAM wire coming out of the ECU (behind the radio).


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

1997 GA16DE said:


> *well, if there are 4 connectors, then I'm almost lost as well. you should find the TAM wire coming out of the ECU (behind the radio). *


...yep... that's what i guess.... there's one connector almost un-used since it has conn. to wire an automatic car and has " 1 - 2 - D - N - R " so maybe the cluster with 3 connectors will work fine on the B13 with just some re-ordering of the wiring... ok... now, the wire should be behind the radio ON the radio harness, alone somewhere behind the radio or gotta find it directly from the ECU ? The ECU on my B13 is located on the floor just next to the Gas pedal.


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## GTPATSi (Jun 12, 2002)

*Swap cluster on B13*

Maybe I'm able to help you see my pics on my web site: http://groups.msn.com/LuniversdeGTPATSi/masentra.msnw?Page=5 is only many pics of my swap with few text detail but I don'write all the color of each wire goes on each plug but i check each circuit name and compare with the original cluster and change the wire of place.

http://www.npclub.com/ is a nissan club in canada (quebec)


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## ScarCrow28 (May 14, 2002)

by the looks of those pics, the odometer is not able to be swaped out? were you able to do so? I think i herd, earlier on this thread, that its a simple matter of some screws. But these images seem to show some circut board intergration. ????


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

where'd u get that RPM aluminum paint?


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## GTPATSi (Jun 12, 2002)

*paint cluster*

You take off the plastic window over needle and cluster panel and remove the black plastic clean with solvent and paint it with color of your choice and re-assembly it's very easy if you able to take off the cluster in the dashboard. Is cool your car 1997GA16DE nissanpower and many dollar invest on your car.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

yea, I know how to get in there, but where did you get the paint? I like that color and it seems more metallic than the paint I have now (my interior panels).

Thanks on the compliment. I've just been doing some costom stuff (cheaper mods) lately I haven't put much $$$ into it so far, maybe a few thousand. I'm going to have to wait until summer before I can do more stuff b/c I am broke. I right now have $172 in my bank account and a $173 ticket to pay off so I'm in a bit of bank account hell right now.


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## GTPATSi (Jun 12, 2002)

*paint tricks*

the paint i use is if remember is a Duplicolor chrome in spray can. I buy this a Walmart in Quebec maybe 10$


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