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View Full Version : swaped in s13 9000rpm tach and not working

Bradman123
08-02-2004, 08:04 AM
as the title says i swaped in an s13 9000 rpm 7500 rpm redline tach that i got from a guage cluster i bought off ebay. tach is not working and the wiring apears to be exactly right. yellow with red stripe connected with yellow with red stripe on the connectors...so it should be working. was this another ebay scam? water temp guage works, and fuel level guage works, clock is working, cant drive car to see if speedo is working, so im pretty sure its not the fuse. whats up? also someone help me with my leaky front main seal. see my other thread.
Mr. Badlose
08-02-2004, 01:33 PM
S13? Year/motor? If you have a KA24E, the SR20DET or KA24DE tach won't work.
sonic16
08-02-2004, 03:58 PM
the DOHC motors, ( the KADE and the SRDET) both have tach signals that are in millivolts and thus will not register on a SOHC tach which uses volts. same with an aftermarket tach, you need an adapter that ups the signal or a DE tach.
Bradman123
08-02-2004, 08:06 PM
car is a 1990, and the tach is a sr20det tach that i swaped in....ebay description said from an s13...i dont understand why it wouldnt work. if im using an sr20 ecu and an sr20 tach shouldnt it work? the motor IS an SR20!! not an sohc anymore so the tach i swaped in SHOULD be getting the right signal. or am i missing something...
s13driver
08-02-2004, 08:10 PM
i don remember any yellow red stripe connector when i swap my tach... i just take out the old non working tach n put in the new 1 and then reconnect all the connectors and that's it.
Bradman123
08-02-2004, 08:21 PM
yup thats exactly what i did. took out the cluster took the old tach out put the new tach in and pluged in all back in and when i got the motor started tachs not workin. as for the wire, im talking about the tach signal wire at the ecu. you are required to swap the old harness connector on to the sr harness so that it will plug in. the color of the tach signal wire is yellow with red stripe.
mrmephistopheles
08-02-2004, 08:58 PM
maybe your swap wiring isn't done right.
Bradman123
08-02-2004, 09:07 PM
k...so how can i check it to insure that it is right. i swaped the wires as instructed on heavythrottle. which says all the wires match up and gives the wires that need to be connected. yellow with red stripe is tach signal. when i swaped the plugs i matched up the yellow with red stripe wires. when i swaped the plug i just cut off the one plug and spliced all the wires on to the other plug. all my other wiring seems to be right because the car runs perfect seems to be idling fine but i have no tach to see exact rpm...engine temp is working, fuel level appears to be working. is the tach just bad how can i find out?
Bradman123
08-03-2004, 07:15 PM
:bump:..........
stinky_180
08-03-2004, 11:07 PM
i'm sorry to tell you this but... all wiring for clusters are the same. 89-90 subharness is the exact same as 91-94. except when using a hud unit. BUT, the tach can only read certain signals. so in other words.... if you own a 89-90 car, and you want to put a cluster from a 91-94 car, all you gotat do is take the tach out from the 91-94 (3 scew on back of cluster) and put it into the other unit.

but as for you. your using an s13 CA18DET instrument cluster. the 1990 USDM 240sx can only read KA24E signals. you can't swap the tach either beacuse it meant for a CA18DET.

I just recently bought a Digital Instrument Cluster with HUD from a 1990. My car is a 1992. What i did was take out the tach from my old cluster, put it into the 1990. And it started to work. When you do this, the wall that carries the rpms is differnt so you have to cut it a bit.

So in other words, all you can really do is take out the wall of JDM unit and put it into your orginal cluster, only if you really want to show off your JDM 7500 rpm redline when your car redlines 6500....

IMHO waiste of money...
HaLo
08-03-2004, 11:12 PM
The good way to know if it's a CA18DET tach is by looking on it. ;) If it's has a doted redline from 7000-7500 rpm and full redline after, it's a CA tach. If it only has full redline from 7500rpm and up, it's an SR20DET tach..
nrg
08-04-2004, 06:30 AM
Did it work find with the previous cluster?
Bradman123
08-04-2004, 07:01 AM
wtf, I HAVE AN SR20DET the fact that my car WAS an sohc should not matter anymore unless i was trying to use the tach from the sohc. i took the sohc tach out of the cluster that WAS IN THE CAR then TOOK THE TACH OUT OF THE JDM CLUSTER and PUT IT INTO THE CLUSTER THAT WAS IN THE CAR. and yes the tach that was in it did work but that doesnt matter cuz it wouldnt work with the sr20 swap. looks like i have a CA tach though cuz the redline is dotted from 7000 to 7500. so looks like i need to find a tach with a redline that starts at 7500 then or what...and ill have to put this tach back in the jdm cluster and resell it.
Bradman123
08-04-2004, 07:44 AM
sorry if i seemed unappreciative in that last post, im a little bit frusterated with the tach and my oil leak issues and the fact i had planned for this project to be done a month ago. so thanks for helping me. where else besides ebay can i find and sr20det tach. i checked ebay and cant find anything for sr20det..just another ca18det cluster that looks just like mine, so im sure thats what i musta bought...guess i still have a lot of learning to do.
Mr. Badlose
08-04-2004, 11:22 AM
Calm down, amigo. No use in stressing out.

I bought my SR cluster from sr20store.com if I remember correctly. It was kind of pricey (but fast service). If I was to do it again I'd go through Ebay or possibly even a clip importer.
stinky_180
08-04-2004, 11:35 AM
hey sorry abotu the lost, if your willing to sell, i can help find someone. i had the same problem and it was giving me headaches. but then i figured it out and it works now... sorry bro
PSI240SX
08-04-2004, 12:44 PM
yea this problem is weird... I had the same situation, I actually tried a dohc usdm tach first and that didnt work, then I put in one from a JDM cluster and it still didnt work. Wish there was a difinitive answer as to why.
stinky_180
08-04-2004, 06:11 PM
as i said before, use the tach that is meant for your motor
Bradman123
08-04-2004, 09:03 PM
so if my motor is an s13 red top sr20 how do i know what year exactly to get the tach from. or does it not matter as long as it is an s13 sr20 tach.
HaLo
08-04-2004, 09:48 PM
As long as it's an sr20det tach or dohc tach, you're okay!
Bradman123
08-05-2004, 06:46 AM
im going to give sr20store a call and see if they have any on hand and what it would cost me...easier then waiting forever for one to pop on ebay and then get it and find out the tach is broken or something..thats usually how ebay goes.
s13dan
08-05-2004, 12:29 PM
dosnt the CA tach rev to 8000? i thought CA's reved higher than SR's.. and i had a sohc and now have an SR but my tach dost work... so does that mean i can buy a USDM DOHC tach and it will work??
stinky_180
08-05-2004, 01:41 PM
how many times must it be cleared??? yes, if you have an SR. dohc tach will work.
Bradman123
08-05-2004, 01:57 PM
now who needs to calm down, amigo. lol
SR PwrdVA
08-06-2004, 12:39 AM
The good way to know if it's a CA18DET tach is by looking on it. ;) If it's has a doted redline from 7000-7500 rpm and full redline after, it's a CA tach. If it only has full redline from 7500rpm and up, it's an SR20DET tach..

If this is true I got ripped by ebay dammit cuz my tach doesn't work at all and I have the dotted line from 7-7500.
FiKtIOn
08-06-2004, 08:09 PM
dosnt the CA tach rev to 8000? i thought CA's reved higher than SR's.. and i had a sohc and now have an SR but my tach dost work... so does that mean i can buy a USDM DOHC tach and it will work??

The CA can make jaunts past 8500, but it's stated redline is 7500 RPM.