S13 sr20det clusters speedo, tach, and water temp not working

[creyes13491]

Hey zilvians. I just recently bought a s13 coupe shell(complete shell, no wiring, no engine, etc...) and a crashed s13 hatchback with a s13 sr20det in it. The cluster was working before I pulled out the motor. Now that I have transferred everything into my s13 shell, engine started no problem, but I noticed my fuel gauge going all the way up when the key was on acc., and when I started the car, all the other gauges weren't working. I need your help in figuring out if my gauge cluster is busted or if the wiring is just not connected properly. The s13 coupe is tubbed, so I tried cleaning up the wiring. I had to extend some wires also. I extended the thick starter wire that connects back to the battery, ignition wire that connects to the starter, vehicle speed sensor wires(positive and ground), and the reverse lights wires (positive and ground). Please help me out. I just really want my gauges to work especially my tach, and my water temp.

[azs13]

Do any of your interior lights flicker or not work at all? What about the backlighting of the cluster does that turn on? I had the same problem with my car after a dash swap. Check the tcm I thinks it called. Little white box behind the drivers side kick panel on an s13. If it's not that it most likely a ground or wiring located behind the dash.

[creyes13491]

i had that problem before with just the cluster lights, but only whenever i would turn on the headlights. it doesnt happen anymore though. i turned it on once and it went back to normal, then now the cluster lights dont work at all.

[azs13]

Fairly certain this is a short. Your cluster is most likely in good working order. I know when the gas gauge goes all the way up past full when your tank really isn't full it's a grounding issue from what I've read. I've searched this issue on multiple occasions and really haven't much success. Mine still don't work after a year of trying everything I could read about and or think of. Good luck if you figure this out Lmk lol. Does your radio or interior lighting function like the dome light? If you still have both shells of try switching out the tcm first.

[jdm>usdm]

The green wire coming into one of the cluster plugs provides power to these gauges (its cluster plug 18, pin 24 to be exact). This should have 12V with IGN on. Check the 10A fuse if no power. The black wire is the ground for all the gauges, its also in the same plug, pin 28. Check there for ground. If you're good there, then something is up with the wiring that feeds each individual gauge.

Also, azs13 is right about there being a short when the fuel gauge reads completely full. The unit in the fuel tank which measures the level of fuel is just a variable resistor. The resistance it around 20 times greater with the tank is empty vs. full. So a gauge reading full means there is virtually no resistance in the circuit (or maybe you just have a really full tank).

The fact that you have you fuel gauge reading full means that you do have power to the cluster, so check the ground. Also trace that power back to the appropriate pin at the fuel pump to make sure its not grounded somewhere before that.

[creyes13491]

Thanks for all your reply guys.my fuel tank is definitely not full cuz I had to put the gas tank into the shell also from the crashed s13 so I had to dump out all the fuel. I will definitely check out the wires and see if I'm getting any power to those pins. I really think that it's just one of the wires that I exteded that's making my cluster act up. What usually powers the tach or the speedo? Does the tach get power from the cam angle sensor? And the speedo from the speed sensor of course.

[jdm>usdm]

Thanks for all your reply guys.my fuel tank is definitely not full cuz I had to put the gas tank into the shell also from the crashed s13 so I had to dump out all the fuel. I will definitely check out the wires and see if I'm getting any power to those pins. I really think that it's just one of the wires that I exteded that's making my cluster act up. What usually powers the tach or the speedo? Does the tach get power from the cam angle sensor? And the speedo from the speed sensor of course.

The signal from the tach comes directly from the ECM. Speed sensor is two wires from speed sensor and one to ECM. They are powered thru the pin I previously mentioned.

[creyes13491]

Gotcha. Thank you for the input. Does the water temp go through the ecm as well?

[jdm>usdm]

Gotcha. Thank you for the input. Does the water temp go through the ecm as well?

No, temp for the cluster comes right off the thermal transmitter, not to be confused for the CTS which the EMC uses.