Author Topic: SR5 Cluster install (Read 12054 times)

CruzrDave · « **on:** Nov 12, 2003, 07:57:08 PM »

My 1990 Toyota v6 deluxe 4x4 truck did not come with a factor tach cluster. So I bought a used V6 cluster ( 1989-1991 ) from the Yota Yard for $100. Make sure you get a V6 cluster. The first cluster they sent me was a 4cly and the tach read 4,000rpm at idle. Also 92+ was electric speedo and those clusters are different then 91- trucks. To install is really simple, it took me about an hour. You need a screw driver, 10mm socket, 12mm socket, and a 14mm wrench. You remove the bottum dash panel then drop the steering colum down( I've removed the upper bezel with out droping the steering colum but why fight it and its faster-I just remove the left side cover bolt and the 2 outer most bolts). Next remove the heater/ac bezel and then remove the upper bezel. The Sr5 cluster will just plug right in place of the stock dash.
The last thing to do it to change the Oil pressure sender. The SR5 sender has a larger diaphram. Ihave the Toyota part# but I need to find the recipt and I'll post it. You must change this before you start your truck. I did this after I did my SAS so it took no time at all to change( the Oil fiter is easy to

). The factory bolt will not fit the sender and I can't find that pig tail at Toyota. If you find a part # for that sender wire pig tail, please let know.
If you have any Q's about this or building a 89-95 Toy ( I have no IFS tech info )let me know, I probly rebuilt or modified it

DAVE

89 toy · « **Reply #1 on:** Dec 11, 2003, 04:19:07 PM »

can you do this on a 4cyl truck ?

CruzrDave · « **Reply #2 on:** Dec 11, 2003, 09:53:17 PM »

Yes you can. Its the same as above but you'll need the 4cly SR5 dash.

UPDATE. Doing Marlin a favor I gave up my V6 dash( in a bind we had to get this guys truck done and it was 7pm on Friday night) because the dash we bought was for a 4cly. I replaced it with a 1995 dash from a 4-runner. I got this dash from TAP. This dash has a non-electric speedo. I have run into this before with V6 4-runners but only twice and both were 95's. So I think if they switch back in 95 to a non-electric speedo. So becareful you get the right dash for the engine and speedo cable your truck is.

Uncle Jesse · « **Reply #3 on:** Nov 14, 2004, 11:23:12 PM »

Short of going to real wrecking yards and getting the correct engine cluster, I found that v6 clusters are easier to come across. I went and put a v6 cluster in both of my four cylinder trucks. I had to remove the speedo, then install the cluster minus the front cover. Then with the engine running and using another tach as a reference, adjusted the white potentiometer on the side of the v6 tach. I don't think you can adjust it dead on, but you can get pretty close at a low and high rpm reference point.

http://www.mindspring.com/~jayk3/toyota/tachmod.htm

Weldo · « **Reply #4 on:** Mar 04, 2005, 12:26:17 PM »

I have a question about the tachometer needle. I pulled off the needle to clean the cluster and when I put the needle back on the tach it wouldn't settle at 0. I pulled it of and repositioned it so it'll settle at 0 but when I push the needle up to around 5000 or 6000 it just settles down at 6 o'clock. Will this go away when the gauge has power?

Uncle Jesse · « **Reply #5 on:** Mar 04, 2005, 04:25:47 PM »

theoretically, if you have the cluster plugged in, the key on but the engine off, the tach should want to point to zero rpm. so that is the time i would put the needle back on, remembering to hold the cluster upright so gravity doesn't interfere. I haven't tried it, but hey, it sounds good.

Weldo · « **Reply #6 on:** Mar 05, 2005, 12:49:28 PM »

sounds reasonable. thanks

Uncle Jesse · « **Reply #7 on:** Mar 05, 2005, 08:29:38 PM »

let us know how it turns out. And for others that read this thread, so you don't have to worry about it, taking the needle off any gauge should be a last resort.

Weldo · « **Reply #8 on:** May 30, 2005, 01:47:39 PM »

I just installed my SR5 cluster and everything works except the tach. when I turn the motor over it shoots right to 5000 and stays there at idle. The guy I got it from said it was for a 4 cylinder. Whats going on?

gonzo · « **Reply #9 on:** May 30, 2005, 02:15:07 PM »

Quote from: Uncle Jesse on Mar 05, 2005, 08:29:38 PM

let us know how it turns out. And for others that read this thread, so you don't have to worry about it, taking the needle off any gauge should be a last resort.

Uncle Jesse · « **Reply #10 on:** May 30, 2005, 02:49:47 PM »

That's a god one. Both of my v6 turned 4 cylinder tachs read too low until I adjusted them. Except for being at 5K, does the tach work normally? I mean, when you rev on it does the tach go up? When it come to simplicity, I would tend to lean towards a bad tach. I say this because only three wires run the tach, power ground and tach input. As for the tach, it has wound wires and integrated circuit boards. Do you have a cheapo aftermarket tach you can get a hold of? I would say using your wiring diagram, find the wire at the back of the cluster that is the tach input and hook it to your cheapo tach. If the cheapo tach works off the same wire that feeds the stock tach, then I would say the tach is bad or that needle is still not on right. Also check for proper voltage and ground to the gauge.

On another note, sr5 clusters appear on ebay every once in a while, at decent prices. I now own three. Why? Just for this reason, no only can I swap gauges to see if the gauge is bad, but if it is, I already have a spare. It came in handy when my temp gauge went bad recently. Trust me, you don't want to go to toyota to get a replacement gauge.

Weldo · « **Reply #11 on:** May 30, 2005, 05:14:56 PM »

The tach functions pretty normal other than the fact it idles at 5000. When the motor fires up, the tach jumps to 5000 real qucik and stays there at idle. When I hit the gas, it does move up. Also the tach needle is kinda jumps and fidgets around a bit.
The speedo also jumps around a bit at low speeds especially. Is this normal, my old speedo did this too a little.
Finally, the oil pressure gauge, what does yours read normally. Mine stays pretty low, even when I hit the gas. I mena it goes up a little with RPM but not a whole lot. Is this noraml as well? Thanks for all the help.

Weldo · « **Reply #12 on:** May 30, 2005, 05:18:40 PM »

Oh yeah. You said I could hook up a tach to the gauge cluster itself to see if it works properly. You mean that I could attach the aftermarket tach right to the back of the cluster so as to have 2 tachometers going simultaneously? Then see if the aftermarket tach works properly. Man i wish I hadn't taken that needle off....

Uncle Jesse · « **Reply #13 on:** May 30, 2005, 07:15:31 PM »

the two tachs don't need to be going simultaneously, you just need to plug your aftermarket tach in to the same tach input lead as the stock gauge. This will verify that the input signal is good, and its not the igniter.

Is your speedo cable driven? If so, it may be the cable is a bit sticky that makes the speedo jump. Mine does that, I wouldn't worry about it.

As far as the oil pressure goes, thats a good question as I have yet to get my gauge working properly. For the longest time I just used the old switch to drive the gauge. If there was no oil pressure the gauge would read high, if there was oil pressure the gauge would show zero. But again, that was using an oil light sender with a gauge. If you aren't sure the gauge works properly, test it. The oil sender is really just a variable resistor to ground. So, pull the wire off the sender, creating an open, the gauge should read low. Now, ground the wire to the sender, the gauge should read high. If so, its working. If not, check your oil level. Or maybe check your oil level first . . .

The best way to make sure, is to install a mechanical oil pressure gauge.

Weldo · « **Reply #14 on:** May 31, 2005, 03:24:21 PM »

Yea, I'll check on the tach this weekend maybe. I have a feeling that I just put the needle on wrong. SHouldn've took that damn thing off. As far as the speedo goes, it works but it jumps like crazy. Up and down 10 MPH. When I go low speeds, like leaving the clutch out in first gear, it jumps from 0 every few seconds, jump.....jump.....jump.....jump instead of reading a constant speed. Its kinda annoying. The main thing I wanted outta this was a tach, so I really wanna get that workin'. Would I hook the aftermarket tach to the gauge cluster or the actual wires in the harness? Any aftermarket tach would also have 3 wires, power, tach input, and ground. Also, what shoudl the voltage be at the gauge and where would I check it? Thanks again!

Prismo · « **Reply #15 on:** May 31, 2005, 03:41:40 PM »

Lube the speedo cable & speedo head & the jumping should cease unless the cable is kinked. I normally use a graphite based lube, have someone spin the cable from the the trans side while you spray or pour lube in the speedo head side.

Weldo · « **Reply #16 on:** Jun 01, 2005, 10:37:38 AM »

cool. Might my low oil pressure reading be coming from the fact that I run straight 30 weight oil?

Weldo · « **Reply #17 on:** Jun 01, 2005, 04:12:00 PM »

Hey I just had a revelation. When I turn the ignition to the ON position (motor not running) the tach perks up to 3000 and remains there. When I turn the motor over it jumps to about 4250 at idle. That would put the idle at about 1250 or 1200 RPM. So could I just turn on the ignition and when the tach jumps to 3000 I could just re-adjust the needle to rest at zero?

Uncle Jesse · « **Reply #18 on:** Jun 01, 2005, 04:36:21 PM »

"theoretically, if you have the cluster plugged in, the key on but the engine off, the tach should want to point to zero rpm. so that is the time i would put the needle back on"

I believe 10w30 is the recommended oil. If your engine has some miles on it, 10w40 might be a better choice. I had to run 20w50 to get any more than 10psi of oil when the engine was hot.

Weldo · « **Reply #19 on:** Jun 01, 2005, 06:06:14 PM »

I've been running straight 30 to try and slow an oil leak. Would thicker 40 weight lead to higher or lower oil pressure? My pressure starts out a little above the "L" when I start the motor at first but after awhile, when the motor is hot, at idle the oil pressure is off the gauge its so low.

Run over how to test the gauge again. I understand pulling off the wire to see the gauge reads low, but to ground the wire to the sender, do you mean run the wire that normally goes to the sender to a direct ground? And that should make it read high? Sorry for all the questions but I really wanna get this thing workin right.

On a good note, I got some of the bounce out of the speedo. I tried to straighten the cable as much as possible, no kinks. When I turned the cable by hand at the T-case I felt a little springy resistance through half of one revolution of the cable. I still gotta get some of that graphite grease and lube it up.

k5kell · « **Reply #20 on:** Jan 15, 2007, 10:22:12 PM »

Quote from: CruzrDave on Nov 12, 2003, 07:57:08 PM

The factory bolt will not fit the sender and I can't find that pig tail at Toyota. If you find a part # for that sender wire pig tail, please let know.

What pig tail are you talking about. If you are talking about the connector for the sr5 oil pressure sender it is the same idiot light sensor, you just have to turn it 90 degrees and slide it on.
-Kell-

GJToyotabug · « **Reply #21 on:** Aug 15, 2008, 11:01:07 PM »

ok so this is kinda an old thread but hopefully some one can help i have two clusters one out of a 90 V6 runner and the other out of a 90 4cyl pickup. i am runnin the v6 cluster now because it has a tack and the 4cyl doesnt. so the v6 tack isnt working with me and i want a SR5 4 cyl cluster with a tack. if anyone would want to trade or help me out both are super clean the 4cyl has about 200,000 and the V6 has about 126,000 can i get help either with making the tack work right or trading. please help!

CruzrDave [OP]

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