I have a 2001 4x2 xl sport 4.2 5spead, my dash has all the gauges but the rpm. Is the wiring already there???do all I need is to get a dash with the rpm gauge? Or if it is not there where do i get the signal for a after market gauge. If anyone has anything please post. THANKS

 

you could jsut go get a gauge set that has the rpm needle on it and replace the one you have. You will probably have to have some one put the milage from your old gauge set into the new one. As for an after market gauge to show rpm I have not found any. Ford changed the signal they use to send the rpm data and I'm guessing there not sharing that data with any after market companies yet.

 

Hi Mr2

As MechE said, ford made an ign. change. i think that was in 99.

Wanted to install tach. on my 99SC XL. Last time i checked maybe 1yr. or less ago?

Autometer....did not have a tach. guage that would work on these new ign. systems...99 & newer. said they didnt have the new technology etc...so

They said try paulshp.com Dont know if that site is still up, but i did check....he had parts that apparently would work but for me to much $$$

There was another Co. that had parts that might work, sorry i cant recall name...Member here IanN from Canada, posted that name...

OEM instru. panel from Ford with the tach was available but no install instructions. Service dept. said they just use the existing wires and had no info. re: if it did not come with a OEM tach...would have to remove instru. panel, see if tach wire was there.... Of course if they do that well $$$ & new guage panel was somewhere around 500.00.... And, that wire does come from the PCM.. At least thats what they told me.. I could look for wire, etc, but cluster to much $.....

Anyhow, learned to drive with out dash tach....Sometimes i use the dash digital Odometer when i really want to know how many RPMs im turning.

Maybe someone here has already done it?

I just put the tach $ into other mods

Good luck. OT

 

Thanks for the replys mechE and old timmer, Im getting ready to install nx and thougt I would like to have a tach. Ill keep checking back to see if any one has done it already. And I will try to find a used dash with a tach in the cluster.

 

On my 99, you can press the trip/odo but and hold while starting, continue to hold until display changes. Then it will access a variety of codes and guage tests each time your press the button. eventually you get to "tac" and it reads out the rpm. A little putsy, but if you just want to check it occaisionally it works. Also reads out "degc" for engine temp in centigrade. The site below gives all the odometer display outputs.

www.mustangworld.com/ourpics/News/99hec.htm

 

I have an aftermarket tach that I installed in my 2001 F150 XL (4.6L). This is what I did. Try it at your own risk.

I wanted a 2 1/8" tach that I could install in a pillar mount. I tried a regular tach from a good company (needle type that i could set for 4/6//8 cyl) and found the tach output wire wasn't sending a signal that the conventional tach wanted to read. I don't know what is on the tach output signal (pin 48 PMI); apparently the Ford factory instrument panel tach knows how sort the signal out, but I didn't have one of those.

Dakota Digital (DD) makes a 2 1/8" digital readout (sorry, no needle) tach (and bigger ones) that can be set for 1 to 15 cyl applications.

First, I set this DD to 8 cyl and hooked it up to my tach output signal wire. It gave me numbers, but the numbers didn't have much of anything to do with how open the throttle was.

Second, I set DD to 1 cyl and hooked it to the discharge side (not red/green wire, the other one) of my right front cyl COP coil. It worked fine at rpm's over about 1500, but gave me a variety of nonsensical gobbledy-gook numbers below 1500, I guess due to electrical noise.

Finally, I got adventurous and hooked the tach to the dicharge side (not the red wire, the other one) of my right front cyl fuel injector coil. This signal was pretty clean at low RPM and the tach worked pretty well at all rpm's.

The only thing that is mildly flakey with this set-up is that when I shift (manual trans) I occassionally get an intermittent "doubling" so that the tach jumps from 2100 to 4200 for one display cycle. The 4200 gets stored in the "high rpm" recorder feature that comes with this tach. I don't really use this feature because I'm not drag racing (with a 4.6? get serious) so I don't think it's too much of a negative. The tach lets you select slow update or fast update & I use the slow update, otherwise it's distracting (not too surprising considering I'm only using 1 cyl for input).

At any rate, I have a tach installed and pretty functional, even if it is getting it's signal from a fuel injector.

 

Mr2 started thread so tks. and have question...

djr...the tach. ouput wire you refer to....where did you find it? Was it up behind the dash (instru.) guage panel?

When you tapped into FI, did you notice any difference in the way that cyl. was firing?

Ive seen digital tachs. before, but didnt like the fast change of numbers, prefer the needle(pointer)

On the low update, how distracting compared to fast up date? Seems to me even on low, those rpm # are still gonna be spinning. then again, trying to image...

Had 5sp. on old truck with tach. Used it all the time when shifting, but now with auto. tranny, well, still learning how to drive it...getting better, but tach. would really be a plus.....Its all compromise, standard shift. VS auto.t.....both have their good and bad points.....

Tks for update, maybe this is what mr2 is looking for.

Good luck. OT

 

Hi ,,,,,,, mr2x75

If you find out that a used instrament cluster with tach is what will work and what you need, I have one I will sell.

Just e-mail me if your interested
4rdfan@sympatico.ca

 

Hey Oldtimer,

The tach output wire I played around with was on the passenger side in the engine compartment tucked underneath & behind the battery box. It was among the cluster that plugs into the PMI thru the firewall. I ended up screwing with the PMI from the passenger compartment side just so I could inspect the wiring pin-outs and compare them to a set of 1998-2000 wiring schematics I had. I don't have reference manuals for the 2001 and wanted to verify the harness setup hadn't changed. Actually, my 2001 4.6 wiring is more like the earlier years' 5.4 wiring (I guess because it has a full set of COP's). It could very well be that Ford fooled me and did something different with tach output in 2001 so that I was actually screwing with the wrong wire, but everything else matched up the the wiring diagram I was comparing to. I only got nervy enough to tear this stuff all apart and unplug everything because I found an online article somewhere (I think about installing a superchip) that told me how to get there.

The DD display is 3 digits (x10) and also has a a "dim" feature that activates when you turn your lights on (if you hook the provided wire up to your park lights). I drive with my lights on virtually all the time because of the type of commuting I do & where I live; the display in no-dim mode is more distracting for sure. I have a utility grade XL (rubber floors, vinyl seats, hand crank windows) and decided/discovered I wanted a tach after purchasing it because I wasn't used to operating a truck with an engine that required higher rpms to deliver power & torque (I'm a crusty old 302/390 lover; it took me a while to develop much appreciation for the 351M). The new truck sounded like I was running my squirrels to death when I was passing, towing, or pulling a hill. But I guess that's the way you have to drive these new Pepsi generation engines and I'm alot more comfortable knowing I'm only revving to 2300 rpm even tho it sounds like a Subaru 4 cyl at 4000 rpm.

I haven't noticed any degradation in performance or gas mileage as a result of having tapped the FI coil for a tach signal. I really can't imagine the tach requires a big enough fraction of an amp that the fuel injector even knows it's there. (but I'm willing to be corrected by somebody that knows alot more about this "new technology" than I do).

About all I ever wanted to add to this truck was a canopy, fog lights, rockproof tires, a better air filter than Ford provided me with, & mud flaps. The tach project turned out to be a little more than I bargained for, but it's done.

 

Hey Oldtimer,

The tach output wire I played around with was on the passenger side in the engine compartment tucked underneath & behind the battery box. It was among the cluster that plugs into the PMI thru the firewall. My 2001 4.6 wiring is more like the earlier years' 5.4 wiring (I guess because it has a full set of COP's). It could very well be that Ford fooled me and did something different with tach output in 2001 so that I was actually screwing with the wrong wire, but everything else matched up the the 98-00 wiring diagram I was comparing to.

The DD display is 3 digits (x10) and also has a a "dim" feature that activates when you turn your lights on (if you hook the provided wire up to your park lights). The display in no-dim mode is more distracting for sure, but you can probably still read it when bathed by the landing lights of a 747 or when driving east at sunset. The slow mode updates evey 1/2 second, the fast mode every 1/8 second. I can glance at the slow mode & see what I want to see. The fast mode doesn't do much for me; distracting and if I glance at it I end up staring at it; don't need that. I have a utility grade XL and decided/discovered I wanted a tach after purchasing it because it sure doesn't drive like a 390 or 351. At least with the tach I know I'm not running my squirrels to death. Takes some getting used to.

I haven't noticed any degradation in performance or gas mileage as a result of having tapped the FI coil for a tach signal. I can't imagine the tach requires a big enough fraction of an amp that the fuel injector even knows it's there. (but I'm willing to be corrected by somebody that knows alot more about this "new technology" than I do). I haven't hooked the truck up to an engine analyzer to see if anything bad is happening on that cylinder.

 

well I think where going in the right direction,I still havent found any one who has replaced the cluster yet, my friend has a lightning maybe his cluster would work in my truck, to see if this Idea works. Ill try to catch him. If anybody done this alredy please post. well goto go to work eve. shift check back tonigt after work for replys. thank you all very much for posting.

 

hello tiger, your idea about hollding the od button down works on my 2001 also along with the tach read out there where about 10 or so other things you could pull up, was prety neat little trick realy good to know,went straight out to see where it redlined and what rpm the rev limiter kicked in best i could tell it was around 53 to 5400, Sure was hard to look thru the steering wheel and hammer though.so i will try to get a cluster with a tach and try it . ill let you guys know how it went.

 

I just accessed the HED dealer test mode on the dash on my 2001 f150 CNG truck and it works!!! I can see the RPM's and that was what I as looking for. THX

 

Awesome search work

welcome to the forums.