I had been speaking with Ward from autometer about my situation. I had purchased a Tach, model number 3903, and i was unable to connect it to my 99 F150 4.6L XL. We had been talking back and forth about ways that it could be connected. I asked about putting a wire in the pin #48 to connect to the computer, but that wont work cause there's nothing on the other side of the pin. I asked about connecting it to the wire that leads into the injector, and that wont work either, it'll only read 1/8 of the rpm, and it wont even be accurate.

But in the end, he told me that they were developing a kit that'll allow the tach to be connected to the truck. this Kit was to be made available between 1 to 3 months from now, and that they would post it on their website.

So let me see, todays June 8....Lets see if they'll have it available before christmas. What do you think?

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Currently:
1999 Black F150, 4.6L 5spd manual, reg. cab, long bed, 3.55, 60/40 split bench cloth seats, black vinyl floor, K&N air filter with partial open box mod., Home Made Cold Air Intake, 10 disc sony cd changer, Wet Okole seat covers, Superchip, 285/60/16 tires, Seat belt cushions, modified the silencer (by removing it, duct-tapped the hole from the outside, and put it back in.)

Future:
4.10 gear, bug deflector, fender flares, hard tonneau cover, roll pan, ProCharger Supercharger, shaved tailgate handle, and custom paint & striping.

 

If it was me I would send it back. They sold it to your knowing it wouldn't work in your application. That's my .02. Good Luck

 

i would like to return it, but i didn't order it from them directly. I got it on impulse when i went to Moroso motorsport park, and there was these rednecks under a tent selling it, and so, i bought it from them. So now i'm stuck with it... So some how or another, i'm gonna make that damn tach work.

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Currently:
1999 Black F150, 4.6L 5spd manual, reg. cab, long bed, 3.55, 60/40 split bench cloth seats, black vinyl floor, K&N air filter with partial open box mod., Home Made Cold Air Intake, 10 disc sony cd changer, Wet Okole seat covers, Superchip, 285/60/16 tires, Seat belt cushions, modified the silencer (by removing it, duct-tapped the hole from the outside, and put it back in.)

Future:
4.10 gear, bug deflector, fender flares, hard tonneau cover, roll pan, ProCharger Supercharger, shaved tailgate handle, and custom paint & striping.

 

I have a 99XL, 4.6L model with manual tranny. I was also told that the tach would not work on my truck by tech support at Autometer but I did not give up that easily. I did connect to the computer at the pin location and it has been working perfectly for about a year. I wrote an email to Autometer explaining how I made it work but had no response from them. There is a pin on the computer but not in the plug that connects to it.

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LTDC
99 F-150, ext cab, 4.6L, 3.55 gears, limited slip, manual trans. catbac exhaust

[This message has been edited by LTDC (edited 06-17-2000).]

 

LTDC,

I saw that i didn't have the #48 wire coming out of my plug, so i punched out the little plastic thing that was in its place, and i put a wire in there instead. It had contact with the computers #48 pin, but i couldn't get any signal out of it. The guy at autometer told me that the computer was not connected to that pin at all, and thats why i couldn't get a signal out of it.

If you have made your tach work, please tell me in extreme detail what it was that you did. I've read your others posts, and what i've done is exactly what you've done, and it still hasn't worked out. So i figure that maybe you might of left some silly detail out that anyone else would of realized it, but i didn't.

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Currently:
1999 Black F150, 4.6L 5spd manual, reg. cab, long bed, 3.55, 60/40 split bench cloth seats, black vinyl floor, K&N air filter with partial open box mod., Home Made Cold Air Intake, 10 disc sony cd changer, Wet Okole seat covers, Superchip, 285/60/16 tires, Seat belt cushions, modified the silencer (by removing it, duct-tapped the hole from the outside, and put it back in.)

Future:
4.10 gear, bug deflector, fender flares, hard tonneau cover, roll pan, ProCharger Supercharger, shaved tailgate handle, and custom paint & striping.

 

LTDC,

I am very interested in a play by play on how you made your "tach" work. Everyone I've called including a local performance center simply laughed at me and said not to waist my time and money on my small engine. (4.2 V6) Just like Dissonance a step by step as well as pics if any would be greatly appreciated. Now if you do not want to post you instruction for everyone to see please e-mail it to us and would keep it to ourselves unless advised otherwise. It seems you have the solution to accomplishing our task.


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"Silver Steed"
'00 XL flareside sprcab, 5 spd, 4.2 V6, 3.55 grs, cab step-up bars. Upgrades soon (pay-check permitting)
ferdi_n@f150driver.com




[This message has been edited by slvrsteed (edited 06-22-2000).]

 

I have only one idea on how i could get a tach to work for my truck, and that would be by installing an ignition system, and by having the tach connected to that instead.

However, autometer will void the warranty of a tach if it is connected to any msd ignition system.

My tach is collecting dust in my room. I wonder if i can connect it to something else, like my mother in-law. That way she could see when she talks too much.

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Currently:
1999 Black F150, 4.6L 5spd manual, reg. cab, long bed, 3.55, 60/40 split bench cloth seats, black vinyl floor, K&N air filter with partial open box mod., Home Made Cold Air Intake, 10 disc sony cd changer, Wet Okole seat covers, Superchip, 285/60/16 tires, Seat belt cushions, modified the silencer (by removing it, duct-tapped the hole from the outside, and put it back in.)

Future:
3.73 gear, limited slip dif., 3" Ultra-flow exhaust, and maybe NOS.

 

I pulled the plug out of the computer and routed the wire through to make sure it made contact. Do a search on my post on the subject to see if you can find where I wrote out every detail of what I did. It was several months ago so if you cant find it let me know and I will try to remember all the details and write them out again. I wrote more than one so don't stop at the first one you find. There was some under the After market heading and some under the Appearance heading . Good Luck

P.S. I very much doubt that Ford made 2 different computers for the XL and the XLT models. Probably cheaper to mass produce them of all the same type.

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LTDC
99 F-150, ext cab, 4.6L, 3.55 gears, limited slip, manual trans. catbac exhaust

[This message has been edited by LTDC (edited 06-22-2000).]

 

Ford "has" made different computers. In fact, there are different computers within the XL line. That's why there are different computer codes on the passenger side door. The xlt and the xl will more than likely have different computers. And that's why at the autometer website, they specifically say that the tach will work for the 1999 F150 xlt only.

LTDC, I've read your posts, possibly not all, but i would like the details in particularly about the wire that connects to the computer. That is the part that i'm not clear about. I under stand that you put a wire into the pin 48 connection slot, but was that it? Is that all you did? It doesn't work on my truck.

 

All I did was make the connections to the battery, ground, and to the computer pin and it worked. If Ford put different computers in their 99 F-150 XL models they are really screwed in the head. I don't know why mine would have a computer with a tach output, it was ordered by me and the only thing special about it is that it is a 4wd, 4.6L and manual transmission. I would be curious to know if yours would do the thing where you can make the Odometer into a tach. If it would do that there has to be an output somewhere. I can't remember exactly how to make the Odometer read RPM's. I do remember that you hold down the Odometer button then turn on the ignition switch and then scoll through to the tach function. There was a post a few months ago that described how to do this. Maybe someone else out there knows how to make it work and will reply.

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LTDC
99 F-150, ext cab, 4.6L, 3.55 gears, limited slip, manual trans. catbac exhaust

 

I wasn't aware that ford made 4 x 4 on their xl models. That's probably the reason why the tach works on yours and not on mine.

I've since installed the tach onto my truck by connecting it to one of the coil packs. However, it works half ***. I had to cut both the orange and brown wire from the back of the tach in order to get a better signal.

The tach reads exactly half of the rpms. I set the odometer to read as a tach, and then i compared those numbers to the autometer tach. And the autometer tach was exactly half of what the digital tach would read. I have the shift light on my tach set for 2500 which is actually 5000. Thus far it works great.

I've had some friends recommend that i have the green wire go to both coil packs, and although this sounds like a logical idea at first, it is extremely wrong. having a wire go from one coil pack to the other will allow electricity to go from one coil pack into the other, which may lead to many problems with ignition, such as detonation, or poor spark.

So as for now, i have my tach working at half its potential. I'll still be waiting for autometer to develop an add on in order for it to work.

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Currently:
1999 Black F150, 4.6L 5spd manual, reg. cab, long bed, 3.55, 60/40 split bench cloth seats, black vinyl floor, K&N air filter with partial open box mod., Home Made Cold Air Intake, 10 disc sony cd changer, Wet Okole seat covers, Superchip, 285/60/16 tires, Seat belt cushions, modified the silencer (by removing it, duct-tapped the hole from the outside, and put it back in.)

Future:
4.10 gear, auburn dif, 3" Ultra-flow exhaust, and maybe NOS, maybe supercharger.