crazyman03 Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 (edited) So a friend of mine gave me a 5" auto meter memory tach. I installed it in my '95 Imp. 2.2. E only problem is its showing about half of what the stock one is. 2k on the stock is only 1k on the auto meter, 4k on the stock is about 2k on the auto meter. As per the instructions, I wired it all right. I even clipped the 6 and 8 cyl. Wires to allow for a 4 cyl. Did I wire it to the right signal wire? I tried (I from memory, please forgive me) the 2 outter wires, not st the same time obviously, at the coil pack with the same results. am I going at it the wrong way? I'm used to using the tach wire as a signal that the car is on for alarms, not for actual accurate readings... -Justin Edited June 10, 2012 by crazyman03 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Try using the tach output wire from the ECU instead. Since the coil pack fire groups of 2 (1,2 and 3,4) it isn't directly used to drive the tach.....the ECU has an output wire for that. It's a Black/blue strip wire. Should be able to access it near the ECU, TCU, or Cruise computers. Or, behind the dash at the cluster. It's the same color everywhere.....FSM can pinpoint the connector for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyman03 Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 So you're saying there is a black/blue wire at the tach on the cluster and it should work? Hmm.. I might just Ty that.. I have to pull the cluster out again anyway to fiddle with my fuel gauge.. -Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyman03 Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 Doing some research, For others to reference, http://guibo.com/~guibo/subaru_doc/ -Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyman03 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 Well, i found a Black/Blue stripe wire coming out of the ECU.. nada as far as a signal. I didnt see one out of the cruse control though.. there was a little box with about 8 or so wires coming out of it that wasnt labeled.. IT had a black/blue wire.. i'll try that later. Anyone know anything else to try? I'm trying to find a FSM for my car.. the one i saw earlier was more '96 WRX goo.. not mine.. -Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyman03 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 ok, so i tried the *other* black with blue stripe. no go. I did a bit more research and found a Yellow/Red wire? It says at the ignition module. I was thinking the ECU? I found one on the ECU, no good. I know the tach works.. wthell? is there something else i'm supposed to do? am i supposed to be in +6 cyl mode to make it work? -Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyman03 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 alrighty.. so i've been working with a guy from autometer and he helped me find the right wire. Its a Red wire on the connection bundle on the tach side of the cluster - 4th wire down from the top, leads directly to the tach. Worked like a charm! http://youtu.be/k-hHmnMrvDE -Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eulogious Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 The black/blue wire from the ecu probably didn't work because it doesn't have the same voltage that those gauges are looking for (12v). In order to get a digi dash to work with an EJ swap, you need to wire a resistor in with another resistor so that you lower the threshold voltage that the digi dash is looking for, so based off of that, the black/blue wire is not 12v, which is probably what the gauges are looking for. By going off of the back of the gauge cluster, you found a 12v signal that the gauges needed. Another option would have been to hook into both sides of the coil pack at the same time... you could wire in some diodes for extra protection if you wanted. Because the EJ's are wasted spark and just fire one side of the coil pack or the other, you just needed another wire connecting the other side of the coil pack to get the "full" tach signal. The way you had it wired up the first time, you were only picking up the signal when one side of the coil pack was firing, not both sides, hence why your RPM's were cut in half. Of course this is just theory since I have not actually tried this. But that should explain your issues when you first wired up your tach. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyman03 Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 Oh i figured that with the coil pack - Since it fires 1/3 and 2/4 simultaneously. Using the Red wire behind the cluster worked out better, I'd rather use a signal that i dont have to modify than use one that i have to Jerry-rig. btw, its not a EJ swap, It has a EJ22 built in ;-) -Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eulogious Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Oh i figured that with the coil pack - Since it fires 1/3 and 2/4 simultaneously. Using the Red wire behind the cluster worked out better, I'd rather use a signal that i dont have to modify than use one that i have to Jerry-rig. btw, its not a EJ swap, It has a EJ22 built in ;-) -Justin Ahh, I thought you didn't know why it wasn't working since you sounded confused that it wasn't working when it was connected to the coil pack... I guess I should've clarified my whole point with the digi dash swap story... The EA cars are looking for a 12v signal coming off the negative side of the coil (like your tach), while the EJ's use an output that the ECU creates, and it's not 12v coming right off of the ECU. So of course the ECU wire would not power the tach. That was the whole point of that story A 2.2 impreza wouldn't need an EJ swap I also wouldn't call running 2 wires "jerry-rigging". It's running 2 wires because you need 2 wires to get the full signal. I would come off of the coil myself, because taking apart the dash is a PITA, no matter how many times you have done it, not to mention putting it back together correctly. You are cramped on space behind the dash as well, so trying to solder a wire behind the dash is a PITA (and if I am doing something behind the dash it will be soldered so I don't ever have to worry about that connection again), but not so much when you are under the hood. This is of course just preference You got some diagrams that show the correct wire to tap into for anyone who wants to do this in the future? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyman03 Posted June 16, 2012 Author Share Posted June 16, 2012 ... Its a Red wire on the connection bundle on the tach side of the cluster - 4th wire down from the top, leads directly to the tach. Worked like a charm! http://youtu.be/k-hHmnMrvDE -Justin ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eulogious Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Well technically that's a video, not a diagram. I don't do youtube. I am at work now, and I am remotely surfing the web, so youtube doesn't work that well over ssh. Pics/diagrams are much simpler and I can print them and refer to them much easier than a youtube video ;-) But from your response I take it you don't have a diagram then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyman03 Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 lol, sorry.. i actually dont have a diagram but i mentioned the correct wire and how to locate it in that post. the video is simply the tach working is all. You still have that Loyale? how did you get the paddle shifter mod to work? -Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eulogious Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Cool, it's all good man. Nah, I don't got the loyale anymore, I ran that puppy into a concrete median doing 70 MPH a few years back now... I got a 1990 leggy LS. I love my car The paddles required finding the right model of TCU (way harder than it sounds, trust me. Been looking for about 2 years and only found 1 that would actually work) so you can desolder the old ROM and then solder on a socket so you can use a new ROM with custom code that was written by presslab. I then installed the "DCCD" knob and the paddles. Works great with my leggy! Glad you got into an EJ series! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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