How do you install a tach?
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 129
From:
How do you install a tach?
I know this is a dumbass question but I got a tach today from a friend of mine but I don't know how to install it. It has a red and black which I know are the hot and ground wires but then it has the green and white wires too and I don't know where they go...please help me out. Pics would be great.
HCF Member
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 11,248
From: Charleston
RE: How do you install a tach?
Ive never installed one. Im looking to do that ( I know you guys might shoot me but it does look bad) but with a voltmeter and a boost gauge with that thing APC has that you screw into your dash and it holds the guages down to your bottom left and right out of the way thing.
HCF Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 8,469
RE: How do you install a tach?
okk..installing a tack is very easy..i have a autogage and you have the same wires i do, ok so............the GREEN wire is going to be your tack singnal, this is going to have to get hooked up to your tack singnal in your engine bay, now i have a 2000 civic se, where my tack singnal is, is when you open the hood look at the very top to the very right ,its a wire thats all alone on a back metel holder thing, it is a baby blue color with a silver stripe around it about every inch then later is goes into a harness, well thats the wire that you have to splice and hook up that GREEN wire too, the green wire is not going to be long enoph to reach so just get some wire the same size and extend it. Next is the BLACK wire, the back is ground,im sure you can find somewere to hook that up, make sure its a good ground tho. RED is going to be power for the tack, now what your going to need is a voltmeter, find where all the fuses are under the dash, when you found them, use the voltmeter to test one of the empty spaces to see if it is a constant, that means when you turn the key to accessory, power will be running through it,you shouldent have a problem with that because im pretty sure they are all constant anyways, so once you have found it, put a conecter on the end of your red wire and plug it into the empty fuse slot.(if you dont have a voltmeter,just hook it up to any fuse slot and turn your key the accessory position and see if the tack moves (make sure u do the black and green wire first tho)) and for safety, put a fuse inline with the red wire (as you would ALWAYS fuse a power wire for anything). next is the WHITE wire, the white wire lights up your tack at night, now there are 2 options for the white wire, you can hook it up so that when ever you turn your car on, the light is on, or ...when you turn your dash lights on, it goes on, i will explane both. So if u want the light to be on all the time, alls you have to do is hook the white wire up with the red one,easy enoph. if you want the light to go on only when you turn your dash lights on, take out the adjuster **** thing that makes you turn you dash lights brighter or dimmer at night, when you take that out, there is going to be a couple a wires coming out the back of it, i think only 2 or 3, you want to find the white one and splice into it and connect the tack white wire to it......there you go, very easy, sorry i cant get any pics, my brother has the camera right now but you shouldent have any problems.....goodluck
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 285
From:
RE: How do you install a tach?
i love this forum you guys are a info warehouses
ORIGINAL: mill$civic
okk..installing a tack is very easy..i have a autogage and you have the same wires i do, ok so............the GREEN wire is going to be your tack singnal, this is going to have to get hooked up to your tack singnal in your engine bay, now i have a 2000 civic se, where my tack singnal is, is when you open the hood look at the very top to the very right ,its a wire thats all alone on a back metel holder thing, it is a baby blue color with a silver stripe around it about every inch then later is goes into a harness, well thats the wire that you have to splice and hook up that GREEN wire too, the green wire is not going to be long enoph to reach so just get some wire the same size and extend it. Next is the BLACK wire, the back is ground,im sure you can find somewere to hook that up, make sure its a good ground tho. RED is going to be power for the tack, now what your going to need is a voltmeter, find where all the fuses are under the dash, when you found them, use the voltmeter to test one of the empty spaces to see if it is a constant, that means when you turn the key to accessory, power will be running through it,you shouldent have a problem with that because im pretty sure they are all constant anyways, so once you have found it, put a conecter on the end of your red wire and plug it into the empty fuse slot.(if you dont have a voltmeter,just hook it up to any fuse slot and turn your key the accessory position and see if the tack moves (make sure u do the black and green wire first tho)) and for safety, put a fuse inline with the red wire (as you would ALWAYS fuse a power wire for anything). next is the WHITE wire, the white wire lights up your tack at night, now there are 2 options for the white wire, you can hook it up so that when ever you turn your car on, the light is on, or ...when you turn your dash lights on, it goes on, i will explane both. So if u want the light to be on all the time, alls you have to do is hook the white wire up with the red one,easy enoph. if you want the light to go on only when you turn your dash lights on, take out the adjuster **** thing that makes you turn you dash lights brighter or dimmer at night, when you take that out, there is going to be a couple a wires coming out the back of it, i think only 2 or 3, you want to find the white one and splice into it and connect the tack white wire to it......there you go, very easy, sorry i cant get any pics, my brother has the camera right now but you shouldent have any problems.....goodluck
okk..installing a tack is very easy..i have a autogage and you have the same wires i do, ok so............the GREEN wire is going to be your tack singnal, this is going to have to get hooked up to your tack singnal in your engine bay, now i have a 2000 civic se, where my tack singnal is, is when you open the hood look at the very top to the very right ,its a wire thats all alone on a back metel holder thing, it is a baby blue color with a silver stripe around it about every inch then later is goes into a harness, well thats the wire that you have to splice and hook up that GREEN wire too, the green wire is not going to be long enoph to reach so just get some wire the same size and extend it. Next is the BLACK wire, the back is ground,im sure you can find somewere to hook that up, make sure its a good ground tho. RED is going to be power for the tack, now what your going to need is a voltmeter, find where all the fuses are under the dash, when you found them, use the voltmeter to test one of the empty spaces to see if it is a constant, that means when you turn the key to accessory, power will be running through it,you shouldent have a problem with that because im pretty sure they are all constant anyways, so once you have found it, put a conecter on the end of your red wire and plug it into the empty fuse slot.(if you dont have a voltmeter,just hook it up to any fuse slot and turn your key the accessory position and see if the tack moves (make sure u do the black and green wire first tho)) and for safety, put a fuse inline with the red wire (as you would ALWAYS fuse a power wire for anything). next is the WHITE wire, the white wire lights up your tack at night, now there are 2 options for the white wire, you can hook it up so that when ever you turn your car on, the light is on, or ...when you turn your dash lights on, it goes on, i will explane both. So if u want the light to be on all the time, alls you have to do is hook the white wire up with the red one,easy enoph. if you want the light to go on only when you turn your dash lights on, take out the adjuster **** thing that makes you turn you dash lights brighter or dimmer at night, when you take that out, there is going to be a couple a wires coming out the back of it, i think only 2 or 3, you want to find the white one and splice into it and connect the tack white wire to it......there you go, very easy, sorry i cant get any pics, my brother has the camera right now but you shouldent have any problems.....goodluck
HCF Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 8,469
RE: How do you install a tach?
i got a pic here of the tack wire, the first pic is a upclose of it, u can see the baby blue with the silver stripe on it just before it gets coverd with the tape, where the tape is ,is were i spliced into and u can see the red wire coming out, thats my tack wire, the other pic is not as close just to show were the area were is it...and for the hole in the firewall, find were all the computer wires go through, its pretty big, mine is on my passenger side
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 120
From: Brampton, Ontario Canada
RE: How do you install a tach?
The other option is to use the existing wiring on the back of your instrument cluster. The blue wire with the stripe is also behind the cluster(near the temperature indicator) and this where I wired mine up. Using a voltmeter I also checked which wiring was getting power when the ignition was powered, I stayed away from the Yellow wires due to SRS, black wire with a yellow stripe is the one I used for power. Then next I used the voltmeter to see which wiring was powered when the headlights were put to on and hooked up the white wire here. The black as described was taken to an excellent ground. I used inline aviation splices but any auto parts supplier would stock splices. This was fairly easy and you don't have to go through the firewall. It was also a very clean looking install, no wiring hanging out of your fuse box. The tach was installed on the A pillar and only required a small drill hole into the plastic. I used a rubber grommet to keep the wiring from chafing and the A pillar is great for support as it doesn't bounce the tach around to much. Hope this helps as well.
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 21
RE: How do you install a tach?
You don't actually have to go through the firewall. If you take off your gauges there are wire clips connecting to it. Two smaller ones on each side, and two big ones--one dead center, one a little to the left. On my Honda Civic DX, the tach wire is blue with silver rings and it is on the big clip a little to the left.
WARNING: Some places on the net say that use the blue wire with silver rings on the smaller clip on the left. THAT IS WRONG! That wire goes to the airbag (SRS) light, and can be a pain if you cut it.
WARNING: Some places on the net say that use the blue wire with silver rings on the smaller clip on the left. THAT IS WRONG! That wire goes to the airbag (SRS) light, and can be a pain if you cut it.
