Gauges.

[rawdeal454]

Hey.
Ive got myself a 87 monte LS. Its got a 3.8 v6.
I would like to know how i can get my gauges working, The car only had the speedometer n fuel gauge but my brother bought me off ebay all the gauges from another gbody monte. ive got them all hooked up but nothing works. Someone told me that i had to switch the wires around but for the love of me i cant figure it out. He said he found out how to do it on this site and i cant find what he was telling me about, So can help me id be much obliged cuz driving around with the gauges not working is driving me nuts.

 

[dan2286]

Are they the same type of gauge cluster that came with the car?

 

[rawdeal454]

yes they are. its from another monte carlo.

 

[Vern]

Not sure about the Monte but the Cutlass pack has a switch in back to switch from 6 cylinder to 8 cylinder.

 

[rawdeal454]

i didnt change my engine. i jsut switched all the gauges..

 

[dan2286]

i didnt change my engine. i jsut switched all the gauges..

What he is saying is that there might be a switch on the back of the cluster for a v8 or v6. The guages could have come from a v8, and you have a v6.

 

[malibu80]

What you'll need is a factory wiring diagram. There may be some differences in the wiring harness inside the car. GM may have used the same inside harness for both with and without gauges. If that is the case one problem solved. Definitely, you will need the engine harness out of a donor car with gauges and corresponding sending units on engine block.
Depending on your level of comfort with wiring, it is possible to hook up the factory gauges without the engine harness. On my 83 Malibu, it came with a clock and I ended up replacing it with the tach/clock with my own wiring with the help of the factory wiring diagrams.

Good luck

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

When I did it, I needed both the engine bay and dash harnesses from cars that came with the gauge package, plus the proper sending units. The 6 and 8 thing is for the tach, and it needs to be in the right slot for the engine, or it will be off. It will read 125% of the RPM's of a V8 in the V6 position, and 75% of the RPM's of a V6 in the V8 position.

 

[rawdeal454]

the harness ? do u mean the plastic circuit think thats on the back of the plastic casing ? cuz ive got all that.

 

[dan2286]

the harness ? do u mean the plastic circuit think thats on the back of the plastic casing ? cuz ive got all that.

The harness is everything in that part of the circuit. You might have the harness, but it is not made for your car specifically. It will probably have the same color wires, but the wires will be going into different pins in the connecor. If they are not in the right pins , some things will not work.