Hooking up autometer monster tach w/ shift light

[Marker1989]

So I tried my hand at hooking up my tach a while back and it doesnt work, it doesnt light up and it stays at like 9 grand. I hate wiring so I should have known better than to attempt it. Its an 88 LX if that matters, and I have a wire directly to the 6AL for the signal. So if anybody could give me a step by step of how to hook it up correctly id appreciate it much.
Thanks, Mark

[rtvickers]

Not sure if this will help but I had one on my 2000 SS Camaro and I had to use the brown wire that came out of the back of the tach. Its been awhile so im not excatly sure what wires go where. But hope this can help. Try youtube also. You will be surprised what you can learn on there.

[facemelter71]

White goes to lights,red is 12 volt positive,black is ground,green goes to negative side of coil. Or to the tach plug on msd box,I think. I'm going off of memory.

[Marker1989]

Black and green shouldnt be an issue. Apperently my key on source and light source aren't right. I was kind of hoping somebody knew exactly which wires they spliced them into. I used to have a diagram for the dash and gauges, I'll have to try to dig it up and post it here.

[facemelter71]

I would give you that info,only problem is on my car I have an extra Painless wiring 7 Circuit fuse block in the the glove box for all my extra electrical crap.
Probly one of the best things I have bought.

[chris91]

Just use a test light to find a good keyed on source at the fuse box. For the light, in a pinch I have used the orange wire on my aftermarket radio harness before with no problems. Hope that helps, good luck.

oh and to just make sure your tach is good just hook it up under the hood real quick. I recently had my autometer tach in my cluster take a shit on me and it did the same thing you're sayin. $35 bucks and they fixed and recalibrated it for me. Also check to make sure your bulb isnt blown. :)

[1987coupe]

another thing to watch for is some of the autometer tachs require a tach adapter to run with a 6al msd im running into the same problem. if theres a way to get around it let me know

[facemelter71]

another thing to watch for is some of the autometer tachs require a tach adapter to run with a 6al msd im running into the same problem. if theres a way to get around it let me know

Which tach would this be by chance? Im reading on there web page and they all say they need the Negative side of the coil or the tach plug on the MSD.

If you have a C.O.P. system,then yea you would need a tach driver/adapter.But from all my memory,if you have an MSD you should be able to just tie right into the Tach plug on the side of the MSD.

[1987coupe]

The manual that came with my 6al has a list of tachs that require the tach adapter. The one i have is the autometer autoguage which the manual says requires the tach adapter. My tach operates like it is on the 4cyl setting which it isnt.

[facemelter71]

hook it to the negative side of your coil. see if it does the same thing.

[1987coupe]

The tach goes crazy when i hook it up that way but i know its good because it works great in my truck

[mustang8998]

The manual that came with my 6al has a list of tachs that require the tach adapter. The one i have is the autometer autoguage which the manual says requires the tach adapter. My tach operates like it is on the 4cyl setting which it isnt.

I ran the same tach on mine. Hooked to the 6AL, no adapter.

Maybe there is something wrong with the tach, or the output of the box?

[Marker1989]

hook it to the negative side of your coil. see if it does the same thing.

I'll try this first when I get home from indy, I need to use the test light and make sure its getting power as well.

[facemelter71]

I ran the same tach on mine. Hooked to the 6AL, no adapter.

Maybe there is something wrong with the tach, or the output of the box?

Ive got the same tach in my truck right now,no adapter. And its the Autogage.

If it jumps around like that,that makes me thing the wires are cut on the back to change it to a 4 or 6 cylinder setup. Seems kinda odd.

[bandit'sgirl]

if tachs jumping around, you might have a bad ground