Club 80-90 Forums

Hi
I have just purchased a new dash mounted rev counter for my van.

I need some help with the wiring. I need to connect a feed from the ignition to the gauge (red), can I just splice from the red wire that is attached to the key barrel on the steering column>?

Also please confirm black is earth, green from coil or ECU and white is for light switch (optional?)

Afternoon
You have not told us what engine you have , so the answer is twice as long .....
( put your van details in your signature in your profile like other have, it saves ages !)

If it's petrol, you need to take a feed from the coil ( din15) green wire
If it's diesel you take the feed from the "W" connection on the alternator

And the just a (+) 12vdc from a ignition on live and a (-) 12vdc from chassis earth

Thanks Mocki - have updated my sig now.

Hope this helps

Don't assume that black is earth/negative ze Germans use black as positive - Webastos have black as positive/live. CHECK IT YOURSELF. Same with any wire on an old vehicle.

I mentioned this a week ago but when I did mine, I bought about 8 metres of thin three-core mains flex from wilco. It was cheap and as its in a sheath is adequately protected. You only need to use one colour obviously but it then means you have two extra wires the next time you need to run anything from engine bay to dash. Just cable tie it to existing cables that run front to back underneath. Took me at most 30 minutes.

Going to do this mod next

I have just done this last week on my 1987 T25 1.9DG. The 14 pin connector which attaches the instrument cluster to the loom has a green wire, I think pin 9? which is for a rev counter connection. The black wire next to it is a 12V ignition switchable feed. The wire at the end of the connector which is grey and blue is the feed for the dash lights and will feed illumination if your rev counter has it. Earths can be attached to any suitable grounding point.

All vans post late 1986 had the green feed wire as a rev counter was optional from new. If you don't have it, you will need to run a wire from the coil.

Ok so I have the gauges and all pretty self explanatory however..

I need to connect the power wire and illumination wire to an ignition on switch (so it powers up when ignitions is turned on)

Where is the best place to connect them to. I am assuming the ignition switch wire on the steering column is the big red one???
Or would it be best to pull the feed off the fuse box and if so which one?

Thanks

I'd pull it off the fusebox rather than have to cut into stuff. Use a meter and see whats live with ignition on and is dead when its not.

Thanks m8
Will do

As I am in the middle of the EJ25 conversion I dont have the battery wired up - I have found this

Could I use number 12?

Yes:) or 11 I think

Silly question but do you take the feed from the top or bottom as you look at the fuses???

Top

I didn't go from the fuse box for two reasons. Firstly it is not that easy to do on my van as all the fuses are new blade types and plug in to a moulded block with no real opportunity to use 'piggyback' spade connectors. There are a lot of wires there and getting to the one you want is a nightmare. Secondly, all the feeds you need are at the 14 pin connector which will be only inches from where you want to mount your rev counter. I deliberated about cutting the wires and fitting joints but decided if I did it well the is will be fine. My van is almost 30 years old and I am not the first to fiddle with the wiring by a long shot! I used the feed for the dash lights to connect my rev counter light.

keynsham1 wrote:I didn't go from the fuse box for two reasons. Firstly it is not that easy to do on my van as all the fuses are new blade types and plug in to a moulded block with no real opportunity to use 'piggyback' spade connectors. There are a lot of wires there and getting to the one you want is a nightmare. Secondly, all the feeds you need are at the 14 pin connector which will be only inches from where you want to mount your rev counter. I deliberated about cutting the wires and fitting joints but decided if I did it well the is will be fine. My van is almost 30 years old and I am not the first to fiddle with the wiring by a long shot! I used the feed for the dash lights to connect my rev counter light.

Thanks
Could you tell me what wires to splice into from the ignition then?

My rev counter has 2 light modes, one (white) I will attach to the ignition on as well so it is on all the time - the blue I will attach to the head light switch so it changes to blue when the lights are turned on.