Club 80-90 Forums

Looking to fit a rev counter (bolt on) simply as new to vw (especially of this era) - is there a signal I can take anywhere near the dash (as many were fitted with rev counters) or do I need to run a wire all the way back to the coil?
Mine is a 1987 1.9 dg wbx

Also - interested to hear what revs I should expect this engine to do - and particularly where I should consider the redline to be!

If you have a later van, then look for a green wire to the instrument cluster.

That would be your rpm signal wire.

On the fusebox,
The following pins are wired internally to the green wire from the coil.

E12 (green wire) to coil
C21 internally
D19 internally, wired (red / black) to D26.
D26 internally to relay 2 pin 5.
D26 internally to B19 - (green wire) instrument cluster T14 pin 9.
D26 internally to relay 4 pin 1

Many thanks - will take a look!

Thread updated - it should be quite easy to get a full wiring diagram for the 1987 DG van.

Note it is a 12 volt signal direct from the coil,

not a 5 volt transistorised signal.

You won't blow a healthy DG with excessive revs, I have sent one to 7k+ with no ill effects when the throttle cable iced up in a hard winter.
The hard bit is knowing if you have a healthy one.

Very good to know - thank you!

Put the rev counter on today - seems to do what it needs, just looks a bit ‘Halfords bling’ though On an otherwise big standard (the way I prefer) van- but at least I can make sure I’m treating her correctly now.
Fortunately my 1987 did have the coil feed to the dash - although I had to reseat the ribbon a few times to get the temp gauge working again. Used the earth for the stereo (ones never been fitted) and switch live from the heater blower.