Tachometer Opinion

[99 Pro]

What do you guys think would look better in my 1999 Protege SE (DX). I'm torn between these 2 options. Either having the Defi VSD Gauge tachometer, or having a 2 1/16" tachometer in a pillar gauge pod?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33679&item=7922319750&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V

http://www.defi-shop.com/product/basis/basis_top.html

[MIA protege]

that vsd one is pretty cool ... never seen those . just dont get the big tachs. those are kinda ricey

[99 Pro]

that vsd one is pretty cool ... never seen those . just dont get the big tachs. those are kinda ricey

No, no, no. I would never get one of those big tachs.......I hate those things. I am trying to go subtle, that is why I can't decide on those 2 ones.

[jster28]

i think the vsd one is cool. I had an apillar tach on my car it was O.k. , but swapped my cluster with one with a tach.

[mazpro]

that's what I wanted to do, but I can't find one.

[Stormtrooper77]

i think the vsd one is cool. I had an apillar tach on my car it was O.k. , but swapped my cluster with one with a tach.

I'm with this idea. If you could find a cluster that already has a tach, then stick that in there. You may have to do some basic wiring but it gives a much cleaner look. I did this with my old Eagle Summit, but that was a pain.

[jster28]

that's what I wanted to do, but I can't find one.

Try ebay, i see them on there all the time. I had an extra 99 cluster and a 01 cluster, but sold them a while back ago.


I'm with this idea. If you could find a cluster that already has a tach, then stick that in there. You may have to do some basic wiring but it gives a much cleaner look. I did this with my old Eagle Summit, but that was a pain.

You only have to tap one wire to make it work. There is a how to somewhere on this forum. Very simple, i had everything so it was plug and play. You have to make sure for 99 proteges use only a cluster from a 99. For 00+ you can use any cluster from 00-03. If not your car will run funny, this coming from experience. the 99 have some a little different wiring.

[mazpro]

2000+ can use 00 to 03? I got lucky, I tried ebay, but when I can afford one I can't find it.

[Stormtrooper77]

99 Pro: You should be able to pick up a cluster at a scrap yard for about $100 CDN. Your next task would be finding one. Note, you would have to switch out your speedo if you want to retain your km's. That's pretty easy, should be just a couple of screws.

[99 Pro]

99 Pro: You should be able to pick up a cluster at a scrap yard for about $100 CDN. Your next task would be finding one. Note, you would have to switch out your speedo if you want to retain your km's. That's pretty easy, should be just a couple of screws.

Maybe this is a dumb question, but how do you switch out your speedo? Also, there is nowhere in my province that has a used cluster? Where should I get one from? car-part.com?

[99 Pro]

Tampasport20 and I have talked about this before. I guess that because my car was made prior to 04/99 that I need to find a cluster with a tach from before 04/99 or some things will not work. My problem is trying to find a cluster (in Canada) that has around the same kms as I do is impossible. But, if I was able to do this swap and still keep my 'actual' milage (not sure how this would work), it would make my life 10 times easier to just find a 99 cluster w/ tach.

[Stormtrooper77]

You could try some of the auto wreckers here in Manitoba. Team Auto is the major import wrecker here (www.teamauto.mb.ca (http://www.teamauto.mb.ca)). They may even be willing to ship since you are next door. It'll be cheaper shipping than car-part.com.

As for swapping out the speedo. If you look in your cluster (take it apart) the speedo and the tach should be 2 separate units. Note, I haven't looked in mine so I can't really be sure. I'm just going on experience from my other car that it should be relatively the same.

So given that, what you would do is swap out the speedo from yours and insert it into your new cluster w/tach.

I wish I could be of more help, but that should get you on your way. Good luck.

[jster28]

2000+ can use 00 to 03? I got lucky, I tried ebay, but when I can afford one I can't find it.

Yes 2000+ can use a 00 to 03 cluster. You can also use one from an MSP or mp3

[99 Pro]

Yes! Just found a used cluster from Ontario. It is from a 1999 Protege (producion date 04/99), 5 speed, tach, and without keyless entry. My car that it will be going into is a 1999 Protege (prodction date 04/99), 5 speed, no tach, and no keyless entry. Basically it is the perfect donar cluster. The only thing different is that this cluster has 83,000kms, and mine has 74,000kms. Not a big deal if I swap them out and then note the difference in kms somewhere.

So when hooking up this new cluster, is there already a wire from my ecu that provides the tach signal? So would I only have to find that purple/white wire and plug it in to the proper place at the back of the new cluster? Is that how it would work? I am an electrical moron, so please be gentle with me.

[Stormtrooper77]

99 Pro: To keep your km's just swap out the speedo's. See my last post.

[99 Pro]

i think the vsd one is cool. I had an apillar tach on my car it was O.k. , but swapped my cluster with one with a tach.

Was it just plug and play jster28? Is the tach wire already back there?

[jster28]

for my car, the wire was already here. So it was plug and play. Some car dont already have it. If you remove your cluster look at the harness, the tach wire is a purple/white or white/purple wire. If you you just tap and run a wire for it.

[TampaSport20]

You could try some of the auto wreckers here in Manitoba. Team Auto is the major import wrecker here (www.teamauto.mb.ca (http://www.teamauto.mb.ca)). They may even be willing to ship since you are next door. It'll be cheaper shipping than car-part.com.

As for swapping out the speedo. If you look in your cluster (take it apart) the speedo and the tach should be 2 separate units. Note, I haven't looked in mine so I can't really be sure. I'm just going on experience from my other car that it should be relatively the same.

So given that, what you would do is swap out the speedo from yours and insert it into your new cluster w/tach.

I wish I could be of more help, but that should get you on your way. Good luck.

The odometer is wired into the board so it wont swap, and this is the part you need...I know because i did the swap to the LX Cluster w/tach and my old cluster is still in pieces

[99 Pro]

The odometer is wired into the board so it wont swap, and this is the part you need...I know because i did the swap to the LX Cluster w/tach and my old cluster is still in pieces

Ya, I am not too worried about the milage so much. What I am trying to figure out is actually how to do the swap. I am not very good at electrical stuff, and would like a how to if anyone knows of one where I could go from. If anyone has any tips for me, it would be greatly appreciated.

[99 Pro]

FINALLY!!!! Well, I decided today to stop being such a loser and worrying about everything and to just pop the old cluster out and plug the new one in just to see what happens. Everything works perfectly....the tach and everything. I even took her out for a 20 minute cruise so that I could see if it all worked.....it is fun to finally see the RPM's on my car.

All I did was just unscrew 5 screws then pulled out the 3 harnesses (those were PITA), then I hooked up the new cluster and it was all good. I'm not sure why my car was so easy but I have read a million times on other boards how if you have a Protege SE (DX) that the wiring isn't there for the tach. It might be because I made sure when I bought my cluster that it was from a car that was the same manufacturing month as mine (04/99), and that it had no keyless entry, and was a 5 speed.

But ya, everything works and the only thing that changed was the milage. I am very pumped to finally have a tach in my car!

[D-rock240]

Sounds cool, I know exactly how you feel.

I got extremely lucky on my swap. My friend is a mechanic and he asked some people he knows to keep their eyes open for an '01-03 lx with around the same miles as mine. After a month or two and 3 clusters that were semi broken, he found one that was within 500 miles of my current mileage.

It was just as simple as taking off the plastic cover, 4 screws and 3 clips (just be careful trying to swap the cluster cover, I found out the hard way when one cracked.)

I'm pretty sure that all 2000+'s are prewired for everything, because I had no trouble at all with it working correctly. A nice surprise was that the cabin auto dim light feature now works in my car, which wasn't available with the DX cluster.

[TampaSport20]

I'm pretty sure that all 2000+'s are prewired for everything.

Nope. My 2000 Wouldn't just "swap out"....I had to run a wire from the tach signal on the OBDII Diagnostic Port to the back of the new cluster to make the tach work...I got the auto dim afterwards too...However I noticed my high beam indicator doesnt work

[99 Pro]

Nope. My 2000 Wouldn't just "swap out"....I had to run a wire from the tach signal on the OBDII Diagnostic Port to the back of the new cluster to make the tach work...I got the auto dim afterwards too...However I noticed my high beam indicator doesnt work

That is why I was worried that mine wouldn't just swap out because of all the troubles you had with yours TampaSport20. But I just finally decided to see what happened if I just swapped out my old cluster for my new one to see what happened, and I was pleasantly surprised (that is an understatement) when everything worked. My harness had the purple/white wire already in mine (I checked for that cause I remembered reading that from one of your old posts), so everything was all good. Blows my mind how Mazda would already have the tach wire in there, yet not have a tach gauge in the cluster?!? WTF is up with that?

[D-rock240]

Nope. My 2000 Wouldn't just "swap out"....I had to run a wire from the tach signal on the OBDII Diagnostic Port to the back of the new cluster to make the tach work...I got the auto dim afterwards too...However I noticed my high beam indicator doesnt work

That sucks. Maybe the reason why my DX was prewired is because it has the same engine as the lx and es. Were you able to get everything working okay?

[TampaSport20]

That sucks. Maybe the reason why my DX was prewired is because it has the same engine as the lx and es. Were you able to get everything working okay?

Everything but the high beam indicator

[jster28]

Everything but the high beam indicator

Mine doesn't work either. I have a cluster from a 2002 P5 with the red lights. everything work except for the high beam indicator and the abs light comes on, since the dx doesn't have it. pull the bulb out easy fix, but dont know about the high beam thing.

[2k3 PrO RiDa]

I tried doing the swap today on my car with a cluster from a 2000 lx and I dunno why it didn't work. The only thing that worked perfectly was the lights. The tach and everything else didnt work so what could it be?? Did they sell me a cluster that could've had a fried circuit board or are the wiring harnesses totally different. I noticed the circuit boards aren't the same when I took them both apart though.

[D-rock240]

I tried doing the swap today on my car with a cluster from a 2000 lx and I dunno why it didn't work. The only thing that worked perfectly was the lights. The tach and everything else didnt work so what could it be?? Did they sell me a cluster that could've had a fried circuit board or are the wiring harnesses totally different. I noticed the circuit boards aren't the same when I took them both apart though.

Sounds like the cluster is messed up, or you need to find a cluster from a '01-'03.

[2k3 PrO RiDa]

You dont think its just a wiring problem since all the regular lights on the dash came on when i turned the car on but none of the gages worked?

[D-rock240]

Well, you said yourself that the two boards on the clusters looked different, maybe the 01+ clusters are slightly different (shrug)

[justanotheradikt]

Well, you said yourself that the two boards on the clusters looked different, maybe the 01+ clusters are slightly different (shrug)

im pretty sure 01+ clusters were sold as individual parts, not as a whole cluster. so that would lead me to suspect that they would be different.

[99 Pro]

I tried doing the swap today on my car with a cluster from a 2000 lx and I dunno why it didn't work. The only thing that worked perfectly was the lights. The tach and everything else didnt work so what could it be?? Did they sell me a cluster that could've had a fried circuit board or are the wiring harnesses totally different. I noticed the circuit boards aren't the same when I took them both apart though.

Hmm, that is weird. The only reason that I can think of is that maybe the 99-00 clusters are different than the 01-03 clusters. But I'm not sure. When I did my sway I made sure that I got a cluster from a 99 to put into my 99 Protege. Maybe a cluster from a 03 Protege would work in your car? Sorry I can't help you out.

[03promaz]

I did this swap and everything works except the temp gauge. I am getting a CEL for the gauge being out of range.