V6Discussion and questions about the base carbureted or MPFI V6's and the rare SFI Turbo V6.
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I recently got a tach as like with many V6s, it didn't come with one.
However I'm having a real pain installing it. I should be able to figure out which fuses it connects to but I cannot find where to get the actually signal for the tach.
Supposedly I just connect it to the negative of the ignition coil but I have no idea which wire it is, the only wires I can see connected to it are kind of plugged into it and are red and yellow while supposedly I'm looking for a white wire. The ignition coil does seem to physically connect to something above which seems to almost go into the firewall and it does have a white wire coming out of it along with three or so other wires but I'm unsure if it's the right wire because it doesn't look like it's actually the ignition coil.
I'd appreciate any help from someone who has installed an aftermarket tach in these cars.
Follow the plug wire that is on the center of the distributor cap to the ignition coil. I don't know what you're looking at (unless you're looking at the pickup coil in the dizzy for some reason), but the coil has 5 wires: the big black wire running to the dizzy cap, 2 wires (tan and black) in a black connector running to a 2-wire connector on the ignition module, and 2 wires (pink and white) in a gray connector that is coming out of the engine harness. The white wire in the gray connector is the one you need to tap into for the tach.
Another option is to swap in a V6 gauge cluster for your year car. This saves hacking your factory wiring harness, always undesirable, and potentially dangerous when doing it around the ignition system. Camaro guys have it easy, since the swap is plug and play. Here's the tech article.
Follow the plug wire that is on the center of the distributor cap to the ignition coil. I don't know what you're looking at (unless you're looking at the pickup coil in the dizzy for some reason), but the coil has 5 wires: the big black wire running to the dizzy cap, 2 wires (tan and black) in a black connector running to a 2-wire connector on the ignition module, and 2 wires (pink and white) in a gray connector that is coming out of the engine harness. The white wire in the gray connector is the one you need to tap into for the tach.
Okay, I followed the plug wire to the ignition coil and I see what you're talking about and there are four other wires coming out of it but they are surrounded by electrical tape at the base (Obviously wasn't like that out of the factory....) and coming out of it is two black wires, a pink wire with a black stripe and a tan wire. So I'm assuming it's one of the black wires (because the wiring seems to have been messed with before.) but both of the black wires go to the same connector on the distributor.
Okay, I followed the plug wire to the ignition coil and I see what you're talking about and there are four other wires coming out of it but they are surrounded by electrical tape at the base (Obviously wasn't like that out of the factory....) and coming out of it is two black wires, a pink wire with a black stripe and a tan wire. So I'm assuming it's one of the black wires (because the wiring seems to have been messed with before.) but both of the black wires go to the same connector on the distributor.
You want the other wire, whatever color it is, that is coming out of the same connector as the pink wire. Yes, if you have 2 black wires, the wiring to the coil has been messed with some time in the past, because the wires that should be there are as I described.
