Does anyone here have experience with aftermarket tachometers? My DX came stock with an auditory tach only.

That asked, what is redline for these cars?

-'88 Corolla All-Trac DX 5-speed, stock 4AFE engine.

Thanks!

Quoted from ajmcafee

Does anyone here have experience with aftermarket tachometers? My DX came stock with an auditory tach only.

That asked, what is redline for these cars?

-'88 Corolla All-Trac DX 5-speed, stock 4AFE engine.

Thanks!

Mine already has the tach on the instrument cluster, but I was considering getting one of those external gage clusters that mount to the inside of the A pillar or attaches under the front dash.  Have you thought about getting an instrument cluster at a junkyard. Any regular Corolla of the same vintage should suffice.  The All-Trac instrument cluster is not unique.  Be aware that the clusters for the Carib Sprinter can be unique to them; some came with an extended extra-wide instrument cluster.  I would rather get one of those, but unfortunately, I have only seen these in Sprinters and unless I can find one of those, I will have to keep using the instrument cluster that I already have.

Dumb question, how would you hook up a tach if you don't already have one?  Is there an unused connector somewhere in the dash for standard models (I have a DX, or a DLX, as my insurance company says)?

Quoted from Rogue

Dumb question, how would you hook up a tach if you don't already have one?  Is there an unused connector somewhere in the dash for standard models (I have a DX, or a DLX, as my insurance company says)?

Now that's a good question.  I'll have to check out the service manual on where the tach reads from.
I'll post my response shortly.

Yeah I'm wondering same thing ...probably this questions been asked before in many other forums...

I think it was answered in another post here.  There is a pinout on all of the All-Tracs' wire harnesses for the gauge cluster that is supposed to feed a tachometer.  Supposedly, I can hook up any tach to that pinout on my tach-free wagon, and get my RPMs shown to me instead of the auditory gauge like AJ mentioned    I'm willing to try it sometime, but I would much rather get a tach'd cluster from the junkyard...

Well I'll let you guys know soon enough..., when I change mine over to the tacho I got from the wreckers..

I'm wondering if I'll need to wire up any plug ins....  I took detailed photo's of the wiring & position of all the plug pins when I was at the wreckers just in case.

I also took both the male & female plug in parts, without snipping any wires (I think in the back of my mind I was thinking that if I bought the sedan I didn't want to damage anything...)

I'll take photo's for you guys when I wire it up

Speaking of stock versus aftermarket, here are the dashboards/instrument clusters on some of those fancy Caribs. Dylangumby, is your instrument cluster like this one:

No, I wish! When I import another I'm going to request that dash!

This is mine, different stereo now;

Though I would love to have that extended dash datsa posted (which is a LHD it seems), I like having the stereo up higher.  Especially since my clock doesn't work   I'm thinking about finding a digital tach and installing it in the space where the clock is... might be kind of inconvenient to look at though.  Better to have it next to or above the speedometer.

I'm the opposite I'd rather have my stereo lower, mostly because its very bright and when I'm driving on a dark highway I sometimes stick a post-it note on the screen just to block the light from my peripheral. =P

Just put in a factory tach from a donor car. Took a couple hours but was a plug and play install. The trick was to disconnect the speedo cable from the coupling in the engine compartment. Once done it enabled me to pull the old dash out far enough to disconnect the speedo cable from the back of the old assy as well as the 3 electrical connections.
Down side is it's in kilometers. I like to calculate mpg with every fill up. It'll be a minor hassle to do the conversion but worth it now that I have a slick looking factory tach.

There were no additional wires/plug ins to look for when I hooked up the "new" dash with tachometer. The same (3) connectors I removed from the old dash assy clipped into the (3) identical slots on the "new" dash. I then started the car and the tachometer operated immediately as well as the temp and fuel guages.
Like I said, plug and play. It worked so well it was almost creepy. That was the easiest car mod I've ever done. It's nice to get one like that every once in awhile...

Quoted from ajmcafee

Does anyone here have experience with aftermarket tachometers? My DX came stock with an auditory tach only.

That asked, what is redline for these cars?

-'88 Corolla All-Trac DX 5-speed, stock 4AFE engine.

Thanks!

Redline is 6300 rpms
These tacho's are available second hand on ebay if you keep an eye out for them - look around in wreckers too..

Thats the one I've got!