5.3 engine swap into vw. Issues with getting tach to work.
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Launching!
Joined: Oct 2013
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5.3 engine swap into vw. Issues with getting tach to work. I was hoping someone might have experience with getting an LS tach signal to work with an analog 4 cyl tach.
So far I had tried using an MSD tach driver 8913. This is made from converting a digital signal to analog. I did exactly as the directions show and the tach does not work.
After that not working I also wired in a resistor to boost the signal. Didn't work either.
I wired up the tach directly the tach output on my harness. Nothing as expected.
The stock vw cluster I am using had a single coil that fed the wire running into the cluster. Unless something fishy happens with the signal in the fuse box, I am at a loss.
Does anyone one have any direction on this?
So far I had tried using an MSD tach driver 8913. This is made from converting a digital signal to analog. I did exactly as the directions show and the tach does not work.
After that not working I also wired in a resistor to boost the signal. Didn't work either.
I wired up the tach directly the tach output on my harness. Nothing as expected.
The stock vw cluster I am using had a single coil that fed the wire running into the cluster. Unless something fishy happens with the signal in the fuse box, I am at a loss.
Does anyone one have any direction on this?
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Oct 2013
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Yes, I wired it up both ways with the resistor.
Seems to be the MSD 8920 is what a lot of the people are using for the vw/standalone crowd are using with these clusters. I just hate to throw away $70 on guesses.
Seems to be the MSD 8920 is what a lot of the people are using for the vw/standalone crowd are using with these clusters. I just hate to throw away $70 on guesses.
My Volvo has a stock VDO 4-cyl/6-cyl 12V tach. Wired the tach output from the ECU/PSI wiring harness to the tach input. And added a 12V connection through a 1000 ohm resistor to that same tach connection to adjust the ECU's 5v signal for the 12V tach. That did the trick -- although, it wasn't exactly accurate to start with. Lucky for me, the VDO OEM tach in the car has an adjustable resistor for calibration of the tach. So I hooked up to the diagnostic port/app in my phone and read off engine rpm - and used that to adjust the tach pot until the two matched.
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Launching!
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Do you have a write on your setup by any chance? I'd like to learn more about it.
Heres what I found from a vw forum about the Dakota digital tach adapter. This should clarify things a little bit to what I'm working with.
"VW tachs are voltage peak sensing. Our SGI-8 acts like a buffer and will not allow such peak voltages to pass through. The SGI-8 work with all standard ignitions, and most other ignitions, but not with voltage peak sensing tachs.
If you had issues with the MSD tachometer converter then the chances are that ours will not work either."
Heres what I found from a vw forum about the Dakota digital tach adapter. This should clarify things a little bit to what I'm working with.
"VW tachs are voltage peak sensing. Our SGI-8 acts like a buffer and will not allow such peak voltages to pass through. The SGI-8 work with all standard ignitions, and most other ignitions, but not with voltage peak sensing tachs.
If you had issues with the MSD tachometer converter then the chances are that ours will not work either."
