1993 Geo Tracker Tachometer Issue

[JohnnyG]

Hello. New user here. I have searched through the site and the internet but could not find an answer to the issue my Tracker is experiencing so I thought I'd reach out to the Sidekick/Tracker community to see if anyone might have some suggestions.

Vehicle info: 1993 Geo Tracker, 8v, MT, 4WD, 123K miles

Issue: Tachometer reads 0 at idle. It does register RPMs when the engine is revved, but I don't think what is displayed is accurate. It appears to be reading low by the approx. idle RPM. So when it is showing 2000 RPMs, I think the engine is really turning more like ~2600.

The Tracker starts, runs, and drives fine.

I bought the Tracker about 2 years ago and have just been fixing things here and there. This site has been a huge help and I hope it can be again. I appreciate any information or suggestions. Thank you.

[fixkick]

Hello. New user here. I have searched through the site and the internet but could not find an answer to the issue my Tracker is experiencing so I thought I'd reach out to the Sidekick/Tracker community to see if anyone might have some suggestions.

Vehicle info: 1993 Geo Tracker, 8v, MT, 4WD, 123K miles

Issue: Tachometer reads 0 at idle. It does register RPMs when the engine is revved, but I don't think what is displayed is accurate. It appears to be reading low by the approx. idle RPM. So when it is showing 2000 RPMs, I think the engine is really turning more like ~2600.

The Tracker starts, runs, and drives fine.

I bought the Tracker about 2 years ago and have just been fixing things here and there. This site has been a huge help and I hope it can be again. I appreciate any information or suggestions. Thank you.

first off hot idle is 800 rpm +- 50
so if you use and optical tach (tool meter in hand) pointed to a pulley up front, and shows 800 hot.
and tach is 000 the tach is bad .
or slim possibility of car having factory cruise control and it shorts out the brown tacho wire, just unplug the cruise box. module.
the meter very crude  and if the caps in the meter (cluster) are bad the dash tacho will read wrong or dead. and very easy to fix , if removed in hand , solder in new caps.


good luck finding cause,  but tool makes it 10x more easy.

[fixkick]

also if the brown wire called Tacho, goes dead

the ECU detects that and CUTS all fuel injection, instantly.
so the tach is bad, if RPM is correct at 800.(true engine rpm hot)
top cause bad caps in the actual meter, in cluster.

[JohnnyG]

Sorry for the delayed response. Got busy and the tach issue got pushed off.
I appreciate all the detailed info.
I got the tach out (not sure how I'm gonna get that speedometer cable reconnected). No obvious issues with the electrolytic caps, but I got new ones on order today. $4 worth of parts and $8 for shipping. Will follow up after I receive them and get them installed.

[fixkick]

Sorry for the delayed response. Got busy and the tach issue got pushed off.
I appreciate all the detailed info.
I got the tach out (not sure how I'm gonna get that speedometer cable reconnected). No obvious issues with the electrolytic caps, but I got new ones on order today. $4 worth of parts and $8 for shipping. Will follow up after I receive them and get them installed.

CABLE TOP end is tricky

it is a soft aluminum cage
if you reshape it, to normal
it simply snaps back i place,  
the cable is square tipped so that must align as inserted or it jams

that is it, on that funny end of the cable.

the inside of that alum. cage lock is 2 tang locks that only need to be sprung back closer inboard,
so  on insertion it snaps in and locks.

cheers to you and good luck !

[Peter Wood]

I'm in the same position!

My tacho is non-functioning, completetely, it just slooowly under-read over time then completely died, not even a flicker.

Car is running fine so its not a bad brown wire.

I took the whole instrument cluster apart to see if I could find anything obvious, but no.  Put it back together.  


So, question is do I replace the unstrument unit as one piece or just the tacho?  My complete unit P/N is 34100-77E50  I can find a used but working complete unit with P/N 34100-75E00   is this likely to work?  Do the last couple of digits matter?

BTW, I tried pulling the tacho pointer off but no go, is there some trick?

Cheers!

[fixkick]

the tacho is a very simple device.
it  hasa  real meter there, 
To Peter: (no year car?)
and a PCB that has some transistors.
and some caps,  the caps do no last."round can shape electrolytic polarized caps"

suzuki does not sell these old parts now (meters or the whole cluster.)
only parts you can find now are on ebay. (discontinued parts)

change out the caps. is one cure. and......
the TACHOMETER AS REAR screws that can fall out or be loose and if did the tachometer is now dead.
I you look close the PCB traces use the tacho screws to make the connection so must connect, clean.
same screws or copper PCB pads love to rust and corrode this old for sure driving with top down or front class broken, ever. (in the rain)



PS
the needles do press on, and if you do hank them off, the meter calibration is now gone, (actually far worse)

[fixkick]

to cross over tachos (substitutions)
id need to know the exact car spec,  or tag number on bottom of of the head.
oops you did.

34100-77E50
77E50 means. (let me hope is same as your car new, and not wrongly replaced by others )

so lets decode 77E50
this number is the whole head 34100- means whole
this 77 code is for J18 SUZUKI sport model. 
the 77E50 is not  in the world list of arts  (EPC no hits, odd that)
is this USA car?
is it 4wd, steel top, 4door ? but what year, sport J18  engine,  96 to 98? year?  ours uSE is 77EN0 code. all 3 years. code E3= Fed USA
the sport is nothing like any G16, the sport has  cop coils and the ECU/PCM sends very unqiue tacho single to a unique head.

so what  car do you drive there are 100s of heads used , and more world wide (vast in fact)
the heads vary by (factors)   Heads are most hard part of this car to source for these reasons and more. ask.

1. year
   
   
2. J18 or G16 engine (and others world wide,  called engine type codes some with very very unique distributors or DIS no distributor at all)
   
   
3. 4wd or 2wd the former gets tacho but  latter none
   
   
4. transmission type 3,4, 5sp (latter is manual trans)
   
   
5. calif, or FED use, (nag switch bs, but can be ignored this) but USA heads. have MPH, and outside USA KPH speedo, scales.
   
   
6. and by country up to 50 countries supported.
   
7. the car is not a sideskick or Tracker at all but is X90 or other suzuki car.  I need the VIN to know.
   

on cars this old , the Speedo cluster may be just the wrong one put in, by some PO , prev; owners.

[fixkick]

the suzuki parts catalogs
ask first the country
then body type..... SE416 or SV418 (g16 or J18) etc, lots of bodies, and names, vitara etc.

[Peter Wood]

Good Morning,

This is interesting, for sure I DON'T have the 1800 engine, its just a plain ol G16B, in a 1997 4 door, 4wd, auto. So it seems that some previous owner must have changed out the instruments, maybe just found one that works and 'good enough'.

All screws in the back were in good condition and tight, PCB looked good. So either the caps or the main instrument is U/S. It looks pretty delicate, so I've not messed with it. Do you have to remove the instrument from the facia card to replace the caps? That means removing the pointer, which trashes the calibration?

Looks like the only option is to swop in a couple of clusters to try to find one that works.

BTW, did you have a new engine wiring harness made up for your rebuild? My injector harness crumbles to the touch and I'd like to get something a bit more robust!