I got a tach for my 93 3.0. Autometer. Haven't gotten it in the mail but i did one of these on a camaro years back so I remember it having 4 wires
black - ground
red - hot
white - illumination
green - signal

I'm an HVAC guy so cutting and splicing wires, drilling holes, etc isn't anything I am afraid of. I know where to get ground. I was curious where do I splice in my signal wire, and where is a key-switched HOT for the red wire, and where is a headlight controlled HOT for the illumination? I am assuming I will be tapping into the fuse box somewhere but I was hoping for a simpler/easier access point for each of the hots.

Thanks folks.

 

I would plan on pulling out the instrument cluster, because the Tach signal wire, 12volt key on and the illumination wires are all there
1993 and 1994 should be same wiring

tan/yellow is tach signal wire but you can just run a wire from Coil's "-" terminal
And below diagram shows you which fuses are used for key on power and illumination power if you don't want to pull out the cluster

 

Thanks RonD I'll take a look at the trim pieces tomorrow and see how easy it is to pull the cluster. That would probably provide the cleanest wiring of all, having all the splices done inside the dash.

 

You could also look for a 1993/4 cluster WITH built in tach, but they are few and far between

Cluster does have speedo cable on the back so you need to reach behind it to unplug it, and then don't forget to hook it back up, I always forget that

 

thanks. Any trick to the speedo cable? I mever unhooked one of those before, every vehicle ive owned was electronic speedo assembly

 

Good look on what the connection is like and how to remove it: https://therangerstation.com/tech_li...edometer.shtml
Scroll down about half way

1995 and up Rangers used electric speedometers

 

Yeah ive been in my truck an hour and dont know how to get keyed power or illumination power. I wanna make the splices under the hood and run the wires through the firewall. All i have now is a signal and a ground. Please help. Not sure which color wires i have to cut and splice

 

********* UPDATE FOR THOSE WHO ARE STILL WONDERING *********

I made my autometer tach work by doing the following setup:

Black (ground) wire is rigged up to the firewall ground strap above the intake.
Green (signal) wire is spliced into the yellow/tan wire at the ignition coil.
Red (power) wire needs to be a keyed power source. I pulled the 10 amp AC clutch fuse out since I don't think my AC works, and used a spade connector to insert my power wire directly into the fuse box in the footwell. I drilled a 5/16 hole through the lid so the lid can still be used to protect the fuse box.
White (illumination) wire was tapped into the blue/red wire found in the 3 wire plug in the backside of the ashtray. Remove the 2 7mm bolts, pull the whole thing out, and the 3 wire plug is on the backside. I spliced into the wire and put everything back together. The OEM lighting in the ash tray still works.

If you do this your autometer tach will work with ignition on, and will have a backlight only with parking lamps or headlights on.

It took me forever to figure out how to find the illumination wire and the keyed hot but I finally got it. If someone has a better idea for a keyed hot please let me know because I can still put the fuse back into the AC clutch slot and get power elsewhere.

 

You can get both of those connections from the back of the radio, but the illumination from the ashtray is as good as anything.