I just purchased a 1997 Ranger std cab, 2.3L 5speed. I have an issue with the gauges on the left side of the instrument cluster. No Tachometer (a 5speed and no tach???) The Speedometer and temperature gauge are inoperative and the fuel gauge is erratic ( when full it registers some, but when it gets below 1/2 it gets erratic. I was going to purchase a cluster with a tachometer from eBay to replace it, however I thought I should see if anyone has any suggestions of other things I should check. Hate to spend the money for the cluster and then nothing changes. Any recommendations? I have a auto repair background, but this is over my head with the electric cluster.

 

Welcome to the forum

All Ranger clusters were wired for Tachometer even if cluster doesn't have one
1996 thru 2003 Cluster from Ranger or Mazda B-series are interchangeable, plug and play, with or without tachometer
1995 clusters were unique to 1995
1994 and earlier had year groups

Gas gauges have a removable circuit board on the back of the cluster, called the Anti-slosh module, it prevents the needle from swinging up and down when you go around a corner and the gas in the tank sloshes around making the float go up and down, all vehicles have some form of this circuit

But your description doesn't read like a problem with this module, its usually "always read empty" or "always reads full"
Your issue could still be a cluster or gauge issue, but it could also be a float/sender issue, only way to tell is to remove the cluster and to test the Yellow/White wire coming from the sender in the gas tank
1989 and up Ford fuel Senders use these OHMs
16 ohms EMPTY
158 ohms FULL

Have tank below 1/2, connect OHM meter to yellow wire and a good ground, should see OHMs between 16 and 158, say its 70 ohms, rock the truck so gas sloshes around, OHMs should change as float goes up and down, no dropping out
It can be sender issue or float may have gas inside it, so no longer "floating" all the way to top of the gas in the tank, still has some air inside it, but also gasoline

There are some fuses to check for speedometer and temp gauge, 11, 15 and 25 in Cab fuse box
1995 and up Rangers use electric motor for speedometer, and separate electric motor for Odometer
These motors share the same speed signal from VSS sensor on the transmission, 2 wire sensor on driver side of tail shaft on 2WD this sensor can fail but BOTH speedo and odo would be OFF, not working, not just the speedometer

Seen in diagram below

The temp gauge issue can be an unplugged or bad sender in the engine bay
With Key on
Go under divers side of vehicle behind front tire to see the oil pressure and Temp senders, seen in this drawing: https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...96a27c731c.gif

These are 1 wire SENDERS not to be confused with 2 wire sensors
The lower one is the temp sender, unplug it and GROUND its one wire to battery negative or ??, but a good ground
Turn on the key/engine off
Temp gauge should go to HOT, if so then wire to cluster is OK, and gauge is OK, replace sender, you do need to drain coolant to replace it

 

Thanks for the info. I will check these things out when I get it back from the shop having the clutch master cyl replaced. I will post what I find.

 

Assuming InstrumentCluster has not been out in 10yrs+, while you've got it out consider:
* cleaning+tightening electrical Connections & BulbSockets
* renewing the Bulbs
* lubing the Speedo+OdoMeter mechanism
Bit of a tedious job but relatively\technically easy; click here for more info, pics & bulb numbers.

Links to pics:
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...578172820a.gif
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...e474b8d31f.gif
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...23c84f60af.gif

 

Thank you for the links and will do just that if I end up having to change the cluster.