Tacho enquiry

[Lee_Um]

Howdy

Is it possible to install a tacho into a car that doesnt already have one in the dash. ie My Barina?

if so, then does it require alot of work? does anyone have a how to or a website with instructions

all help is appreciated!

[sunny]

Is it possible to install a tacho into a car that doesnt already have one in the dash. ie My Barina?

Answer is YES you can

so, then does it require alot of work? depends on your mechanical skills ... otherwise its quite easy

[sunny]

if its a barina ... my guess yours will be corsa b save you installing it you could go to a wrecker and grab a dash wil tacho in it already ...

[journo]

Ever seen those commondores and gemini's with all the guages sitting infront of the windscreen or up the A-Pillar???

That could be a less invasive way to install a tacho into a car that doesn't have one.

But personally I think external or A-pillar mounted guages look shite.

[freaktown]

lol i just installed on in my car just then, 3 3/8 tacho it took 15 minutes!

longest part was soldering and taping the wires!

[Turblue]

For a Barina, go get a new dash. My last experience fitting a tacho to a barina was a disaster. Astra's are easy.

THERE WAS NO TACHO SIGNAL WIRE...!!!!

According to service documentation, there is no wire you can tap a tacho from. The dash is fed by a communications style bus.

If anyone has better info, I would like to know.

[freaktown]

thats probably because the early barinas ran ignition coils!!! not electronic ignition like the later barinas vectras and astras which is the tacho signal wire your talking about Turblue!

[Turblue]

Sorry Freakie....

This was a 2002/03 barina. If the car had an ignition coil it would have been easy.

Like I said, there was from memory 4 wires that controlled the complete dashboard. That's all gauges, telltale lights etc. It uses, by the looks of it, a comms system. Multiplexed data or something. The dash then decodes the data and displays it. There is no tacho wire that I could find on the car or in the service documentation.

The astra's have a dedicated taho signal wire that is easy to find. I won't speak for vectra's.

[freaktown]

(I just re-read my post and it sounds like im trying to be condesending, i wasnt so sorry if it sounded like that Turblue)

lol get out 02/03 barinas had a no tacho option!

ahaha thats almost as bad as abs being an optional extra!

p.s- Yes vectras have a dedicated Tacho Signal wire out of the loom, solid green!

[sunny]

This was a 2002/03 barina.

They should have a tacho in the dash ...

[frankie9fingers]

Nah sorry Sunny, my car was the guinea pig and she no work baby. If it were a switchable tacho set to 1 cyclinder, plugged into 1 of the coils yeah it'll work.

[corsaboy]

I got a tacho put into my 95 Corsa :mrgreen:

[ultim8DTM5]

My 01 Barina XC 1.4 has a tacho but its also manual.

Auto's don't have it

[Lee_Um]

ok then... thanks for that info.. how do i know if i have a tacho line or not? if i dont have a tacho line can one be installed?

does anyone know how much a new dash costs from a wrecker?

[corsaboy]

Here's an idea, buy a tacho, give the whole shebang to an auto-electrician and he'll install it for you. That's what I did! Quit friggin around and just get it done properly, I paid $50 to get it installed...no worries mate! :)

[Turblue]

I would love to see that done on an 02/03/04 Barina..!!!!

[corsaboy]

Questions are not a problem. But lame responses are. If you do not know absolutely what the answer is, KEEP QUIET...!!!! I do not want to be responsible legally or morally for someone that blew their car up due to crap advice found on our forum.

I'm just doing what you are saying, coz I too don't like to see Corsas blow up! :)

[journo]

erm... I may have misread some of the posts... but here goes.


I would love to see that done on an 02/03/04 Barina..!!!!

mate I am not sure if you mean those models don't have a tacho or that it would be interesting (as in haha) to see that tried.

But... the 03 in both manual and auto has a tacho (I own the manual and where I work bought the auto (to my dismay) soon after.

I was under the impression the 04 models were the same but the 04.5 ones I have no idea about.

Also... I like the idea of having someone else install one... that way if they bugger it the costly repairs are their problem, not yours.

[Turblue]

So there is no misunderstanding. Info is from service manual.

There are about three wires linking the dash module and the body control module on the 03 Barina. These three wires feed information to the dash module. Whether or not it has a tacho is not important. These wires feed all guages and most telltale lights on the dash.

The key point is that there is no single wire to tap for a tacho. It does not matter if the dash has a tacho or not.