{INTERIOR} Super Unknown - tripminder installation

[monterey1962]

Refer to the pic below. I have two tripminders. The first one (on the right) was pulled by the yardsmen from an '89 GM. The second one (on the left) that I pulled, is from a CFI GM and I was able to get all the wiring for it.

The '89 TM has an extra wire that is looped over. Does anyone know why and what it is for? I'm planning to install the wiring and TM in S.U. All info on this is appreciated.

[85crownHPP]

thats the same wire that a member here had trouble with, it was causing all sorts of troubles untill (i think) he just snipped the loop. His experince is in one of the tripminder threads here, lemme see if i can find it.

[boXman]

My '86 has that loop. It's gotta be an SEFI thing..

[monterey1962]

Here's the wiring that I have:


Here's the problem: I can only find the one plug for the harness (up close in the pic):


I cannot find the second one in there. I'm missing the plug with only two wires coming from it. They are black and green w/white stripe. Does anyone know the significance of these wires? There are no dead end plugs under the hood as far as I can tell. I went and looked under the dash of the CV since it has a TM, but there are no wires to be seen at all. Now, I'm really confused.

Edit: Concerning the lower two plugs, is it possible that I don't even need to worry about finding a two wire plug? On the harness, the two wire plug comes directly off of the three wire plug (black and green w/white stripe wires).

[FatNasty]

When i installed mine i just tapped right into the green/white wire and didn't use a harness at all.

[85crownHPP]

I got your answers

the end of the harness with two plugs is deciving. The reson it has two, is because in most applications, the connectors work as a splice-in. On mine, that connector near the peadal needed to be unplugged for the end of the tripminder harness to be attached.
Notice how one is male, and other is female (on the TM harness), and you can plug them into each other? thats how it works.

The reason one has 3 wires and the other has 2, is becuase the fuel flow wire is used stricktly for the tripminder, so it doesnt exist on the other side of the harness.
It is odd that you dont have the connector for the other side of it - does the car have cruise control? if not, that would explain that.

so to sum up - all you need to do is plug the female side of the end of the TM harness connector into what you found under the dash, and thats it. Fuel flow and speed are taken care of. now just plug the other end into the clock harness, and hook up the one wire for illumination.

[monterey1962]

Awesome info. Thanks, man.

Yes, the '88 has cruise.

[monterey1962]

It's in, but with the following problems: "fuel used" isn't working which causes the "mpg" function to not work properly. I'm going to pull the '89 CV's tripminder to see what the plug looks like. Maybe the '88 GM needs that looped wire. I'll also try my other tripminder.

The headlight switch. See the little button on top? That's the little bastard to push to get the lever out. How the heck do you reach that thing without yanking it out?


The "blue wire" was taped right above the speedo cable.


Destruction in progress.




Old clock.


Tripminder.


One issue I have is that the shift indicator is off. While the car was pulled apart, I found that the white plastic clip around the steering shaft was busted. I used a hose clamp to keep it in one place, but the indicator is still off. Is it possible to get a new plastic clip with cable? How does the cable connect to the indicator arm?

[85crownHPP]

the cable has a little loop on the end of it that loops around a pin in the end of the gear selector colum. Move the lever through the gears and you should be able to follow the moving part down to the end to see where the cable is.

[monterey1962]

The tripminder is now fully functional. I had to add the little loop off of the black wire. It is reading fuel used and providing an accurate mpg. Needless to say, I am very happy right now.

What the CV's wiring looked like:


The GM's rewired. I took the the loop from my other plug and used that.

[gadget73]

Justin, just rotate that white plastic clip till the needle is accurate. Mine is patched with a wire tie, but same theory. I put mine in N and rotated the collar till it was correct.

[87mefull]

Nice job on the tripminder install, I had a little trouble with mine since I didn't have the harnesses that most cars did. I had to run a seperate line to the fuel flow wire on the ecm through the firewall and tap into the vss under the dash.

I had to do the same thing with the one ground as you showed in the last picture. Don't let it touch anything on the dash and keep it taped off, otherwise it will constantly blow fuse 5 (controlls dash lights, rear lights, etc).