I need to add a gauge to the car, and I wondered what the common sources people use for the dimmer source and the switched 12v are. Is there something right around the dash area that makes a good source? Also, is there a place where most people route the wires through the firewall or would I be better off just making my own hole?

 

behind the stereo, there's constant, switched, and light source power.

 

Cigarette light bulb power wire for illumination and cigarette lighter power wire for the 12v switched. They are both right by each other and you do not have to do much work to get to them.

 

Do I just take out the cigarette lighter and grab them from the back? Sounds easier than the radio. What color is what?

 

Get a test light or a multimeter. Not sure of colors off hand. You can probe the harness with a test light and figure it out pretty quick.

 

A test light would be a good idea. However, the cig. light bulb and lighter itself only have two wires going to each of them. I believe that the ground on each is solid black or black with a stripe. Obviously, the other will be power. You should test them though to make sure you have the correct wires. Also, you may have to take the radio surround trim off to make it easier.

 

It's L/B and B, with B being the ground.

Test lights are useless, just use a multimeter.

 

I took mine from the cruise control harness, and as I don't have it there's no worry about too much draw. The cig works for illumination, but it's not the best idea on the gauges, because it's constant and doesn't dim (I don't think).

 

I have both a multimeter and a testlight, I'm just lazy. No need to sit and test a bunch of wires (I wasn't sure how many there were) if someone else already has haha. So it sounds like either the radio or the lighter... Are there some wires feeding the dash itself that are easy to get to or no? I'd like the cleanest install as I can get, and it would probably be mounted on the steering column or somewhere near it.

 

You just have to pull off the surround from the gauge cluster to get at the wiring back there. Look at the wiring diagrams to find the ones to use. It's easy and completely hidden.

 

Is there an easy way to do this? I looked into the full dash removal and it requires a lot more work than I want to do because I'm getting anxious to drive the thing haha. If I can just take some panel or a few things off quick I'll do that, if not then I'd rather just go for something easy.

What all do I need to remove to get at the cigarette lighter, is it just that surround panel or do more things need to be removed?

Also, where on the cruise control harness did you grab your 12V from?

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a47...AirbagHarn.jpg

 

No, you misunderstand, all I mean is take off the surround, the dash and instrument cluster stay in place. IIRC it's a total of 5 screws.

Have a look at the wiring diagram in the FSM and it'll show which wires are switched power, and which are illumination.

 

Ahh ok, I could probably handle 5 screws, I definitely didn't want to remove the whole dash. I think I found the right .pdf so let me see if I can figure this out here... haha.