S4 -> S5 Warning Light/Clock Cluster *Write-up*
 

success!!

i finally got it. i started a thread before about this asking if anyone else had done it, but i couldnt get much info..

SO, hopefully this will make it into the archives, incase anyone else is considering or has done this.

intro
ok, as many of you know, the s5 gauges have a different look and style, and also produce less glare than the s4s.

when you goto install it, the harness from an s4 plugs right in, but the problems is that some of the lights are in the wrong order. ie - parking brake = low fuel light.

after searching through the FSMs and wiring diagrams, i came up with this.

take note of the legend to the left, and orient yourself by looking at the rough sketch to the right of how the pins are arranged on the series 4 and series 5.
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...postid=1809001
btw - the spots in the plug i left blank are either for grounds or power for the clock. you are only concerned about the ones i have labelled

how to
you will be rearranging the wiring on the harness. the pins pop out, but it takes a tiny tiny screwdriver to push the tab out of the way that locks each wire into place. it's hard to explain, but youll understand what i mean when you goto do it.

do ONE AT A TIME, DO NOT REMOVE ALL OF THEM AT ONCE AND START FRESH.

for example, we see in the picture that where the signal for low fuel, it is correct when connected to an s4 gauge. looking at the s5 arrangement, we see a low fuel signal will activate the low washer indicator light. this is obviously wrong. so, remove the low fuel signal wire from the harness, and then figure out where it is suppost to be. according to the diagram, on the s5, it must go to the left one space, and down one space. now orienting yourself back on the s4 picture, we see that the low fuel signal wire belongs in the parking brake switch place in the harness. so, remove it, and insert the low fuel switch in its place.

there. now you have one finished, and now deal with the parking brake switch the same way you dealt with the gas light switch as above posted.

(cliff notes of above paragraph)
remove low fuel signal wire.
see diagram for where it should be to work on the s5 cluster.
notice it is where the parking brake switch wire is currently.
remove park brake switch wire, insert low fuel signal wire.
now deal with park brake switch as noted above (one at a time!), until complete.

the way im describing it sounds a little confusing, but once your going at it, you will understand what i mean.

rewiring the harness took me 10 minutes and i had no problems, everyhting worked perfectly.

this is probably the easiest, fastest, and cheapest (depending on where you got the warning cluster and trim from - i got it for 5 bucks at the scrappers) mod to do. to all the FC guru's sitting in your car, it's also one of the most noticeable.

REMEMBER
if you SMELL anything when you turn the key on, see any smoke, or anything fishy coming from the harness you just worked on, IMMEDIATELY KEY THE CAR OFF and re-evaluate your work. you may have a mixed up wire and you may start a fire.

hope this helps anyone out there curious about switching over.

-Colin

btw - forgot to include these (conisdering the search doesnt allow anything less than 3 characters and "s4" is less than 3 ;))
keywords for the forums search engine:
series4 series5 series 4 series 5 warning light clock cluster idiot gauge unit

bump

hope the mods dont miss it

Now you just have to rig the check-engine light up to blink out codes :-D

hey... now theres an idea.. hmm

can i actually do that?!

its an s4, so ive read i can permanently wire check codes for when it's keyed on..

thats a damn interesting thing. ima have to keep that in mind.. :)

THANKS!

I don't see why you couldn't, since people wire LED's into their cars to blink them out, might as well put it as the check engine one :)

i was reading alot about it, but the thing that worried me was something about using the incorrect type of lamp or LED or something without some type of resistor.. or something.. and it will overload the ECU and possibly fry it..

any comments? can you clear that up for me?

Colin, when you pick up the part, I'll show you my set up and the LED configuration and codes.

sounds good :)

The check engine light is useless on a S4 as you need two lights to read the codes.

Why did you do this? What's the difference? Pics?

the s4 warning cluster is different from the s5..

s5 has a different front bezel that reduces glare..

that and the s5 lights aren't backlit - the words are lit up instead..

maybe this will clear it up..

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...postid=1810699

a subtle difference, but quite noticable to me... not to mention during a sunny day its much much easier to read.

Ah, I see. That's what all JDM warning light clusters are like. Here's a pic of my S4 one. The two spots at the left were blank (no fan light on JDM's and no hatch light on 'verts) so I installed two LED's for reading error codes. ;)

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...postid=1810721

nice! there is a blank spot in my cluster.. i should pop in a couple small LEDs

but how did you wire that all up to read the codes?

Okay guys, no...

F^&*, how many times do I have to go through this with you Black 13B.

this thread is mis-labled and wrong. since the 88 is exactly the same as the 89-92

The 88 (which is a series 4 BTW) looks and is the same as the 89+. It even uses the same hooded trim panel and angle, as well as the blacked out face.

And last I checked the 88 was the same exact wiring as the 87 (which was ... hmmm three days ago...)

So, this thread is all messed up and wrong.

Your pin out switch is for an 86 to a 87 and 88 and later panels.

That is the same exact panel as the US spec vert (minus the LEDs of course).

Too bad the orginiator of this thread didn't understand that. It appears that he thinks that is an 89+ panel.

http://home.earthlink.net/~icemark/FCradio4.jpg

And here is another one. This is an 88-92 coupe panel in my 'vert, that I hooked up the hatch light up to the hatch trigger at the security system, and then blacked out the word "hatch" so that I would have an open truck signal.

But there was no re-wiring needed (other than running the single wire that the 'verts don't have), it plugged right in, and since it was the same as the 88 panel (except the 'vert panels don't have the last two lights on the left) even the 88 trim panel fit perfect.

And again wrong. The colored panels were found only on the 86 and 87.

The 86 had the colored panel with a red/orange clock.

The 87 had the colored panel with a blue/white clock

the 88 + had the blacked out panel with the bluw/White clock.

I thought this had been explained a dozen times now.

:rolleyes: fine.. rename it.. edit it.. delete it.. whatever..

i had to rearrange wiring and thought id share what i did and what worked..

sorry that i had a few mistakes..

btw - thanks for all the praise.. :rolleyes: it did take me a little over an hour to hunt through the FSM and wiring diagrams to come up with what i did..

again - sorry that i named it "series 5" instead of using the proper years associated..

4 angry posts later, about how its not series 5, because the 88 s4s are the same as all the s5s

and how the wiring from the 87-88 is the same but the 87 has a different cluster than the 88

so this thread tells you how to wire your 86 to work with any other FCs cluster correct?

id have thought you would have made 1 single post correcting me rather than 4 making this look like a totally pointless thread..

its ok, icemark, its not like there was any effort by me to get it work, let alone type it up. :rolleyes:

Someone was having a bad day. :allcho:

lol :hah:

the information is still useful in this thread just the years aren't exactly correct.