What color wire is the tach?

[mnypitboat]

I just installed an MSD distributor in my Mercruiser 5.7l and wanted to tie into the origional harness for the tach. Does anyone know off hand what color I have to attatch to?

edit: its an 01 by the way.

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: What color wire is the tach?

Don't know what year yours is.

My 89 tach sense wire is grey and runs to the (-) terminal on my coil.

Might wanna test yours for continuity at the harness and back of the gauge to confirm you have the correct wire before attaching.

(the attached photo shows my engine wiring, not yours), but wire color might be the same.

 

[mnypitboat]

Re: What color wire is the tach?

Don't know what year yours is. My 89 tach sense wire is grey.

Might wanna test yours for continuity at the harness and back of the gauge to confirm you have the correct wire before attaching.

It is an 01. I cant get behind the tach without removing the whole dash, and that is a real pain. The tach wire out of the MSD is grey, so maybe the boat one is too.

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: What color wire is the tach?

It looks like your engine is in Manual #24-GM Small Block V-8: 1998-2001

Ya got the manual??

 

[mnypitboat]

Re: What color wire is the tach?

It looks like your engine is in Manual #24-GM Small Block V-8: 1998-2001

Ya got the manual??

Nope.. If someone cant tell me, I will just run it without for a while. The dash has to come out this winter to paint anyway, so I can ohm it out then. The harness is pretty simple, only about 10 wires, so it shouldnt be too hard to figure out without a manual. As simple as these things are, I havent found anything yet that I cant figure out. If I ever get into the outdrive, I will pick up the manual.

 

[Don S]

Re: What color wire is the tach?

You haven't said what year your engine is. OR the SN of your engine, only that it's a 5.7. The early engines had a different color code system. You you do have a 98 to 01 engine as Eric says, the gray is for they tach.
But if it's that new, why are you installing a MSD distributor instead of a TB distributor?

 

[mnypitboat]

Re: What color wire is the tach?

You haven't said what year your engine is. OR the SN of your engine, only that it's a 5.7. The early engines had a different color code system. You you do have a 98 to 01 engine as Eric says, the gray is for they tach.
But if it's that new, why are you installing a MSD distributor instead of a TB distributor?

Yeah, I forgot to mention it in my first post, but it is in my second post. It is an 01. My boat sat for many years outside before I got it and the whole back of the engine was getting water down there, and the distributor was rusted bad. I found a new MSD distributor, MSD coil(mine was rusty as well), and MSD box from someone that bought them as spares and never used them, for less than a new regular distributor. I was suspect of the control module too, so I figured this was the best way to go and eliminated it all.

 

[mnypitboat]

Re: What color wire is the tach?

OK pulled out the old reliable Solec book and it showed it to be grey. I hooked it up and its working perfect now. I forgot I bought that book way back when I had my Chap.

OK now to get it out on the water and test it out.

Thanks again to you guys at iboats. I would have figured it out eventually, but you guys are great here.