Can I install a tachometer on my pickup (87 Toyota, gas, 4-cylinder, carbureted, manual)? It isn’t made for one. How would I hook it up?

It used to be in the conventional points-ignition days of yore any tach pretty much would work, just hook it up to the - coil lead; but with electronic ignition, which I presume your pickup has, it’s a little more complicated. There’s often some circuit loading restrictions. Just make sure th…

[image] Barkydog: why do you want one? I failed the emissions test Monday, not because my emissions were high (they’re as low as they have been for 30 years) but because the idle speed was too high. I hadn’t driven in 10 months, so I assumed something was stuck. I took off the air cleaner …

Should I be able to turn the idle down so low the car won’t run? I can turn the idle screw to the point that it wobbles and I worry it’ll fall out, but it keeps on running.

The old GM HEI distributor caps made tach installation easy. It was marked for the tach lead.[image]

So what will the tach tell you that you don’t already know? It wil tell you the trucks going to fail emissions again. Don’t waste your time and money on adding a tach. Fix the problem with the carb! If you adjust the idle screw until its loose and the idle is still too high then air is getting past…

If the idle is < 1200 I can pass the emissions test now, take my time rebuilding the carb (original, never re-built), a big job I have never done.

Not a big job, just a fiddle-ey one with lots of small parts. Rebuild kits come with instructions, take your time and give it a try.

If you have access to a lab o’scope, for a one time deal, just wrap some magnet wire around the number 1 spark plug wire a dozen times or so, then connect the ends of the magnet wire to the scope probe. You’ll get enough inductive pick up to see the number 1 ignition pulse on the o’scope displ…

Your underhood sticker lists a specified idle speed. When it comes to the typical smog inspection, you’re only allowed a few rpms variance. If it’s too high or too low, by a wide margin, you fail. If the sticker says 700rpm, and your truck is idling at 1100rpm, you’ll fail the test, no matter how…

Can I install a tachometer?

Maintenance/Repairs

Barkydog February 3, 2017, 2:15am 13

Please see next post by @RandomTroll What's this other adjustment screw on my carburetor? he she it found the idle adjustment screw on the carb.

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Can I install a tachometer?

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