Hi folks, I am a new member with a recently acquired 82 short bed. I'm starting to gradually fix a lot of the little things that are odd with this particular truck, which are mostly based on the hack job the p.o. did with doing an engine/trans swap with a 94 4runner. The truck runs well, but I think the guy just didnt quite finish the electrics on it. So, the following do not work:

Reverse lights
Charge light on dash
Oil pressure light on dash
4WD light on dash

I'm finding a lot of unconnected wires, and unsure which goes where. Also, I think part of the problem is the mismatch between connectors from a 94 vs. a 92. Are these connectors available anywhere? So far, my main source of parts has been Yoda Jim, who is nearby me here in Denver.

First things first, though, I'd like to connect the oil sender. There is a dangling yellow wire with some color stripe, not sure. The 83 FSM appears to indicate a yellow/black wire going to this, is that correct, is there only one wire?

More questions to come, and many thanks,

Andy

 

Dangling in the engine bay or behind the instrument cluster? You can't necessarily go by the FSM, since sometimes things changed within a single year, and often changed year to year.

Does it have the 82 cluster or 94 cluster? I agree...this is going to be a mess, possibly. Best way to do it is get the wiring schematic for the 94 and the 82, and figure out what's what. Which is made even harder by the fact that somebody else started the job and you don't know what they've done. It can be complicated enough on its own.

But it is what it is and now it's on you to figure it out so...

I'm no electrical system expert, so hopefully people who know more will read this and help. I did swap my 83 base instrument cluster for an SR5 cluster, so I've been in the back of the cluster moving around every wire to different pins, making sure every gauge and light works. So I might be able to help a little if you have specific questions, photos, etc...

There could be a blown fuse, but more likely than not, the wires in the wiring harness that need to be connected at the back of the cluster are either not plugged in, or plugged into the wrong location.

Pull the cluster, and check this out.

 

The reverse and 4wd lights come from two-wire sensors in the transmission and transfercase, respectively. It sounds like they're just not hooked up.

The oilpressure sender on an 82 is a one-wire dealie. On my 81 base model (light, not gauge), it's Yellow/Black.

Not sure about the alternator light. Toyota made a lot of variations on alternator wiring. Furthermore, my 83 FSM is pretty confusing about the wiring colors for the charge light in particular, but it seems like there's a Yellow or Yellow/White wire straight from the gaugecluster to the L terminal on either the alternator or voltage regulator.

 

Yes, best to check both ends.

Since he has so many lights not working in his cluster, I figured: start at the cluster and work your way back.

But yeah there's a plug that goes into the transfer case and transmission for 4wd and reverse. Could be they ran the 94 wiring harness and since the plug ends/connectors are probably different, they just stopped there...So you may need to do some cutting and splicing of connectors.

Oil sender is not your oil light. There's an oil sending unit, and an oil switch, and they are very different. Sending unit controls an oil pressure gauge. Switch controls the idiot light. You do NOT want to hook one up to the other. Can't remember which way it goes...but if you hook one the wrong way, it just doesn't work. Hook the other the wrong way, and things get fried. So you want to know which you're working with.

Do you have the basic cluster, or the SR5 cluster with tach? Do you have the separate oil & volt cluster under the dash?

 

Thanks very much folks. Yes, there is a dangling yellow w/black stripe wire in the vicinity of the oil switch for the light. I'm going to connect those tomorrow and see what happens. I do have the standard combination gauge, not SR5, so no oil gauge or charge gauge, just the lights. I got a '94 tranny wiring harness from Yoda Jim today as well, so will likely be trying to splice that in to see if I can get the reverse lights and 4wd lights to work. Many thanks for your help!!

 

Hey folks, thanks for the guidance on the oil sender. I bought a new one (for the light) and installed in a port below the oil filter, hooked up the yellow/black light and voila! it worked. On the tranny front, I got a complete harness for a '94 from Yoda Jim and will start working on grafting that in... thanks again!

 

Great. Let us know how the rest of it goes.