I have had a tercel clinometer for a while and am now getting around to installing it. I wanted to install it properly so that the 4WD light comes on the clinometer when I put it in 4WD and the backlight is on and dims and whatnot.
Any advice?
I have an 85 4runner DLX with IFS & 5spd manual

*The wiring diagram on the 4crawler.com site is incorrect my wires are different. also I'm specifically looking for the wire in the cluster that kicks on the light for the 4WD*

*I checked the wire that triggers the 4WD light, however it only sends power when the 4WD light is off and not when its on.... how weird. so WTF??*

 

Sure it's an 85 with IFS?

Sorry no help!

 

'85 runners do not have IFS, they are solid axle trucks.

 

Its only an 85 and IFS if somebody swapped the 85 body to an IFS frame. Betcha the frame VIN and dash VIN don't match if this thing is as stated...

Power your light off the wire at the transfer case..

 

On the 4WD light/switch, you'll probably find it is a switch to ground, so the 4WD light probably has 12 volts to it at all times and then the switch, when closed, provides a path to ground and the light turns on.

I've never played with a Tercel clinometer, so that information on my web page is all I could find at the time. It seemed to be adequate for the person who asked about it at the time. And there very well may be other wiring schemes out there over the years. Main point is that there is a back light for the gauges and there is the 4WD light. Pretty easy to figure out which wires go to which and work from there. Key thing with Toyota dimming lights is that they are floating, no had ground or power connection. Best way to hook them up is in parallel with another light that also dims (or that you want the new light to do that same thing as).

 

Ha ha, it's an 85.5 so it was one of the first to have to IFS and 22re, it's basically an 86 model built in late '85.
As far as the wiring goes, maybe what i'll do is just have the 4WD light on all the time and not have it switch on and off, because I get nervous running two power lines to the same bulb. I hadn't considered that before.

 

Common that model year production starts part way through the prior year. So they are building '86s from maybe 9/85-8/86. That way, enough time to build them, load them on a ship and sail them across the ocean, then onto trains/trucks to get them to dealers.

On the 4WD light, it should have 2 wires already, one for power and one for ground. If it is a plain old light bulb (and not an LED), it probably makes no difference which is which, bulb will light up in either polarity.

 

"Its only an 85 and IFS if somebody swapped the 85 body to an IFS frame. Betcha the frame VIN and dash VIN don't match if this thing is as stated...

Power your light off the wire at the transfer case.."

Are you sure there is power going through that wire when it's on and it's not a switched ground?

 

Also, on that 4wd light if I run two sets of power to it it shouldn't come on until one of them switches to a ground, right?
Is it possible to run
constant power ----------------+
[4wd Bulb]
constant Switched ground -------+

 

When you measure power (12 volts) on the 4WD switch wire, what you are seeing is that with that switch open, the 4WD light in the dash, that is connected to 12 volts, is "pulling up" the voltage on that wire to 12 volts. Since the 4WD switch is open, there is nothing to "pull it down" to ground, so the voltage floats up to 12 volts. Close the 4WD switch and you now have a connection to ground and current flows from the 12 volt wire and the light turns on. If you put 12 volts on both sides of a bulb, nothing happens because the voltage difference is 0 (12 - 12 = 0) and 0 volts causes 0 current to flow.

 

Well, if the info helps
I have a solid red wire and a white wire with red stripe
then a black wire and white wire with black stripe.
it seems the two striped wires are for the 4WD light and the two solid wires are for the other back-light.