I am new to this form, as I had just bought my Toyota. It is an 84, but the motor was swamped, and is now out of an 85, 22re. My truck smokes on startup, I do believe that the piston rings, are bad. But the 1 that is really bugging me, is that nothing on my gauge cluster, besides my speedometer, works. This includes the lights. the previous owner, said that it had happened when he installed a stereo system in it. I am wondering where is a good place to start? my fuses are good, should I start by changing out the gauge cluster?

 

If you do remove the cluster let me know how hard it is..i havent looked. I have an 84 also and want to swap in a custom overlay. Id go ahead and pull the cluster and check the wires going to it

 

i had the same problem on my 95 4 runner check the dimming switch it may need replaced. that may give you a place to start.

 

check the temp sensor cable to see if it is plugged into the sensor on the intake manifold.

might have been left off when the engine was swapped.

 

Pull the cluster off and check all the connections.. Sounds like sum thing got unplugged..
Is your cluster a sr5 cluster with tach?

 

The ENG fuse is what provides power to the guage. Check to see if it is blown. I have seen more problems when someone tries to hardwire a stereo in and gets one or more wires wrong. I would suggest undoing the stereo and go get an adapter that connects the stereo to the Toyota plugs. You may even need to go to a bone yard and get new factroy plugs to replace the old ones that were probably cut out.

Here is a similar problem I went thru as yours guages as well.

Copied from 88 Runner thread.
I blew the Engine fuse again. Doing some research. I havent found a 100% fix so am trying to come up with one. One link says to check Fuel pump harness. Also found that O2 sensor could case problem.

FIXED!!! Mine was the Reverse Lights on the Tranny. It has a protective sleeve and depending on how the sleeve slides, it can cover the wires where they rub against the tranny leaving them exposed. Below is other fixes for this problem.

 

DaveS.. Pulling the cluster doesnt take much. You have 2 screws above the clear lense and some around the bottom. Then you have one that you will need the door open to get to on the left side. Then the bezel will come off.

There are 4 screws that hold the cluster in (84-88/89). The trick to get some more room to access the cluster is to loosen the clip on the firewall and I think under the truck somewhere so you can get some slack in the speedometer cable and let the cluster come further out to access the ribbon clips and speedometer release tab on the back of the cluster.