Hello,
I searched around and found a good number of examples of speedo swaps but not the one I'd like to do.
My wife's 98 Sunfire 2.4 5 speed has a Canadian speedo that has a digital odo. I'd like to finally swap in a US cluster. I'm only finding mechanical odo clusters. Any idea if the cluster will work?
Thanks for any advice!
I'm pretty sure you need the one with the digital odometer, not because the odometer won't work, but because the same time they changed that, they changed the fuel level sending unit, so your gauge weewill not read correct.
I concur with Mr. quick. A 99 cluster might work. They changed the fuel sender some time in the latter half of 98 to 99. I think that one "at a glance" method to tell might be a quick crawl underneath to see if you have the single pipe fuel tank filler tube (like my 99 has) or the earlier style one with the extra vent pipe on it. I think (but am not 100% sure) that the filler pipe design changed at the same time as the sender unit signal did. In other words, if you have the single filler pipe style then a 99 cluster will probably work.
While you are going to all of the trouble, you should try to score one of the better ones with the Tach and the better temperature gage with actual numbers. The digitals for the 95-99s were only used for the second half of 98 and for 99 so they are the hardest ones to score as a whole. I still have my old 99 cluster for my 3-speed (no tach & Cold & Hot temperature gage). Also, the mileage is stored in the cluster on these digital ones so your odometer will end up with whatever the donor car last displayed.
As long as the plug is the same it should work but im pretty sure they have diff plugs. I kno 00' up wont work. Interesting bout the diff style guages. I knew bout the tach and non tach but didnt kno there was diff temp guages too.
ReD RaiN
> I knew bout the tach and non tach but didnt kno there was diff temp guages too.
Yep, just a "C" for cold on the left and an "H" for hot with a splash of "red" to the right end on the gage.
Just for kicks I checked on eBay for clusters and there are a few 98 and 99 tach model clusters with the digital odometer but they are all for automatics and none currently for manuals. They should function just fine with a manual (guaranteed to work for sure if the year is exact - fuel sender question...) but the "P R N D 3 2 1" under the speedometer gage might be annoying to some vs the plain manual transmission type if the person looking for one is going for 100% accuracy for what the car would have used had it been ordered with one.
I have the new mechanical US cluster in and everything works just like it should. Mileage moves, revs, speed, fuel, temp, and lights.
So for future reference this was a 1998 Canadian Sunfire digital cluster to 1998 Sunfire USA mechanical cluster swap. YMMV.
Excellent to hear that it worked! That it worked to me is additional confirming evidence that a late 98 digital odometer cluster and a 99 digital probably are different due to the change in the fuel sender.
I bet you are really enjoying having that tach now with your 5-speed.
T!M8!T wrote:As long as the plug is the same it should work but im pretty sure they have diff plugs...
This isn't actually accurate. There are, for all intents and purposes, four different versions (confirmed by this swap) of the 95-99 gauge clusters, but they all have the same plug:
95: mechanical odometer, 0-90 ohm fuel level sending unit, no anti theft
96-98.5: mechanical odometer, 0-90 ohm fuel level sending unit, anti theft
98.5: digital odometer, 0-90 ohm fuel level sending unit, anti theft
99: digital odometer, 40-250 ohm fuel level sending unit, anti theft
I'm glad to hear this works. I was always curious about when they changed the fuel level sender. Now we know!
Old Canadian cluster had a tach. Only reason for the swap was to change from km to mph.
I dunno.. Im not really sure but I bought a 97 cav for parts and the cluster had a tach and mechanical odo and the 99 was digital with no tach. I thought the kms were stored into the digital one so it wouldnt work correctly? Cant remember bout the temp guage styles tho
ReD RaiN
T!M8!T wrote:I dunno.. Im not really sure but I bought a 97 cav for parts and the cluster had a tach and mechanical odo and the 99 was digital with no tach. I thought the kms were stored into the digital one so it wouldnt work correctly? Cant remember bout the temp guage styles tho
The 95-99, mechanical or digital, are definitely stored in the cluster. It's the 00-05 that's stored in the BCM. However, the cluster in the 00-05 does determine if km or miles is displayed.
