I found a used 1995 Instrument cluster that has a tachometer (mine does not). The guys wants $35 + shipping. Assuming that the guages are fine and has no issues with cold solder joints:

I have a 1995 SOHC Dodge Neon with 5-speed MTX. All stock, no mods, original PCM, original wiring harnesses, yada yada, yada. Everything is fully functional - no shorts or problems that I am aware of.

1) How hard is it to add the tachometer wires (if they don't already exist in the wiring harness in my dash) so that the tach will work?

2) To what do I run said wire(s) to? I have read about this half-rpm to the coil wire thing, but that does not seem to be a good way to go in my book.

3) Is is possible to keep the existing speedo (with correct odometer readings) and play the changeout game?

4) In fact, just in case some of the guages don't want to work, can I play the changeout game with any/some/all of the other guages too?

Everything in my cluster functions fine, I just don't have a tach, and I sure do want one. In fact, I want to get the white-face overlay to put on it, because I think that looks so much better.

 

It should be plug and play in all but the very early 1995's all later ones had the tach. pre-wired. At one time there was a wiring kit available to add the missing wire from the pcm connector to the cluster plug for the early 95's.
The odometer can be swapped from your original cluster to the new one, all you need is a screwdriver. Just remove the circuit board and then the screws that attach the odometer, the wire just unplugs.

Have a look at this link it may help you.
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...er-repair.html

 

you dont need a screwdriver but you do need a torx bit

 

Depends on your definition of screwdriver, and the Torx bit I use fits my “screwdriver handle” same as my Philips bit, Robertson bit and flat blade bit.

Just kidding it is a T-15 Torx that fits it.

 

I guess I am getting lazy. I could have searched for these previous postings, and found out the answer myself. If I do buy this cluster, I will go ahead and reflow the solder BEFORE I put it in just to be on the safe side.

I will have to check to see when my car was manufactured. I hope my car has the prewired PCM tach wire. I will consult my wiring diagram and then open up the dash panel to see what is what. Wish me luck.

Has anyone out there added the tach wire if it didn't exist or has everyone just gone out and added an aftermarket one? It was mentioned that in the past there was a kit for adding the wire. Does anyone know more about it and more importantly, where I can get one if I need it?

 

all you have to do is pull out the old cluster and put the new one in and everything will work thats what i did with mine and everything works the tach is already wired into the wiring harness already so just plug it in and put everything back together and your all set dont need to do anything extra

 

This is true for all but some of the early 95's some did not have the wire for the tach.
The tach wire is a gry/lt-blu from the PCM to the cluster connector. I thought dodge used to sell an upgrade wire kit to add this if missing but, I can’t find any information on it.
Best to just check the dash connectors for the gry/lt-blu wire.

 

Got it for $35 including shipping. Yea! Once I get it, I'll pop that lego set dashboard off and see whats cooking underneath.

Now, what do you fellows recommend most? The whiteface overlay or the glowing overlay (usually electroluminesent - some even change color)? I am leaning toward the whiteface overlay as it does not require any more wiring, but also because I have seen the whiteface personally and think it looks really cool.

 

i also have a '95 neon sohc, and mine also did not have the tachometer. i bought an instrument cluster with a tachometer, and it was just plug-n-play. it was really easy & didn't take long at all. as long as the gauges you buy are in good working condition, you'll be fine. i don't believe it's possible to swap out the speedometer, or the odometer for the milage.


i also bought the glowing white face overlay, but have not installed it as it seems very time consuming and hard to do without messing up the gauges. i just recently bought white faces that do not glow though. i would probably reccomend that type of face overlay.

hope that helps!
-casey.

 

The whiteface that does not glow is really what I am looking for. I don't need fancy and quite frankly, I don't want to wire the mess up, but I do like the whiteface look. Where did you buy yours?