1996 Jeep Cherokee XJ 217,000 miles. I am trying to breathe some new life into my old 4.0 inline six high output. Accel cap and rotor MSD OEM replacement ignition coil plugs wires and such were previously installed. New exhaust too.

The engine was nearly slagged because I have "idiot gauges", those stupid lights that burn out, that don't tell you they have burnt out. My engine ran bone dry of coolant due to a fracture in the heater control valve. The head was literally DRY! This was only discovered because I happened to notice the broken control valve while filling the windshield washer fluid. Through some twist of fate the engine survived this. I want to change out the current cluster for one that has the full array of gauges. My questions are..

A: Do I need to change out the wiring harness behind the dash?
B: Do I need to change out all of the sending units?
C: Can I get the odometer reading reset to reflect the new mileage?
D: Since I never had a Tach will I nee to install that sensor and wiring or did that design come standard?

I asked this in a previous thread but was told search is your friend. Sorry but im not finding the answers I need.

Also where the hell can i find a replacement lock nut for the 5 speed shifter ****?

Nope. Direct swap. Get a cluster from the JY, then head up to NAPA and get a new oil pressure sender and coolant temp sensor. Tell them it's for a 1996 XJ with full gauge cluster. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure the guy gave me the part for a ZJ 4.0... it reads way higher than the actual temp.

Oil pressure sender is located next to the oil filter.

Coolant temp sensor is located on the head on the driver's side by the firewall..

Tach will work just fine, as will the voltmeter.

I dunno about rolling back the odo... I didn't roll mine back. If I could go back in time I would have written both of the ODO mileages on the back of the new cluster, though. I have no idea how many miles I was at when I did the swap, which means I have no idea my current miles...

There are questions to the legality of adjusting the odometer but in North Carolina they do not record the odometer readings on older vehicles during private sales (at least not with my 96 they didnt)

That said, PM sent for informational purposes only.

I do believe you will need to roll FORWARD by hand and not back. I fyou try to roll back the click wheels are situated in a way that they LOCK and will break if forced. You must roll forward or disassemble the cluster, disassemble speedo, and reattached all parts and install cluster. Also PAY ATTENTION cause I will be doing mine this very way. Make sure you look at your panel with key on and write down positions of what lights where, you might need to swap wiring or possibly the gauges to correct positions to work correctly with the corresponding sender unit. If you never had tach, as I dont, I will need the tach signal wire from back of alternator and route thru harness to achieve proper signal.

I am not absolutely sure what Jeeperz71 is saying here, but when I swapped in a full cluster in my '93, I did not have to run any wires for the tach. Plug was right there.

Did not have to swap any wiring or gauges but of course had to swap sending units as noted above.

In my base model 93 with idiot non sweeping gauges my fuel gauge is LARGE and on newer donor cluster its SMALLER and in different location then the original I have. Also BASE model has NO TACH and if it did its where my FUEL gauge is at on the BASE model cluster, so I have to switch the pins at connector for these units to work properly. These are only the subtle differences but it doesnt hurt to VERIFY anything. Especially if you have BASE model cluster. As far as TACHS concerned BASE doesnt have one, so I will need to remove the plug for the alternator from the donor vehicles harness for my TACH to work. Thats all I wanted to inform you on, BASE and NEWER. I'm using a cluster from 94 XJ, even though all the way thru 98 they used the grey cluster, red lined gauges.

I'm not looking at yours so can't comment about what you have to do.

I have a '93 that is about as base as you can get and I didn't have to do any of that when I swapped in the cluster with gauges and tach to replace the cluster with lights, no tach and the giant gas gauge. I certainly didn't touch the alternator and am not sure what the alternator has to do with the tach.

Have you actually looked at how the wiring and circuit board is set up on the cluster and in the cavity behind the cluster?

In any event, I highly recommend swapping to a full cluster and just wanted to point out that it is a very easy task on '91+ models. I do know that the amount of wiring for components not included from the factory varies by model year so I can only speak for the '93 with certainty. Don't know about years prior to '91.

Have you already done this? I think you have been misinformed. I used a 94 cluster in my 96. Replaced the oil sender and the temp sender. That was it. I had the base model cluster with the large fuel gauge and no tach. Swapped in a new one with a tach and the smaller fuel gauge and it worked without any crazy wiring. The wiring is all the same.

Alright man. There are 2 gauge clusters for pre-97 XJs. IDK about Renix or anything like that, but for HO 4.0s there are only 2 clusters. The ones with a tach and the ones without. On the one without a tach there is a fuel gauge where the tach should be... swapping out gauges is as simple as unplugging the old ones and plugging in the new ones, then swapping the 2 senders.

Also WHATS up with THE random CAPITALIZATION of WORDS?

Well Im gonna plug it up and see what happens with it. Sounds like you had the same cluster I have and if it just works without craziness the Im all for it. Also this is why I post these threads, to see what infos out there and who has done what. My 93 is probably same as yours...BASE to the BONE. So I cant WAIT to swap this cruddy cluster out.

lol yeah... just plugs straight in. No worries.

Well...it was mosdef plug and play cause of the ECM controlled motor. Just worried bout overall was the issue. I did install and it works great except for the temp gauge. I installed the temp sender for gauge as needed and it shows temps higher than normal. Should I get the OEM part as this ones from AutoZone. I did put a very minimal amount of thread sealant and I think the ground portion is compromised using the sealant. It needs a clean thread to thread contact or eroneous reading will show. Can this be my gauge issue?

Sounds like a bad/improperly calibrated sending unit, an OE part would probably be a good option.


If it was a bad ground it will read low not high (if you directly ground the sender wire the gauge will peg at max, in temp sending units resistance drops as temp increases). Liquid thread sealant is the correct product to use with senders and should not interfere with grounds, do not use Teflon-tape as it can interfere with the ground.