Beaudean09

I hav a 90 xj wit the idiot lights and i want to put in aftermarket gauges in. iv searched but all im gettin is the cluster swaps. Can anyone give me some info on doin the swap? And im wanting to do electrical gauges instead of mechanical. Thanks

DocOrng XJ

you dont need aftermarket stuff.

just go to the junk yard; since you have a 90 pull a (87-96) cluster that has the actual gauges you want out of a junk one, its all plug and play so no worries about it not working.
as far as the odometer, just pull the gears and swap it out, thats what i did, so i didnt have to have the odometer reset to keep "actual" mileage on the new cluster

Beaudean09

Well i dont really want to do the cluster swap id rather do the aftermarket look.

CNTLOSE

Is it plug in play with the cluster or do you need to cut the wiring to the JY cluster and splice into your existing wiring. (I have a '91.)

98SportXj

I was trying to do the same thing. I replaced the idiot light cluster with the gauge cluster and the water temp and oil pressure doesn't work. Is it really plug and play or am i missing something?

1996XJSport

I did the cluster swap on my 96 XJ a few months ago. Basically, I got the cluster from the junkyard for $15, then I unplugged and took the existing cluster out, and swapped the new one in. It's plug n play for the electrical ones. All you need then is a new oil pressure sending unit and a water temp sending unit for $40 at autozone. To calibrate your odometer with your Jeep's mileage, take it over to a speedometer shop and have them do it the legal way as tampering with an odometer is illegal. You need to also take your XJ over to the DMV to have them stamp and rivet the Jeep with a plate that says the vehicle's cluster has been swapped, they rivet it on the driver's doorframe.

For mechanical gauges, you'd just undo the gearing in the rear of the cluster and swap the new one in.
I doubt it's possible to convert mechanical gauges to the electrical style because the electrical style actually hooks up to the PCM which gives the cluster information to display. You'd have to find an OBDII Era Jeep, swap PCMs, Swap clusters, and grab all sorts of sensors to get it to work. There's no reason to convert it, trust me. Especially if you're going to run larger tires as it is easier and cheaper to just get a new speedo gear than it is to buy a speedo calibrator for the PCM.

1996XJSport

It's plug n play for the odometer, ammeter, speedometer, tachometer, and fuel gauge. The oil pressure and water temp need different sensors because the ones currently in your XJ contain simply ON/OFF circuts that tell the idiot lights to turn on in an emergency. You need sensors that constantly read and signal back data. They will cost you around $40 for both.

Beaudean09

Well im not plannin on messin with the speedo or odometer im jus thinkin water, oil, n battery.

1996XJSport

Is that aftermarket enough for you?
I did the cluster swap and added some "reverse glow gauge overlays" that I got off ebay for $35. They are white face gauges during the day too! They have a little control box that I can switch the backlight color and brightness with aswell.

Beaudean09

Haha yeah it is! Thats awesome! U should jus sell me urs n save me the headache since u already know how to do it lol! Yeah i may deffinatly do somethin like that!

Beaudean09

Can u send me a link to that?