01350banshee

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this site. Unfortunately, I spent most of my time at pickuptruck.com. There it seemed I never got much good information from its members. I have searched for the past two days for a site that its members seemed to know what they were taking about. From what I've read, many of you have been where I am currently about to go. Installing gauges. And it seemed that each reply came back with actual good information. Enough of my rambling. Let me start by saying the installation instructions from GENO's/Westach sucks and they sorta leave you hanging. I am going to be installing a westach egt/boost gauge in the srt-10 a-pillar in my 04.5 ctd. I feel ok with the drilling and tapping task, but the tapping into electrical is where I get a bit gun shy. Can any of you lead me in the right direction as to which wires to tap into for power and which wire to tap into for illumination to work via the dimmer switch. Also, any recommendations for a good ground location.
thanks for any help you can provide.
01350banshee

Whitmore

Ground...........just drill a hole in the A piller in an out of the way spot and use this for all you gauge grounding.

Hot with dimmer.......... I just pulled my light switch out and got a small needle to pierce into the wiring and chacked with my test light till I found the right one.

Keyed hot........I ran a seperate wire to my painless wiring harness since it is fused and has 7 different hookups.

Hope this helps

Cheers, Kevin

Geico266

Dimmer I used the ask try light. IMHO solder each wire connection then you won't have to wonder if those 3M connectors are working or not.

Tom488

On my '03, the wire to tap into for the gauge lighting was the orange/white wire from the headlamp switch. This might have changed for '04.5 trucks. Best bet is to use a digital voltmeter and probe that wire to make sure.

As for actually making the connection, soldering is nice, but sometimes difficult to do behind the dash. I've had good success with the taps from Swenco Products (the Posi-lock guys). They make a screw-on connector to tap wires. Click here for more info. You can get these at any NAPA. What's really nice is that you can power multiple gauges from this one tap, and you can unscrew it and add more wires at any time.

And for keyed power, I tapped the red wire going to the cigarette lighter (using the same tap as above). Again, this lets me power all my gauges, and I don't ever worry about the tap coming loose, or the connection corroding over time.

01350banshee

Thanks guys

It took a bit longer than expected because the tap wrench I was using was a junk, but it went off without a hitch. When I get the chance, I'll will post a step by step westach boost/egt gauge install for 03- up ctd's, that uses all the factory grounds and power from the ignition switch and light dimmer.

01350banshee