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97 Gauges

Easy, just find a 97 TJ or XJ gauge panel and swap them out, takes bout a half hour or so... unplug and plung in the new one. May have to swap a light bulb or two depending whether you have full time or part time. When I put a 97 gauge panel in my 98 the 'fluid' light stayed on, the 97 and 98 had reversed 'fluid low' and 'security' lights, mine was out of a 97TJ sahara... I just removed the fluid light bulb and now when my washer fluid gets low the security light comes on...
Told my son when he borrows it it means that the computer is keeping track of when he speeds or over revs it :D I don't think he bought it though...
 
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blackdogxj said:
but wont i have to change any of the sending units or anything?? wat about the odometer...i have the idoit lights now, and i want the actual guages with a tach

Nope, no sender changes, milage will be whaterver is on the donor panel. The true milage is stored in the CPU and the panel so I just noted the milage difference in the owners manual on the back page incase anyone is anal about it, I'll probably drive this till the end of it's life so I'm not worried. With over 240,000mi on it I take a beating on a trade in anyway...
 
RichP said:
... I just removed the fluid light bulb and now when my washer fluid gets low the security light comes on...
Told my son when he borrows it it means that the computer is keeping track of when he speeds or over revs it :D I don't think he bought it though...
Heh, heh --

Go to www.carchip.com

Your son might be in for a bit of a surprize. The CarChip E/X can monitor a lot about the way the vehicle is driven.
 
RichP said:
When I put a 97 gauge panel in my 98 the 'fluid' light stayed on, the 97 and 98 had reversed 'fluid low' and 'security' lights, mine was out of a 97TJ sahara...
I put a 98 cluster into the 97 and all I got is the rear hatch light on. One of these days I'll rewire the cluster socket or maybe just pull the bulb.....
 
Kejtar said:
I put a 98 cluster into the 97 and all I got is the rear hatch light on. One of these days I'll rewire the cluster socket or maybe just pull the bulb.....

Wanna swap, mines out of a 97 and I got a 98XJ.... Think we could do it on an overnite :D
 
98 Gauges

after reading this thread and others like it, i decided to dump the dummies and pick up a new IC with tach. found some 97-98 TJ gauges that would work in my 98 XJ on ebay for roughly $45-$90 before shipping. checked at a local salvage yard and they could have a 98 XJ IC with tach in two days for $74 so i went with it. got it today, and i dont know why some of you are saying 40 minutes for install, it only took 15 for me. total plug and play with the exception of the odometer. i have searched around about options with the odometer.

1. could have the DMV change my title to say that i swapped IC's with different mileage, therefor avoiding odometer fraud (yeah, its a real thing at least in illinois).

2. found some sites on the internet that can leagally set back/forward digital odometers - $300 + shipping both ways

3. local speedo shop found someone that will do it for $135. leaglly? who cares.

all of these are just options if i decide to sell the jeep someday and want to avoid the explaination of why the mileage mysteriously went down 40k. some people wouldnt care, but someone will.

so what have you guys done about this? i personally would just do the title option, but $135 looks a lot more appealing than sitting at the DMV.
 
go to the dmv.

I don't know how it is where you live, but the DMV near me has separate lines,

one for registration/title changes,

one for 16 year olds, old people with vision problems, and drunks trying to get their license back.

when I go to get my new registration stickers/ pay the money, it takes about 5 minutes.

plus, you'll know for sure you're legal. a new title costs a lot less than getting the odometer rolled forward.
 
Check you local dealer for what they would want to set it correctly. They have the ability to do this regardless what they try to tell you. If you run into the we can't do that ( less likely if you are having the number increased than lowered) try checking some smaller town dealers. You will need both gage clusters though. They will need to check to original to verify the milage.
 
scoobyxj said:
Check you local dealer for what they would want to set it correctly. They have the ability to do this regardless what they try to tell you. If you run into the we can't do that ( less likely if you are having the number increased than lowered) try checking some smaller town dealers. You will need both gage clusters though. They will need to check to original to verify the milage.
Where did you get your information? I looked into it extensively and on the newer clusters they have to send them in. Speedo shops charge a fair amount of money for it ($300+ in my area).
 
Re: 98 Gauges

abrogate said:
so what have you guys done about this?

i didn't do a damn thing! there's bigger stuff to worry about out there....


well, that's not true. i noted the difference between old and new. so at least i know about how many miles it really has on it.
 
scoobyxj said:
Check you local dealer for what they would want to set it correctly. They have the ability to do this regardless what they try to tell you. If you run into the we can't do that ( less likely if you are having the number increased than lowered) try checking some smaller town dealers. You will need both gage clusters though. They will need to check to original to verify the milage.


yeah, i have checked the local jeep dealer, granted that they aer a large dealer, and they said that they have never heard of it.... yeah, i bet. i think that the DMV is the better way to go, but i havent been able to get there yet. (closed on mondays)

oh, and the bigger stuff to worry about... i agree. sometimes i am a perfectionist and would rather it read correctly than not. seems silly
 
I went around checking dealerships today, one got all mad at me and told me what I'm trying to do is against the law haha.

The other one was much more friendly, and told me that he would have to send both the new and old clusters out to the manufacturer to be re-programmed or whatever. He said it would run $275 or so to have this done.
 
Re: 98 Gauges

abrogate said:
so what have you guys done about this? i personally would just do the title option, but $135 looks a lot more appealing than sitting at the DMV.

If you have a 90 or earlier xj, you can easily roll the odo forward or back. There was an extensive writeup on this forum about a week ago with pics and everything.

On my 91 XJ, the first year with no cable, it was much more complicated, but I was able to change the mileage to match my original odo. I had to disassemble the entire thing, including taking out the pointer (because I had to take off the face plate). But I got it all reassembled with no major problems.
 
i just plugged it in and made note of the mileage difference. its only illegal if you try to sell the car and state that the shown mileage is correct, which if you havent had it reset would misrepresent the actual mileage. as long as you tell teh new buyer that the odometer does not reflect the actual mileage, your still within the law.
 
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