BEAMS gauges in celica GT Options

[match220]

Hey guys,
I bought some BEAMS gauges a while back to put in my celica to take advantage of the tach signal from the ECU (i'm running engine management and no distributor). I heard these were a direct swap, but my fuel gauge isn't working when I put them in. I waited a couple minutes and the gauge didn't climb with the ignition switch turned. Can someone verify that these gauges work in this car?

This post has been edited by match220: Jun 16, 2014 - 6:06 AM

[njccmd2002]

i have them in my car, and work.

[r3ck0n1ng]

Does your engine temperature gauge work? If so it may be the actual fuel gauge which is bust... Are you certain that it worked when you got it? You might be able to mix and match if you still have the old instrument panel as the tachometer, speedometer and fuel + temp gauge are separate units... The celica gauges are totally serviceable.

[njccmd2002]

Trust me...

http://youtu.be/fugSnfmqS30

[match220]

My temp gauge isn't even connected anymore. I put another sensor in where that one was since my celica temp gauge doesn't work, it outputs to a 52mm gauge now. I'm wondering what happens if the bulb blows for the fuel gauge, if the gauge stops working too. I don't want to have to play with the needles, but I want the white face gauges, so if I pull out the fuel/temp gauge I might try to swap the white face over and keep the needles in the same place.

[match220]

So now I'm comparing the circuitry on the back of these gauges (My celica M/T and the BEAMS celica A/T), the pinout for the RPM needle is different.

RPM gauge
My gauges have IG- as pin A10 on connector A (rightmost connector when looking at the back of the gauges). The BEAMS gauges have a different RPM signal, so it's an IG+ connection on pin A6 on connector A. When I trace out the circuit connected to the A6 pin it connects to the battery indicator light bulb. So..if I were to put the BEAMS gauges into the car it would be just like hardwiring the battery indicator light into the IG+ signal. Maybe this is different since I bought BEAMS auto gauges, I don't know. The BEAMS RPM gauge can be removed and inserted into my celica gauges with no problem. I just hope I didn't fry the circuitry in the BEAMS gauges by running the signal for the battery light through it. I should also mention that I have a set of GTFour/ST205 gauges, and they use pin A6 for the rpm signal as well. Which means plugging in the ST205 cluster would have the same effect.

Fuel gauge
BEAMS gauges circuitry connect the top screw on the fuel gauge to pin C1 on the C connector (leftmost connector when looking at the back), while my gauges connect to B14 which connects to an unknown screw behind the speedo on the BEAMS gauges. The others may be different also, I stopped checking after I noticed one was different. This is why my fuel gauge doesn't work when the BEAMS gauges are connected. Do you have a detailed picture of the circuitry on the back of your BEAMS M/T gauges? I can't trace out this circuit on the ST205 gauges without taking one of the circuit film layers off.

I'm going to start working on a pinout conversion for these gauges and document everything with notes and pictures. These A/T BEAMS gauges I bought have a ton of lights to use for indicator lights. The circuitboard for the shift indicator lights is simple, plus there are extra indicator lights, once I get the pinout down I we can start using the indicator lights for other things.

Is there a chance that the 94/95 US celica gauges have a different pinout than the 96 - 99?

This post has been edited by match220: Jun 19, 2014 - 1:29 AM

[njccmd2002]

i did not mess with pin outs, each side had 3 or four nuts. i took em apart, and put them on my cluster...

[match220]

i did not mess with pin outs, each side had 3 or four nuts. i took em apart, and put them on my cluster...

so I think either the A/T beams gauges are different (they are still more similar to my ST205 gauges than my st204 ones are), either that or the 94/95 celica gauges have a different pinout

[match220]

Here is what I've been able to trace out with the pinout so far. I took pictures of the backs of the gauges so I could draw out the circuits in different colors in mspaint while away from home. Some of the circuits I can't see very well in the pictures, I'll have to wait till I get back home. Definitely different though. The C plug is the most different, the bulbs are offset by 1 pin, not sure what the bulbs are yet though until I'm at the gauges and can flip them over. ST205 gauges has some similarities with the BEAMS gauges as far as the pinout goes.

ST204_______________________________________BEAMS
A1__________________________________________A1__ILL
A2__________________________________________A2__Bulb
A3__________________________________________A3__Blank bulb
A4__________________________________________A4__Solder dot
A5__________________________________________A5__nothing
A6__________________________________________A6__RPM IG- top screw
A7__________________________________________A7__bulb?
A8__________________________________________A8__all bulbs -? or +?
A9__________________________________________A9__bulb
A10__Top RPM screw___________________________A10_nothing
A11__nothing_________________________________A11_nothing
A12__nothing_________________________________A12_bulb
A13__RPM mid screw and..._____________________A13________RPM mid screw and

B1__L turn___________________________________B1________L turn
B2__nothing__________________________________B2________ILL
B3__speedo screw TR__________________________B3________speedo screw TR________
B4__________________________________________B4________bulb
B5__nothing__________________________________B5________nothi
ng
B6__RPM bottom screw, speedo LR_______________B6________RPM bottom screw, speedo LR
B7__RPM bottom screw, speedo LR________________B7________RPM bottom screw, speedo LR
B8__bulb_____________________________________B8________bulb
B9__bulb_____________________________________B9________bulb
B10__bulb____________________________________B10________bulb
B11__bulb____________________________________B11________bulb
B12__nothing_________________________________B12_____nothing
B13_________________________________________B13_____nothing
B14_________________________________________B14________speed
o screw TL
B15_R turn___________________________________B15________R turn
B16__turn signal bulbs and gray box_______________B16________turn signal bulbs and gray box

C1__________________________________________C1________fuel top screw
C2_temp top screw_____________________________C2________temp top screw
C3_nothing___________________________________C3________temp mid screw
C4_temp mid screw____________________________C4________bulb________
C5_nothing___________________________________C5________bulb
C6_bulb______________________________________C6________bulb
C7_bulb______________________________________C7________bulb
C8_bulb______________________________________C8________bulb

[match220]

I threw the tacho into my cluster and the RPM needle works with my EMS. Now I'll start working on the pinout so I can put the whole cluster in. I'll share the info as I have been above

[match220]

I repinned the connectors, got the full gauges wired in. Battery indicator light doesn't work, but the battery still charges (the bulb is part of the charging circuit). Everything else seems ok except the car doesn't make the dinging noise when the key is turned to "on", only when the key is in the ignition and not turned. Don't know if the, temp gauge, oil pressure light, or CEL work or night since I haven't had those circuits connected in years. Tach, speedo, gas, turn signals, illumination, cruise light, etc all work! Direct swap!!! Now I wanna see if I can change out the resistor behind the speedo to put the white km/h gauge in mph


Full repin process is here:
http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=93080

[njccmd2002]

i dont know why you are having such a hard time...

did the swap of the tach and the fuel

easy as take the black out



mix and match



and swap them in again



i got them working.

[match220]

i dont know why you are having such a hard time...

did the swap of the tach and the fuel

easy as take the black out



mix and match



and swap them in again



i got them working.

I know that I can do it that way. I just can't do it that way with the BEAMS A/T gauges. Like I mentioned in the first post, I'll be taking advantage of the shift indicator lights in the A/T gauges and using them for custom indicator lights instead of how they were intended to be used. I've already mapped out the circuit board for the A/T shift indicator controller. I can't put the A/T light board in the ST204 gauges. I decided to repin the whole cluster so I could put it in. Mostly everything works, the pins are a direct swap. I just need to see why the battery indicator light doesn't work. It isn't that i'm "having a hard time" it's just a long process of mapping out the circuitboards (finished) and then repinning it (finished). As long as the battery still charges I could care less if the battery light comes on or not, I'll see if I can figure it out since other people may want to do what I did. Initially I didn't know that I had to swap the individual gauges for them to work, I was told by a few people that they are "a direct swap". My understanding of that was that I could plug in the whole cluster, which is not the case. Now I know.

I should note that I also did this because of the similarities between the GTFour cluster and the BEAMS cluster. Repin is the same once it is done. So the GTFour gauges can be used to take advantage of the turbo spool gauge (considering you can mimic the wiring off the MAP sensor before it connects to the gauges). This is great considering you can't take out the GTFour temp/fuel/turbo gauge set and put it in the other clusters. With the repin we can use the spool gauge.

[njccmd2002]

ok then. see the little triangles on the sides, those black ones. light them up with a flashlight. I did, there are some indicators that u will not need, the srs indicator is on the right side, instead of the left.

props to you for trying to wire it in. but you are right, its not a straight plug.

[match220]

ok then. see the little triangles on the sides, those black ones. light them up with a flashlight. I did, there are some indicators that u will not need, the srs indicator is on the right side, instead of the left.

props to you for trying to wire it in. but you are right, its not a straight plug.

I got it fully wired in with the exception of the battery light, I think there is an issue with the diodes that are connected to the bulb circuit. You should check out my spreadsheet in google docs, the link is posted in that thread I referenced in one of the last posts. It's pretty extensive.