Possible to add transmission temp gauge? (ATTN: Those who've taken clusters apart)

[ntxstallion]

I think that the blue lighting you are talking about is a custom job. I know the some of the newer chevy's (fiance's 2011 traverse) light up blue but I thought all of ours were green.

 

[91RS]

I found some pictures of vehicles on eBay and the Denali clusters do all lightup like my picture. It also appears that the color does come from the overlay only. I found a good deal on a Denali cluster so I bought the whole thing, so I'll end up with an extra overlay (non-Denali) and a few other extra parts that hopefully I can sell off and make my money back. I might put the extra set of white needles in my Trailblazer, I think I like those better than the red needles I just put in.

 

[91RS]

Well, it doesn't appear that adding the tranny gauge is as simple as installing the motor and overlay. It appears some programming must be involved (at least for 03-06 trucks). The rest of the mods didn't go much better. The Denali cluster I bought for the white needles and blue overlay ended up being for 06 only and the PRNDL is different. Then to top it all off I guess while moving the cluster around 5 of the bulbs blew. I stole some bulbs off the parts cluster I used for my Trailblazer and have everything back together for now with the 2500 overlay. Hopefully I have a few tricks up my sleve that might work out, when I plugged the Denali cluster in it showed 0 miles so maybe I can program the odometer and hourmeter if it isn't locked and then just swap over the Escalade lens and bob's your uncle. We'll see.

 

[chip]

Well, it doesn't appear that adding the tranny gauge is as simple as installing the motor and overlay. It appears some programming must be involved (at least for 03-06 trucks). The rest of the mods didn't go much better. The Denali cluster I bought for the white needles and blue overlay ended up being for 06 only and the PRNDL is different. Then to top it all off I guess while moving the cluster around 5 of the bulbs blew. I stole some bulbs off the parts cluster I used for my Trailblazer and have everything back together for now with the 2500 overlay. Hopefully I have a few tricks up my sleve that might work out, when I plugged the Denali cluster in it showed 0 miles so maybe I can program the odometer and hourmeter if it isn't locked and then just swap over the Escalade lens and bob's your uncle. We'll see.

Man, I might be out of it right now, but it sure seems like you're putting yourself through way more trouble than you need to. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Perhaps I can help.

 

[scottg918514]

Well, it doesn't appear that adding the tranny gauge is as simple as installing the motor and overlay. It appears some programming must be involved (at least for 03-06 trucks). The rest of the mods didn't go much better. The Denali cluster I bought for the white needles and blue overlay ended up being for 06 only and the PRNDL is different. Then to top it all off I guess while moving the cluster around 5 of the bulbs blew. I stole some bulbs off the parts cluster I used for my Trailblazer and have everything back together for now with the 2500 overlay. Hopefully I have a few tricks up my sleve that might work out, when I plugged the Denali cluster in it showed 0 miles so maybe I can program the odometer and hourmeter if it isn't locked and then just swap over the Escalade lens and bob's your uncle. We'll see.

I used my stock cluster with a new overlay. Soldered the new motor in and the gauge reads. I've heard that some needed to re-program and some didn't. I guess mine didn't. I was told that the computer monitors the tranny temp stock and just needs a gauge to send it to. As I said, that seemed to be the case with my 2003 LS.

 

[thumper_ehhhhh]

or you can get one of these.
http://www.dashdaq.com/

 

[91RS]

Man, I might be out of it right now, but it sure seems like you're putting yourself through way more trouble than you need to. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Perhaps I can help.

I am going for something that someone can look at and not tell it didn't come from the factory. I changed what I wanted after I ordered some parts becasue I found out the Denali gauges light up blue. I first bought the white needles and a 2500 HD overlay for the trans gauge and an Escalade lens/bezel. Then I bought a complete Denali cluster because a Denali overlay was more than half the cost of the cluster and my plan was to sell off the extra parts I didn't use afterwords to make most of my money back (like the Denali lens).

---------- Post added at 06:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:25 AM ----------

I used my stock cluster with a new overlay. Soldered the new motor in and the gauge reads. I've heard that some needed to re-program and some didn't. I guess mine didn't. I was told that the computer monitors the tranny temp stock and just needs a gauge to send it to. As I said, that seemed to be the case with my 2003 LS.

Must be a year model thing then.

 

[91RS]

Sorry I forgot to update this yesterday. I got what I wanted done! The Denali cluster I bought ended up being a new cluster so I was able to program the miles at work so I just swapped the Escalade bezel onto it. I didn't try and do any reprogram on the stock cluster to try and get the trans gauge to work though. I programmed the Denali gauge with the right program for this Tahoe and the trans gauge still works so the programming it needs might be internal to the cluster. Here's some pictures:

 

[chip]

Sorry I forgot to update this yesterday. I got what I wanted done! The Denali cluster I bought ended up being a new cluster so I was able to program the miles at work so I just swapped the Escalade bezel onto it. I didn't try and do any reprogram on the stock cluster to try and get the trans gauge to work though. I programmed the Denali gauge with the right program for this Tahoe and the trans gauge still works so the programming it needs might be internal to the cluster. Here's some pictures:

.

WOW! I like that a lot!

Did you try checking to see if the tranny actually has a temp sensor in it already? I would start from the sensor and work my way back before I blame the gauges.

 

[thumper_ehhhhh]

Chip these transmissions have temp sensors inside it. When i bought my truck I took it to my tranny guy and he hooked up his big fancy reader to the truck and we took it for a drive. He checked the shift pattern tranny temp and fluid pressures. All were in spec. So I know these have it built in.