Instrument cluster swap?
 

Hey everyone! I really like all of the information that everyone shares on here, and that's why I joined the forum! I have a 1991 Oldmobile 88 Royale 4 door sedan. I have had it since 2007 and its been by far the best, most comfortable car I have ever driven. I have been doing everything I can to keep it in very good condition because I intend to drive it for as long as possible. It has 180000 miles now. I go to the local pick and pull junkyard every now and then to get odds and ends for my car. The last time I was there I saw an instrument cluster with gages for "volts,oil, and temp in a 87,88,89? Olds 88 Royale, not sure of the year. I only have the standard cluster with the idiot lights which I hate since they don't show whats going on in the car. I decided to buy the gauge cluster from the junk yard for only $40 bucks! So I went and tried it out yesterday in my car, both of the odometers work along with the speedometer, however the oil,volts,gas and temp ones don't seem to work right. I am sure I have to change a few things to make this work. I did read that the sensors need to be changed over in order to send a signal to the gauges. My owners manual says that this new cluster was an option for my car and I can't find anything online that will decode my Service ID sticker "on top of the spare tire in the trunk" with all the codes listed. I would like to know what you guys think of this swap, or if you have ever done one, I do know that some people have swapped their clusters for digital ones but it sounded like a huge job, especially when they had to rewire the entire car! I would appreciate any input you guys may have!

thanks!

the problem with a swap like this is the lack of wiring diagrams for this car. they arent in the normal free type stuff. and the haynes manuals are more or less useless for less than normal things. really what you need is a gm service manual for the car. that would have harness locations and wring diagrams. could be anything from swapping the sender to swapping all the senders and the wiring harness, or getting pigtails and running wires to the plug behind the cluster. but you would need the gm manual

Thanks for the reply! I agree with you about the lack of wiring diagrams. However I made sure to get the pigtails off of the donor car, I tried to remove the harness first but it must of been fastened really tight behind the dash so I had to cut it. I also tried to get the ECM as well but I couldn't see where to unbolt it, since the fuse/relay panel is in the way. I will have to try and get it in a couple weeks once it warms up outside. I was able to put the back lit speedometer into my existing instrument panel by swaping the circuit board on the back of gauge motor, and its works and looks great especially at night! Even if it can't be done with the other gauges, at least I can see the speedometer much better. I both Haynes and Chilton books and they pretty much suck! I plan on getting the service manual as you suggested, so its a work in progress. I will keep you all posted on this project.