I know that some 4 cylinders had the up shift light but did any V6 Fiero’s have them? If not, does the 85 V6 cluster and/or the 86-88 V6 clusters have the up shift light capability? (meaning, does the plastic template sheet have up the shift symbol on it?) I heard that up shifting is controlled by the ECM. I also heard that 88 ecm’s do not have the up shift capability but what about 85-87 V6 ecm’s? I’m basically asking how hard it would be to outfit a V6 with upshifting capability? Thanks, Kit
[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 05-18-2025).]
As has already been suggested, the best thing to do in regards to the "SHIFT" light is to remove the bulb. In case you're not aware, the "SHIFT" light is to inform the driver of when to shift gears to help maintain the best fuel economy. Is that what anyone really wants, some incessant nanny telling you when to shift... over and over and over and over again?
I found it nothing more than a constant distraction. If a red light illuminates on my instrument panel, I want it to be indicating something important.
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 05-18-2025).]
I know that some 4 cylinders had the up shift light but did any V6 Fiero’s have them? If not, does the 85 V6 cluster and/or the 86-88 V6 clusters have the up shift light capability? (meaning, does the plastic template sheet have up the shift symbol on it?) I heard that up shifting is controlled by the ECM. I also heard that 88 ecm’s do not have the up shift capability but what about 85-87 V6 ecm’s? I’m basically asking how hard it would be to outfit a V6 with upshifting capability? Thanks, Kit
the 88 v6 cluster does have that spot yes. but the wiring doesn't work quite right for it if you use a prior to 88 ecm (i only know this because i had a spare 87 one i used to try to fix a problem) i dont necessarily agree with patrick that its pointless but it is a real pain to put in and get functioning properly. i would put another temp sensor in the cylinder heads and use the light wired separately for a overheat light personally
Thanks for all the replies. 😊 Actually, i just thought of another question and that is, at what rpm does the shift light come on? Is it at the same rpm for every gear? Oh, and my temp gauge has always worked beautifully in both my Fiero’s. (knock on wood) Kit
[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 05-18-2025).]
...what rpm does the shift light come on? Is it at the same rpm for every gear?
No, there's more to it than that. It has to do with engine RPM, manifold air pressure, etc.
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Originally posted by cartercarbaficionado:
i dont necessarily agree with patrick that its pointless...
The Fiero's fuel economy shift light might not be "pointless" if your gas gauge is on Empty and there isn't another gas station for 100 miles... but other than that... the flashing shift light is nothing but a nuisance... IMO.
Kit, there have been plenty of threads started over the years about the shift light... mainly by Fiero owners without a functioning shift light who feel they're somehow being cheated out of the experience. I don't recall any one of them returning to say how great it was once they got it functional!
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 05-18-2025).]
It's a cool, semi unique feature that is interesting. If you are accelerating (foot to the floor), it doesn't come on at all, like Patrick said it is some special map of several different engine parameters, but basically the more gas you're giving it, the higher the rpm it turns on at, and in my experience it has almost always come on at my natural shifting points anyways, or blinked on momentarily as I'm lifting the throttle to shift in a harder acceleration. It has also been useful as a form of cruise control, as in town I had a hard time keeping the Fiero to stay dead on the speed limit without longing at the speedo a lot, but being in 3rd gear at 50km/h, it will go on at about 53 or so, so I would just drive until the light blinked on let if the gas until it went out, and continued like that, never even looking at the cluster. At higher speeds it was easier to maintain an exact speed without constant checking, I think that's because of some vacuum leaks I had at the time. Anyhow for me it's been at worst a cool gimmick, at best a very decent cruise control for the most boring parts of a drive.
Thanks for all the replies. 😊 Actually, i just thought of another question and that is, at what rpm does the shift light come on? Is it at the same rpm for every gear? Oh, and my temp gauge has always worked beautifully in both my Fiero’s. (knock on wood) Kit
No, no pegging on the temp gauge. However, at very low rpm’s at a light with the turn signal going, I have occasionally seen them do a little dance. Since I upgraded both my cars to the 88 CS130 alternator, I haven’t really seen it dance. Kit
I have it installed on my Fiero GT track car. You just need tach signal, switched 12v power and ground.
Yeah sure, I shift mostly using my ears but on the track it's easy to get carried away and since the Fiero doesn't have a red line limiter it's nice to have a very visible warning. Plus the lights are a nice visual indicator when a downshift is safe.
I've got it programmed to light a left-most yellow light at 3,000 rpm, light another yellow one at 3,500 and then light a consecutive string of 4 green leds up to 4,500 rpm where torque starts to fall off. I then have two red lights in the sequence warning me that I'm approaching redline and the whole array starts blinking madly in red at redline. There is some latency, so the lighting sequence is conservative.
The Fiero's fuel economy shift light might not be "pointless" if your gas gauge is on Empty and there isn't another gas station for 100 miles... but other than that... the flashing shift light is nothing but a nuisance... IMO.
see funny thing is i added one to a ford focus and my 87. the focus one is much more useful going from yellow for economy to red for the maximum power in the next gear (factory ford cluster but its a stock rally cluster and diesel cluster put together for the looks and extra function) the 87 i wanted because i think its nice to have.....also that means my idiot lights work since the gauge traces are a little sketchy still
[This message has been edited by cartercarbaficionado (edited 05-19-2025).]
Yeah sure, I shift mostly using my ears but on the track it's easy to get carried away and since the Fiero doesn't have a red line limiter it's nice to have a very visible warning. Plus the lights are a nice visual indicator when a downshift is safe.
For the most part they do have red line limiters, I don't know about the 88s, I think they were different but the other v6s do have limiters (a tad above 6000) but you hit it and it will cut fuel until it either hits 4000 rpm or you lift your foot off the gas.
Like Brian A mentioned above, there are a few different devices that allow you to control a shift light. Most of them require some kind of timing box, like an MSD 6EFI (which would be a really nice and simple upgrade on a V6 anyway). You would get multiple spark discharge throughout the RPM which improves drivability, engine performance (mostly at mid to upper rpms) and improved fuel economy.
In any case, you can take the 6EFI's square wave (digital) tach output, and use it to directly control the shift light with a programmable shift light controller. That way, you can kind of use it for something more performance oriented, like... reminding you to shift so you don't blow your motor or something like that.
But to be honest... the only people who really use shift lights are drag racers and track racers... and that's because there's so much damned noise in the car, and so much vibration, that they can hardly see what the RPM is and they need a shift light to literally tell them when to shift. In a normal street car, you're going to hear your motor and feel the car at a much more controlled level... so you're going to be looking at your tach (and / or understand / feel it anyway) so you don't really need a shift light for performance driving.
But I get it... it's cool, and I'd want to use the shift light too if I had one in a car... or even the provision for one.
Here's a diagram I made for a Fiero's 6cyl stock ignition, you'll need this if you decide to wire up a 6EFI MSD box, or anything like that... this is what it looks like stock:
[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 05-19-2025).]
No, there's more to it than that. It has to do with engine RPM, manifold air pressure, etc.
That probably explains the shift light that was in my old S-10 5-speed pickup I had for a few years. The light would come on sooner, or sometimes later depending if I was really pushing it, or just lazily getting up to speed. Actually, I mostly just ignored it.
My parents bought a brand-new Honda Civic "1300FE" in 1983 and that car was the one I learned to drive manual on. The "FE" in the model designation meant "Fuel Efficient" and to accomplish that goal, it employed every gas-saving trick in the book. It had the smaller engine and a 5-speed transmission, in an era when the 4-speed was standard. It had no AC, no PS, no carpeting, no radio, no armrests, and a host of other things left off to save weight. It also had a shift light that was programmed to come on REALLY early, apparently to get you into that next gear sooner. My parents would get into big fights arguing about the shift light, because my dad wanted to shift at a higher RPM (you know, so as not to be such a dog in traffic) while my rule-following mother insisted you had to shift as soon as the light came on (thus lugging the engine and I suspect leading to the engine needing valvetrain work by 40K miles). The car was a total slug on the highway with a 0-60 time best measured with a sundial, but I did once calculate a 63 MPG road trip.
I had two identical 85GT's. One had the Up Shift, the other didn't. It activated on the first 3 gears but not on 4th. My 87 GT didn't have the light but my 86 SE does. The light activates all the way to 4th gear but not on 5th,
I converted the 87 to the 7730 DIS system and kept my old ECM. I was having some serious idle issues with the 86 and replacing all of the sensors didn't solve the problem. A PFF member suggested the ECM might be the problem, so I swapped in the 87 ECM. The Up Shift light still works with the 87 ECM.
I've had a few instrument clusters apart but I never noticed if all of them had the Shift graphics on the insert or if some of them were just blanked out. I would expect for cost efficiency, all would be the same whether or not the function was activated on a particular vehicle.
I've noticed that my light isn't controlled by rpm or speed, but by vacuum input. For example, I can cruise at any speed and rpm in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th and the light is on. Accelerate or decelerate and it goes out until it begins to cruise again.
[This message has been edited by fierofool (edited 05-19-2025).]
I don't recall any one of them returning to say how great it was once they got it functional!
