Hey all. I'm debating adding one of the triple Auto-Gage sets to my Civic. Do you think there's any real advantage to adding guages to a basically stock car?
Greg
Greg
Adding guages; good idea/ boy-racer garbage?
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No, not really but it depends on what you want to do with it. For functionality, your "idiot" lights will tell you if you got problems. But, if your a oil nut like a lot of us here, we are curious as to what our engines are doing all the time. Example, I surely want one in my boat because of the workload that engine has on it. As soon as I see any sign of low oil pressure, I'd kill the engine and then examine the problem. I mean, most "blue haired old lady cars" have no guages and they run what seems like forever. If you want a true guage, then you will run a live oil tube from the engine to your guage and not rely on the electrical readings.
Those gauges are what, water temp, amps, and oil pressure? The oil pressure you gotta futz with T-adaptors of dubious quality; the ammeter you have to run thick 10-gauge wire to and fro the gauge carrying the ENTIRE alternator output.
This sounds like fun (to me, at least) on a slant 6 dart but not on any modern car.
Cool gauges are volts (EASY hookup), vacuum, water temp if it's not built into your dash, and RPMs (ditto).
This sounds like fun (to me, at least) on a slant 6 dart but not on any modern car.
Cool gauges are volts (EASY hookup), vacuum, water temp if it's not built into your dash, and RPMs (ditto).
The only gauges that I would recommend would be a oil pressure, oil temperature and maybe a vacuum. Idiot lights are ok but when my 81 Volvo's Turbo decided to dump 3.5 quarts of oil down the exhaust pipe I would never had known it until it was too late. If the Oil pressure gauge hadn't been bouncing I would have driven the car dry or until zero oil pressure and the idiot light came on. Oil temp can be handy if your car does leak and you haven't checked the oil level for a while. Less oil less heat able to dispersed by the oil. This will show up as higher than normal oil temp. A vacuum gauge is great if your trying for the light foot way to improved gas mileage.
If you are making a lot of power or operating at high speed when the oil pressure idiot like comes on, it means you have got a real problem. There is a good chance damage has already been done.
Good replis folks, thanks.
I think it's true that assuming I maintain the car pretty well (most people don't) that idiot lights would be OK for letting me know there's a problem. Afterall, what's the diff on a stock engine in day to day driving between a light or a really low reading on a guage? The thing is I want more info than that even if it's not super-precise. Given the choice, I'd have every guage I could think of on there but that would be impractical. The ones I definitely want are Volts and Oil pressure and since the factory water temp guage is vague it would be nice to have a little more info there. Vaccum would be nice too but that's not usually included in those triple guage sets.
If I had more play money, I'd definitely look into more expensive lines of guages but since my interest at the moment is just to get a better idea of what's happening, I don't see that as necessary. All I want for the moment is something that will give me a little better shot at anticipating trouble before it gets idiot-light-expensive to fix
Thanks again!
Greg
BTW, on a non-turbo car, would having oil temp be priority info?
I think it's true that assuming I maintain the car pretty well (most people don't) that idiot lights would be OK for letting me know there's a problem. Afterall, what's the diff on a stock engine in day to day driving between a light or a really low reading on a guage? The thing is I want more info than that even if it's not super-precise. Given the choice, I'd have every guage I could think of on there but that would be impractical. The ones I definitely want are Volts and Oil pressure and since the factory water temp guage is vague it would be nice to have a little more info there. Vaccum would be nice too but that's not usually included in those triple guage sets.
If I had more play money, I'd definitely look into more expensive lines of guages but since my interest at the moment is just to get a better idea of what's happening, I don't see that as necessary. All I want for the moment is something that will give me a little better shot at anticipating trouble before it gets idiot-light-expensive to fix
Thanks again!
Greg
BTW, on a non-turbo car, would having oil temp be priority info?
It's the best way to make an informed choice of what oil viscosity to use.
Give a choice between:
1. A vague factory water temp gauge plus an accurate water temp gauge
2. A vague water temp gauge plus an accurate oil temp gauge.
#2 Gives you more useful information.
Factory water temp gauges are usually repeatable if vague. You can eventually figure out what they are saying once you get used to the car.
hmm....good point. I wonder if it's possible that a temp guage for oil would also work for water? Then I could either a)get the kit and hook up the temp guage for oil or b) (if I'm feeling extra geeky) get a sending unit fo each and a switch....hmm...
Greg
Greg
Oil and coolant will have different rates of heat transfer. If you used a coolant gauge for oil, you'd get an inaccurate temperature. Same thing vice-versa. If you want accurate numbers, you'll need separate gauges.
are the guages actually different or just the sending units? I'd think that the voltage being sent to the oil temp guage to tell me it's 150F is the same voltage as the water temp at 150F
Greg
Greg
Yes, they are usually the same sending units. With digital gauges, they are usually the same gauges with different labels.
Summitracing has some digital gauges and senders. I put one of their Nordscog gauges on my motorcycle for an oil temp gauge a few years ago. It's a good gauge.
They have other lower priced brands, but they only go to 250 or 260F, that's not enough for an oil temp gauge unless you are sure your oil never gets that hot.
Oil temps are usually measured in the pan of the main gallery which is close to pan temperature. Pan temps typically but not always run 10 to 20F hotter than coolant once temperatures stabilize. Oil temp usualy lags coolant temp on warm up, but passes it as things stabilize.
Oil temp will go higher if you are working the engine harder and using a lot of revs.
Your engine oil shouldn't get to 260, but some cars do occasionally and if it's there it would be convenient to know what the temperature is.
Didn't realize oil gets that much hotter than water; I guess it depends on where it's at in the engine, the stuff on cylinder walls must get pretty warm.
Greg
Greg
I would think a set of good gauges would be a great addition for anyone who appreciates the BITOG way of life. Some I would like to have are coolant temp, oil pressure, oil temp, trans temp if auto trans, and voltmeter, not amp. No one has mentioned this, but I would recommend the electric sender style vs the mechanical style. Search for egauges.com for a company with some good ones. Note the senders are sold separately.
http://www.egauges.com/vdo_bld.asp?Series=Vision&Cart=
http://www.egauges.com/vdo_bld.asp?Series=Vision&Cart=
Just got a trans temp guage for my truck. I will be adding a tach and oil pressure guage to my collection as well. These three are my "essential" guages. I would also like a water temp gauge that read in numbers, not H and L. But that is down on the list.
Anyone know how to fab up a custom gauge pod for the dash. The metal "all purpose" guage holders are ugly and have no backing.
Anyone know how to fab up a custom gauge pod for the dash. The metal "all purpose" guage holders are ugly and have no backing.
I just ordered a Z Series Engine Oil temperature gauge with a 100- 250* scale and a matching Trans oil temp gauge (towing) with the same scale. I got both from eGauges.com and each was 42.00 + S&H. My car came from the factory with coolant temp, oil pressure, and voltmeter gauges.
Kestas
Staff member
When I talked to a crew member of a NASCAR team for the Tide car, he told me their driver simply ignores the gauges. The driver figures the car should run perfectly. If it doesn't, there's not much he can do about it, and the race is probably lost at that point anyhow. I don't think this applies to you, but I thought it's an interesting tidbit of information.
Personally, I'm a stocker and I don't like anything that detracts from the stock look of a car.
Personally, I'm a stocker and I don't like anything that detracts from the stock look of a car.
Adding gauges is a wealth redistribution scheme, go for it, every little bit helps the economy.
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