Oil Temp Gauge choices

[KL31]

I've been looking at electric oil temp gauges for some time now and am not sure whether I should get one in Celsius of Fahrenheit. I live in Australia and the F gauges are cheaper because we don't use F. They go from 100F to 250F which is approx 37C and 120C. This should be enough and seems like a good range but I do live in the hottest city in the world (we won that title last year with about a weeks worth of over 40C days in a row). Not sure if oil temp will go above 120C. It definitely gets to 100-110C water temp as per my water temp gauges and thermo fans switching on. I'd imagine some spirited driving in that temp would surely bring the oil temp well over 100C. Not sure if going over 120 would damage the gauge/sender?

The Celsius gauges start at 50-60 and go to 150-170 depending on brand. The autometer ones go from 60 to 170 and have a nice clear display which is evenly spaced out. But 60 seems like a high start point. VDO gauges go from 50-150 and look stock but their 50-100 zone is all bunched together on the gauge, which would make things difficult to read. They are far cheaper though.

The other option is digital. But I'm not sure if the digital ones are erratic. Does the display temp jump quickly between certain temps etc?

Let me know what you're running and would recommend!

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Well, I live in a Metric nation as well, and all the gauges in vehicles made since the late 1970's are in SI units (degC in this case). It's not such a big deal with temperature gauges to me, I "speak" all three systems of measurement, Imperial, US, and Metric and can easily translate in my head any of them, but I really dislike metric unit pressure gauges that are not in PSI.

I'm not sure why you are having an issue with choosing an aftermarket gauge; the ones I see are either mechanical where you choose from C or F; electric with a fixed gauge face in either C or F, or electronic where the user can select to display either. It is also not difficult to print a gauge face yourself and replace the one that came with your gauge, if you are a little handy. Ideally use a laser printer, not an inkjet. If you must use an inkjet, you need to spray the printed face with a fixatif.

Digital gauges are not ideal as they convey information in a non-intuitive manner, but you can get them with an analog display (typically a set of LEDs arranged in a circle) around the digital display, which helps a bit.

Motor-driven electronic gauges have wider sweeps (equivalent to mechanical units) than the 120 degrees or so standard electrical gauges which I personally find unsatisfactory. Mechanical gauges almost always have a nice readable 270 degree sweep. Any reason why you are not looking at a mechanical gauge? They are the least expensive and there is no problem with accuracy as long as you choose a reputable brand.

Check out SpeedHut
http://www.speedhut.com
and Auto Meter
http://www.autometer.com

There are a few other gauge manufacturers I would recommend but for specific uses, neither of which are temp gauges.

 

[KL31]

I don't like the idea of mech gauges because failure of the oil line means a massive mess.

I'm leaning towards either a basic autometer in Celsius or a digital vdo gauge as they're around the same price. I figure digital gauges would be worse for pressure gauges but may be good for temp gauges as they should rise and fall much slower.

Full sweep gauge would be great but they're double the price which is ridiculous.

 

[Jetronic]

The centre of the vdo oil gauges is all bunched together as it's the "nothing interesting going on" zone.

 

[Astro14]

Mechanical pressure gauges make a mess if the line fails.

However, the mechanical temperature gauge has a very modest supply of working fluid, principally in the bulb and a very little in the copper/alloy line that goes to the gauge itself. Mechanical gauges are dead reliable, and require no electrical connection. The major drawback is that you can't keep "working" that line. Enough times bending it, and it will fail, and they cost more to repair than they cost new....but they don't make a mess if they fail. In fact, you probably won't ever see any fluid, you'll just notice that the gauge stops registering.

 

[Donald]

A temp gauge needs a good spot to install the sender unlike a pressure gauge. I would go for oil pressure and coolant temp.

My Ford truck has engine and transmission temp gauges along with turbo boost. No voltage or oil pressure.

 

[ammolab]

250F Max sounds like a WATER temp gauge. Oil temps can reach well above 250F. All the oil temp gauges I have installed read to 300F, and I saw 285F regularly.

 

[Astro14]

A quick search of Autometer's home page shows a variety of oil temp gauges that register up to 170C.

The VDO oil temp gauge that I once had in a Volvo (1985 Turbo wagon) went up to 150C.

I would go with metric readings, to keep consistency with other gauges in your car. All of the gauges that I've found have been reasonable in price.

 

[KL31]

Originally Posted By: Jetronic
The centre of the vdo oil gauges is all bunched together as it's the "nothing interesting going on" zone.


How often in winter would it be going above 90-100C though? My winters are no overly cold in Australia, between 3-10C in the coldest part of morning. Water temp never goes above 80C when moving. Be interesting to see where oil would sit. I drive 20km city each way but very early so it's not congested with traffic.

Summer is a totally different ball game. It's so hot that my engine runs 14.7:1 after about 5 seconds idle and enters fuel/spark cut on decel after 30 seconds of driving

 

[KL31]

These are the ones I am thinking about.

 

[Jetronic]

Originally Posted By: KL31
Originally Posted By: Jetronic
The centre of the vdo oil gauges is all bunched together as it's the "nothing interesting going on" zone.


How often in winter would it be going above 90-100C though? My winters are no overly cold in Australia, between 3-10C in the coldest part of morning. Water temp never goes above 80C when moving. Be interesting to see where oil would sit. I drive 20km city each way but very early so it's not congested with traffic.

Summer is a totally different ball game. It's so hot that my engine runs 14.7:1 after about 5 seconds idle and enters fuel/spark cut on decel after 30 seconds of driving

it's below 80 or above 110 ish that the oil temps become interesting. anything between that is considered normal

 

[meep]

my vote for quality goes to autometer. note that their backlighting is LED-based, and for them to dim with the dash they require a separate autometer dimming unit.

I used to be a loyal sun / suntune / sunpro guy. not anymore. They all fail very quickly, even the really nice-looking one's with center lit needles and backlit dials - in fact I'd wager those are the most fragile I've seen.

-m