Which type of gauge

[ianmayco68]

Morning all hope everyone’s well , so might be a bit of a daft question but I’ll ask anyway . I haven’t got space for too many gauges so which gauge is more beneficial an oil pressure or oil temperature gauge? In relation to the engine and the gearbox? I’m thinking pressure for the engine which is a 300tdi but not sure on the 4HP22 auto box.

cheers Ian 

Edited April 10, 2021 by ianmayco68

[western]

Oil pressure for the engine,  No idea if there is a oil temp sender for that auto box, 

[ianmayco68]

There’s a factory sender fitted in the oil cooler pipe work , which I don’t know. I was thinking of getting stack gauges anyway which come with there own sender .

Edited April 10, 2021 by ianmayco68

[Snagger]

I’d say you’re unlikely to have an oil temperature issue if the coolant temperature is in normal ranges, so that gauge is arguably just a distraction.  But the oil pressure gauge is also fairly redundant as a warning light will come on for low pressure.  Transmission gauges are completely pointless, though the temperature warning light for the ZF should be confirmed to be working as it is there for good reason.

From my experience, oil gauges cause more worry and don’t tend to save much trouble.  You’d be better off with a voltmeter or clock, and of those two, the clock is the far more useful.

[ianmayco68]

Cheers all , already got a clock and a voltmeter to fit , so will proberbly fit the pressure for the engine and a temp gauge for the box because it's in a Defender there isn't actually a warning light for the gearbox temp .

[RedLineMike]

oil pressure for the engine & oil temp for the gearbox especially if its an auto, its what i have in the race car

 

[Bigj66]

I’ve just fitted a transmission oil temperature gauge to mine as I’m running a ZF too. I removed the warning light switch as I didn’t have the lamp anyway and fitted the sender in its place. Spoke to Ashcrofts first and they said it would work fine as it’s constantly being splashed with oil even though it’s not submerged so will work as well as the original switch did.

[ianmayco68]

Better get the pennies out from under the mattress .

[Snagger]

14 hours ago, ianmayco68 said:

Better get the pennies out from under the mattress .

Check the back of the sofa!

[ianmayco68]

Already been there, that’s what paid for the tyres last week  .

[Peaklander]

Ian, I fitted a VDO oil pressure gauge to my 300 TDi and now I’m used to reading it, I’m not sure whether or not it will prove to be useful.

At cold start it is up near 3.5-4Bar. When coolant reads normal but not working hard then the pressure is around 2 Bar. If working (high speed or hills) then its drops to just over 1 Bar.

I’m not really sure when or if it will actually ‘tell’ me anything that warrants an investigation. Somehow I’m happy to watch it though. 🧐

[FridgeFreezer]

For a 300TDi I'd say an EGT gauge might be the most useful. I would not really bother with the others, if I was worried about oil pressure I'd maybe find an oil pressure switch that has a higher operating pressure and attach that to a 2nd "early warning" light on the dash to give backup.

For temperature I scatter these around, cost about 10p each available in a variety of ranges - stuck them on engine, rad, oil filter, gearbox, transfer box and anything else you want to know about, the race guys put the HT ones on brake callipers and all sorts:

[ianmayco68]

Cheers both, already got an EGT and boost gauge in ,

mans a added an extra couple of holes so need to fill them .  Thinking about it I only have room for 2 so a voltmeter and gearbox temperature gauge and it’s all good.

[monkie]

On 4/10/2021 at 3:22 PM, Snagger said:

the clock is the far more useful.

... But you're in a Land Rover, you already know you're late before you've even set off 

[Turbocharger]

Same as Fridge, I've got a stack of temperature stickers scattered around sumps, header tanks etc. There's little I'd do in real time to react to them, gauges are just cab ornaments really.

[monkie]

Gauges are cab orinments until something starts to go wrong. Voltmeters showing a drop in voltage maybe a diode has gone, or raised EGT telling you to back off a bit... Also I believe there's a lot of value in a normal reading when you have trouble to help rule things out.