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Oil temp gauge fitting


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Ralph, I've looked at that tee and sender in my VDO catalogue that many times now and the only thing that has stopped me doing anything is the the length of it all bouncing around out in the breeze. (to check temps I taped a thermocouple to the outside of the oil filter :lol: )

How long have you had it fitted now ?

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I am looking at fitting some LCD gauges in my D90 200TDi, I am looking at volt, water temp, oil pressure, but also oil temp now IIRC there is no gauge for this at the moment is there anywhere I can plumb one in easily?

A long way from being cheap but I use two of the Dual gauges from SPA

http://www.spa-uk.co.uk/design/dualgauges/

As well as being extremely accurate, having dual gauges saves on space too, I've got one for water temp and oil pressure and a second for fuel level and voltage. The fuel level one can be calibrated at 6 points using the standard LR sender so is pretty accurate even if, like me, you have an odd shaped fuel tank.

You can set your own warning conditions on all the gauges and, as well as the built in LED, you can operate external devices too - the water temp gauge can be used to switch your electric fans on/off, for example and you can set the temp for each.

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:wacko: ok, i've got back up now. very nice gauges there Dave but i'm looking a bit cheaper than that.

I was going to fit a top mud pod and have water temp, oil pressure, oil temp and volt, but thinking about it, do I need oil temp? ok there will be a reason, I have an oil pressure light built in already, my temp gauge don't know what day it is, so swap that and I have a spare position for a volt meter.

£36 for both

See Here

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:wacko: ok, i've got back up now. very nice gauges there Dave but i'm looking a bit cheaper than that.

I was going to fit a top mud pod and have water temp, oil pressure, oil temp and volt, but thinking about it, do I need oil temp? ok there will be a reason, I have an oil pressure light built in already, my temp gauge don't know what day it is, so swap that and I have a spare position for a volt meter.

£36 for both

See Here

I've got the standard LR Oil Temp Gauge fitted to my ex-Mil Defender 130 and I feel a lot more confident that it's letting me know what the Engine Temperature is than the inconsistent Water Temperature Guage does :blink: .

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I've got the standard LR Oil Temp Gauge fitted to my ex-Mil Defender 130 and I feel a lot more confident that it's letting me know what the Engine Temperature is than the inconsistent Water Temperature Guage does :blink: .

Each to their own, the reason I want a water temp gauge is that I do not run a viscous fan, I use the X-Eng thermostat but it has never kicked in, I changed the (Block only) to a disco unit and even thought it is still the Defender temp sender it has never been the same, thus the reason for an accurate temp gauge.

Oil may come at a later stage if I was comping...

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Ralph, I've looked at that tee and sender in my VDO catalogue that many times now and the only thing that has stopped me doing anything is the the length of it all bouncing around out in the breeze. (to check temps I taped a thermocouple to the outside of the oil filter :lol: )

How long have you had it fitted now ?

been fitted at least 5 years IIRC.

hasn't caused any leakage as it is, the parts I noted on the modified parts page are [were] used on the 2.5 TD engine & will fit all the 2.5 4 cylinder engines in 90/110 & may even be possible to fit to a 300Tdi engine.

zulublue --

gauges are standard 52mm diameter, my oil temp & oil pressure sit in a dashtop pod, easy to read & lit by green leds at night.

measured the oil pressure adaptor it's 40mm from the filter head face to end of adaptor [not including the oil pressure light switch.] noted on photo below

post-20-1234895620_thumb.jpg

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been fitted at least 5 years IIRC.

hasn't caused any leakage as it is, the parts I noted on the modified parts page are [were] used on the 2.5 TD engine & will fit all the 2.5 4 cylinder engines in 90/110 & may even be possible to fit to a 300Tdi engine.

zulublue --

gauges are standard 52mm diameter, my oil temp & oil pressure sit in a dashtop pod, easy to read & lit by green leds at night.

measured the oil pressure adaptor it's 40mm from the filter head face to end of adaptor [not including the oil pressure light switch.] noted on photo below

Cheers Ralph, I am going to fit the Water temp and volt first to see it they work ok if so I may go for the others.

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I've got the standard LR Oil Temp Gauge fitted to my ex-Mil Defender 130 and I feel a lot more confident that it's letting me know what the Engine Temperature is than the inconsistent Water Temperature Guage does :blink: .

I've got the additional oil temp guage fitted as standard to my ex-mil 110 2.5NA, like you say it gives a better indication of what is actually happening inside the engine. Do 70mph on a m-way and the oil temp goes upto 3/4 of the way up the guage from its usual halfway point, the water temp however never changes position once its got up to normal running temp.

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I've got the additional oil temp guage fitted as standard to my ex-mil 110 2.5NA, like you say it gives a better indication of what is actually happening inside the engine. Do 70mph on a m-way and the oil temp goes upto 3/4 of the way up the guage from its usual halfway point, the water temp however never changes position once its got up to normal running temp.

70MPH, I wish LOL

Fair point on the oil temp, I did not realise it altered that much once up to running temperature, as mentioned my gauge is out and the fan does not kick in so for piece of mind I want to fit a water temp gauge.

So on your oil temp gauge, what is hot and what is not?

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Thanks Ralph, can you remember if it was white and some other colour as I guess there may be more than one white?????

it was a plain white wire on my '89 110, it had a voltmeter from new so was connected at the factory.[some may not be connected so are spare feeds]

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70MPH, I wish LOL

Fair point on the oil temp, I did not realise it altered that much once up to running temperature, as mentioned my gauge is out and the fan does not kick in so for piece of mind I want to fit a water temp gauge.

So on your oil temp gauge, what is hot and what is not?

sits at half way on normal running, creeps over it slightly when doing usal 55-60 'cruising' speeds went upto 3/4 when I thrashed it in a rush the other day. The guage just has 4 lines ( i think) not numbers so I dont know what it relates to. This is on a ex-mil FFR engine with the oil cooler in the rad and the thermostatic bypass.

I removed the viscous fan over a year ago and never had any water over heating problems

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been fitted at least 5 years IIRC.

hasn't caused any leakage as it is, the parts I noted on the modified parts page are [were] used on the 2.5 TD engine & will fit all the 2.5 4 cylinder engines in 90/110 & may even be possible to fit to a 300Tdi engine.

<snip>

Cheers Ralph.

VDO make a tee that will allow the use of the OE sender and another for a gauge too.

It looks exactly like your setup, I've just been concerned with breakage on our lovely roads out here, so I was going to braze a thermowell (a brass housing that a sender screws into) into the side of the sump.

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Ralph, I have fitted the volt meter today to the suggested white wire, although there were a few, but I tested it first and it seemed to do the job, it was a thin gauge wire.

Anyhow, I put the new gauge on the battery terminals and the battery was showing 12.4v and when the engine was running it was 14.4v.

When I connected it to the white wire turned off but with ignition on it started at 12.4v but steadily dropped down to 11.8v when the engine was running it was reading up to 14.7V and dropped slightly to 14.5v with acceleration.

Does this seem ok to you, what power could be lost when off connected to the white wire and gain more when running? possible drain somewhere, but nothing was on, power dropped to 14.2v with 500W of lights on.

I’m not to fussed as it’s there mainly to monitor the alternator return

Any ideas?

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was the 11.8v reading with ignition on but engine Off ? if yes then the drop would be caused by the glowplug system working & once they are at the right temp the timer relay shuts power off to the glowplugs, 14.4 while running is good & when items are switched on the reading will drop slightly.

if there's a thicker white wire might be better to connect into that, bigger wire is able to carry more current.

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Yes the 11.8v reading was ignition on, engine off; but it started at 12.4v and dropped to 11.8 over a few minutes I would expect the glowplugs to take their bit of required power and when at heat the relay turns off and the voltage rises, but the voltage kept on dropping to the 11.8 level.

I will try it again and also put my tester on the battery to see if they match.

The wire to the gauge is quite thin so I dont think attaching it to a the thicker white wire will do much.

Thanks for your input Ralph.

Mark.

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