dave88sw Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 I'm looking to fit some aftermarket gauges to my land rover but i'm a bit confused as to what to buy. Basically i have a defender binnacle and so have 3 52mm holes to fill, i already have a sunpro voltmeter and would ideally buy a water and fuel gauge to match but i can't find a supplier of a similar style gauge. So i think the best compromise is to just buy a water and fuel gauge of a similar style. There's plenty of choice out there but can anybody recommend a good supplier at a sensible price? Also, i realise most temp gauges have a matched sender, but ideally i'd want to use a defender fuel sender with the fuel gauge, looking on vdo's website, they say their range of gauges can be used with "all different types of tank sensors", is this correct for most fuel gauges? i'd guess the range of the variable resistor that forms the level sensor is similar for most senders? Otherwise i'm happy to fit proper defender gauges, but are all defender gauges the same or do they differ for different engines, i'd guess the gauges are all the same and the sender is matched to the engine. Thanks in advance Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 I've got alot of vdo gauges in/going in my 110 and my opinion of them is there very good value for the money. Senders and gauges have to be matched pairs, theres different senders due to the different threads used by manufactures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejparrott Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Look on ebay, thats where mine come from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickwilliams Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Merlin Motorsport carry a pretty good range of VDO and other gauges and are where I bought mine from. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 VDO actually make the Td5 gauges for LR, the VDO Vision range is very good & easy to fit, Europa Spares are another supplier other tham Merlin mentioned above. the can supply the correct sender units too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreePointFive Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 When you say matched pairs, what does this mean? Would a TD5 gauge work with 1988 senders, for example? Not to highjack the thread, but would a TD5 rev counter work with a V8? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 When you say matched pairs, what does this mean? Would a TD5 gauge work with 1988 senders, for example? Not to highjack the thread, but would a TD5 rev counter work with a V8? No, td5 gauges and senders or 1988 sender and gauge, no mixing and matching due to the differing resistance values of the senders. TD5 rev counters read from the ECU. A petrol engine reads off the coil and most other diesels from the Alternator W terminal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRecklessEngineer Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I have a Td5 instrument panel in a Series 3 (yes, I know, I'm a heathen). The fuel gauge worked just fine. The temperature gauge required a resistor to make it read correctly - I forget the value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I have a Td5 instrument panel in a Series 3 (yes, I know, I'm a heathen). The fuel gauge worked just fine. The temperature gauge required a resistor to make it read correctly - I forget the value. I have a td5 pack in my 1989 110 and the fuel gauge works off the original sender fine. Your temp gauge wont read correct at any other temp due to the resistor, you can use a rest of world spec 300TDi sender with the td5 gauge to read correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 it needs the sender with the 'green; plastic insert around the terminal, AMR1425 http://www.brit-car.co.uk/product.php?xProd=81714 bullet type teminal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I have a td5 pack in my 1989 110 and the fuel gauge works off the original sender fine. Your temp gauge wont read correct at any other temp due to the resistor, you can use a rest of world spec 300TDi sender with the td5 gauge to read correctly. Even with the ROW-spec 300Tdi sender (AMR1425 as above) it will still read 'wrong'. On a ROW-spec vehicle the temperature sender feed is passed through the speedo head where a trim resistance value is added, this offsets the gauge and makes it read in the normal "just left of centre" Land Rover way. It will of course work without it, it will just read slightly high (or low, I can't remember which way around it is) all the time. Fuel gauges and senders appear to be fairly consistent it seems, my Td5 gauges read off my 90's Tdi fuel sender fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Having looked at your site James I thought the fuel gauge was also wired via the speedo head? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Having looked at your site James I thought the fuel gauge was also wired via the speedo head? yes it is, the td5 speedo contains the fuel gauges damper circuit to stop the gauge dancing as you drive. Earlier gauges contain there own circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Cheers for that I'm greedy and am going to add a 2nd TD5 fuel gauge, adding a damper circuit should be simper than hiding a second td5 speedo behind the dash! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 run both sender wires to an On On switch.. 2 tanks 1 gauge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 run both sender wires to an On On switch.. 2 tanks 1 gauge. Yeah I had thought of that but knowing me I'll forget to switch and wonder why I've run out of diesel or veg. I had thought of switching with the fuel change over switch as well but then thought I'll always end up being curious how much is in the other tank...... so to cope with my absent minded curiosity decided two gauges will probably be best, I'll move the clock into the raptor console freeing up space for the extra gauge. I must get round to sorting the dimensions out for that tank bracket for you VB, I still haven't finished the tank install .... it kind of got put off with all the rain and then 'other things' have got in the way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Yeah I had thought of that but knowing me I'll forget to switch and wonder why I've run out of diesel or veg. I had thought of switching with the fuel change over switch as well but then thought I'll always end up being curious how much is in the other tank...... so to cope with my absent minded curiosity decided two gauges will probably be best, I'll move the clock into the raptor console freeing up space for the extra gauge. I must get round to sorting the dimensions out for that tank bracket for you VB, I still haven't finished the tank install .... it kind of got put off with all the rain and then 'other things' have got in the way No rush... My 110 is missing its engine at the minute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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