Place to mount pickup for oil temp gauge?

[freedster]

Hello all-

 

Looking for suggestions. Got a "free" water temp gauge when I bought an ammeter and since I already have water temp on the dash, I was thinking I could just plumb the temp pickup into the oil system and keep tabs on how hot that was getting too.

 

It was suggested that I not try to plumb it into the oil pressure gauge pickup because that can adversely affect the pressure readings and also because that pickup point might not be at a good place to get the true oil temperature anyway.

 

The two thoughts I had were:

- just replacing the drain plug with the temp pickup (which i know would work but it makes me a little nervous)

- Getting a spin-on cooler adapter or remote filter adapter and plumbing it into the system there. (Not really expensive, but not really free either.

 

Thanks for the advice!

 

- Freed

 

PS- Car is an 88 GL 4WD hatch. 1.8L w/ carb, 4-spd.

[Snowman]

First, what temp range does the gauge read? Your oil temp is generally 40 degrees more than coolant temp.

 

Second, I tried mounting an oil temp gauge in two locations on my car. Initially, I teed into the oil pressure sending unit port, but since no oil moved past the sender, it never got heated by the oil. I then installed a remote mount dual oil filter system and teed the temp sender into that, which worked well. The filter system turned out to be a piece of crap so I took it off, but the temp gauge worked fine. That's a good option if you want to add an oil cooler.

 

If you don't want to add an oil cooler, you could stick it in the oil pan. Replacing the drain plug is kinda sketchy in my opinion since you would be taking apart those fittings every 3000 miles and slowly wearing them out. I know you can take them apart a few times without any real harm, but they are basically designed to be installed and left there. For a pan install, I would remove the pan for accessability purposes, drill a hole in it and weld on a pipe thread fitting that the sending unit can screw into.

 

Just a few thoughts.

[freedster]

First, what temp range does the gauge read? Your oil temp is generally 40 degrees more than coolant temp.

 

Second, I tried mounting an oil temp gauge in two locations on my car. Initially, I teed into the oil pressure sending unit port, but since no oil moved past the sender, it never got heated by the oil. I then installed a remote mount dual oil filter system and teed the temp sender into that, which worked well. The filter system turned out to be a piece of crap so I took it off, but the temp gauge worked fine. That's a good option if you want to add an oil cooler.

 

If you don't want to add an oil cooler, you could stick it in the oil pan. Replacing the drain plug is kinda sketchy in my opinion since you would be taking apart those fittings every 3000 miles and slowly wearing them out. I know you can take them apart a few times without any real harm, but they are basically designed to be installed and left there. For a pan install, I would remove the pan for accessability purposes, drill a hole in it and weld on a pipe thread fitting that the sending unit can screw into.

 

Just a few thoughts.

I don't have the gauge in front of me, but I think the temp range is adequate. I think it's about 140-240 degrees or something like that.

 

What you describe is exactly what I heard could happen if you tee off the pressure sending unit. Thanks for the feedback on that point.

 

What makes me nervous about using the drain plug is the fact that it would leave a wire hanging out of the lowest part of the engine, and one that went into the crankcase to boot. I could see snagging it on a high-center or bit of road debris or something and spilling all of my oil out. I hadn't even thought about the wear and tear aspects of it, so those make the idea even less viable.

 

I like your welding a new fitting idea. I could put it on the side of the crankcase out of the way so it wouldn't get snagged. The gauge kit came with little pieces of threaded adapters so that it could be made to fit in many makes of car, so I could just drill a hole and weld one of those in. I got the welder for Christmas and I've been itching to use it on the car somehow anyway.

 

I'll price cooler adapters too, but I think welding the bung into the crankcase will just cost me the price of a new pan gasket. Thanks for the good ideas.

 

Any other ideas out there in TV land?

 

- Freed