Aftermarket gauges. Oil pressure/water temp

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
aaronmorris

aaronmorris

Head's a shed
Posts
6,369
Location
Doncaster
So seen as I've spent a ridiculous amount of money on my 90 and installing a rather silly engine (cummins 6bt)
I've decided I need some proper gauges.

I originally drilled and tapped a blanking plug and fitted a the original 200tdi temp sender in the top of the engine.
Now lr gauges aren't brilliant. Plus when I sold the tdi the bloke was on the way and I though oh sh*t theirs no temp sender in it. So had to take it out.
At this point I thought I'd just buy another 200 temp sender. But they're not cheap :eek:
So seemed a better idea to put money towards something better.

Same scenario for the oil pressure gauge. But then decided I don't just want a crappy light and a proper pressure reading would be better.

So my question is has anyone had any good experiences with aftermarket gauges and what do you recommend?
I had been looking at the Tim mechanical ones. Which seem reasonably priced and get decent reviews.
Thoughts please.
 
I made the mistake of getting the cheap dragon gauges off ebay. Totally awful - two failed when it got warm in the car. wish I'd just bought VDO or similar in the first place
 
aaronmorris said:
:confused:



Exactly why I asked :) Got far to much money in it to not keep my eye on it properly.
While I don't have mega amounts of money I don't want cheap crap either.
Click to expand...

Yeah - I'm all up for a bargain and I'd love to have recommended them because they actually looked alright. But this turned out to really be a case of buy cheap buy twice.

Or in my case, buy cheap, buy once, chuck it in the bin :D
 
jbenekeorr said:
Yeah - I'm all up for a bargain and I'd love to have recommended them because they actually looked alright. But this turned out to really be a case of buy cheap buy twice.

Or in my case, buy cheap, buy once, chuck it in the bin :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've seen them in the past and as you say they actually look alright.
But for something like this I would be dubious.
VDO/Smiths/Tim have all been around years and I think I'd rather trust them.
 
haha ebay dragons? yeah don't trust anything's that 2.99 shipped from china with free postage :D

sometimes i try it just to see how it turns out. amazing they can even ship stuff for that price :/
 
trax said:
haha ebay dragons? yeah don't trust anything's that 2.99 shipped from china with free postage :D

sometimes i try it just to see how it turns out. amazing they can even ship stuff for that price :/
Click to expand...

I wish they were £2.99 ... I spent just over £50 for the gauges and a pod.

I'm ashamed :eek:
 
Fitted loads of gauges through the years to my rally cars and project cars. The only trouble I have ever had was some cheap gauges from eBay in my mini a few years ago, the oil pressure gauge always read 20 psi with the ignition on, and engine not running. The backlight LEDs were also stupidly bright. Obviously they got binned.

Tim stuff is cheap, and not sure if they are reliable, but I've not had a problem.

The dearer you get with gauges, sometimes means that the sender units are stupidly dear to replace. My SPA digital gauges are in the spares box now as the senders are all failing and they are silly money. I now have STACK gauges in my Evo 6 which are great.

I've never had any trouble with Smiths gauges especially mechanical, but the VDO gauges match the Defender standard gauges. I would also look at Durite gauges, as long as having "Durite" written on them in big letters doesn't put you off. The senders are also not too dear to replace.
 
My local auto electrical shop really rate durite stuff, very rarely get anything back with faults.

Mechanical gauges are simpler to install, as you just run the pipe to the engine and plumb it in with a suitable thread adaptor, the only power you need is the backlight for the gauge. The only issue is that you have oil piped through to your dash which may leak !! I have recently used aero quip style piping rather than the thin plastic pipes just for peace of mind. The water temp mechanical gauges use a copper pipe with a sensor on the end, which seem rather fragile. But again no problems with them so far. Routing the pipes can be difficult.

Electrical are just a case of screwing in a sensor to the engine and running wires to the dash. The oil pressure senders can be bulky so may need adaptors, or they can be remotely mounted via a aero quip pipe, which helps with clearance but also stops engine vibration killing the sensors. Some of the top end gauges have 3 or 4 wires per gauge, the durite smiths etc have 1 to the sensor.

Personally, I would go for electrical durite VDO smiths etc. it's easier said to hide the wiring than pipes. Don't go for anything with a really bright backlight. If you find them too bright at night, a small piece of heat shrink can be put over the backlight bulb to tone them down, or fit a dimmer resistor oe a lower watt bulb.

:)
 
kes86 said:
My local auto electrical shop really rate durite stuff, very rarely get anything back with faults.

Mechanical gauges are simpler to install, as you just run the pipe to the engine and plumb it in with a suitable thread adaptor, the only power you need is the backlight for the gauge. The only issue is that you have oil piped through to your dash which may leak !! I have recently used aero quip style piping rather than the thin plastic pipes just for peace of mind. The water temp mechanical gauges use a copper pipe with a sensor on the end, which seem rather fragile. But again no problems with them so far. Routing the pipes can be difficult.

Electrical are just a case of screwing in a sensor to the engine and running wires to the dash. The oil pressure senders can be bulky so may need adaptors, or they can be remotely mounted via a aero quip pipe, which helps with clearance but also stops engine vibration killing the sensors. Some of the top end gauges have 3 or 4 wires per gauge, the durite smiths etc have 1 to the sensor.

Personally, I would go for electrical durite VDO smiths etc. it's easier said to hide the wiring than pipes. Don't go for anything with a really bright backlight. If you find them too bright at night, a small piece of heat shrink can be put over the backlight bulb to tone them down, or fit a dimmer resistor oe a lower watt bulb.

:)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I originally wanted mechanical but what you said above was what conclusion I came to.
Provided they're only one wire gauges/senders then the wires are already in.
Need to get some ordered this week, So make my mind up time.
 
I'm going to be using these in my disco.





EBay item number. 261150827279


Not sure how good they are but they seem well made. Just need to hurry up and get them fitted. Got 3 going in along with carling switches for lights and stuff. :)
 
Used 3 TIM mechanical ones in my Fender (Oil, volts and turbo)

Been in 2 - 3 years now - work well, no problems and a reasonable match to the original
 
robbh said:
I'm going to be using these in my disco.





EBay item number. 261150827279


Not sure how good they are but they seem well made. Just need to hurry up and get them fitted. Got 3 going in along with carling switches for lights and stuff. :)
Click to expand...

Look pretty good :) I just can't make my mind up :5bwilly_nilly:

Station House said:
Used 3 TIM mechanical ones in my Fender (Oil, volts and turbo)

Been in 2 - 3 years now - work well, no problems and a reasonable match to the original
Click to expand...


Yeah, I keep going back to the Tim mechanical ones.
But really not sure.
How did you find routing the copper pipe for the oil pressure? As that's something that worries me.
Well worry is the wrong word but I don't want it to look messy and be vulnerable to damage.
Same as getting the clocks back in with the pipe on the back of the gauge. Is it still pretty easy or get in the way a bit :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

O
Aftermarket capillary temp gauge
Replies
4
Views
1K
lynall
L
congo181
VDO oil pressure sender. Which one?
Replies
0
Views
1K
congo181
congo181
G
Coolant temperature sender Series 3 2.25 diesel question.
Replies
5
Views
577
Guidoma
G
cornish rattler
Aftermarket Fuel Gauge ?
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
cornish rattler
cornish rattler
Mr K
Freelander 1 Oil getting past the intake temp sensor
Replies
5
Views
429
Nodge68
Nodge68
Back
Top