aftermarket temp gauge

bdr2k5 · Post by **bdr2k5** » August 22nd, 2007, 12:26 pm

didnt know where else to post this sry

so i bought me this 3 gauges with a pod, oil pres, charging voltage, and temp, but im not really sure where should i locate the temp switch, i dont really want to tap a hole and all that stuff, so i came up with the idea to get a 5\8 3way fitting and splice one of my heater hoses and put the switch there, but im not sure if heater hose is a good location or not in our cars, is the heater temp controlled by the thermostat or not?, wondering if anybody else is got one of these gauges.

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » August 22nd, 2007, 12:34 pm

Great minds think alike

I did the exact same thing on my GS. It will work fine but you will need to run a ground wire to the housing of the fitting. The outside of the sensor needs to be grounded in addition to the sensor wire that attaches to the end of the sensor. What I did was create a twisted wire loop that is big enough for the sensor body to go through.. then I soldered that wire loop solid.. smoothed it down good and put the sensor through it.. then screwed the sensor into the fitting. Works like a champ

One last thing.. make sure to use the heater hose with the coolant flow going TO the heater core and not the return hose.. if you use the return hose.. your temp reading wont be accurate cause you will get heat bleed off in the heater core.. it acts like a mini radiator, especially when you have the heater turned on.

Tunes67

bdr2k5 · Post by **bdr2k5** » August 22nd, 2007, 10:18 pm

AWESOME!

thanks for hte info man.

btw, i'd assume the top heater house under the throthle body is the inlet!?

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » August 23rd, 2007, 1:42 am

Here is a pic of my water temp sensor in the "T" fitting I made.. it doesnt show the wiring.. but you get the idea. As for which hose.. I think it was the top one.. but I just got home from towing a car and havent had a chance to look. I can check on it tomorrow evening.. but you could probably find the answer in the shop manual just as easy. Best of luck

Tunes67

projectB10 · Post by **projectB10** » August 23rd, 2007, 3:26 am

How about using a fitting like this. Its inserted into the top radiator hose. The temp sender unit srews into the top of the fitting.

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » August 23rd, 2007, 10:35 am

Definitely a lot prettier.. Thing about going off a radiator hose is that the temp isnt as accurate because coolant flow through the radiator hoses is dictated by the thermostat. Though I suppose it wouldnt matter that much. I didnt see anything like that when I was looking around to find my solution or I may have gone with that.. being that it definitely doesnt look as ghetto as my solution LOL

Tunes67

MX3ak · Post by **MX3ak** » August 23rd, 2007, 10:52 am

Why not getting the temp from the gauge temp sensor ?

maybe they are the same kind of NTC...

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » August 23rd, 2007, 11:52 am

Different sensor. And the location of the sensor doesnt allow for a simple addition of another sensor. You can drill and tap if you want.. but that can be tricky and if you mess up.. you'll be spending a LOT of cash to repair the damage you cause. Tapping into a coolant hose like this is a lot simpler and if you mess up.. your only out the cost of a new hose

Tunes67

MX3ak · Post by **MX3ak** » August 23rd, 2007, 12:02 pm

What kind of thermistor is used by those aftermarket temp gauges ?

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » August 23rd, 2007, 12:43 pm

You can see the one screwed into the end of my T fitting in the pic above. They use different connections and besides.. if you take off the stock one and even if it did work with an aftermarket gauge (assuming you changed the connections so you could hook it up) then your stock gauge wouldnt work. I doubt the sensor would be capable of feeding both gauges. I havent tried doing that cause I wasnt interested in changing the stock setup.. I wanted to add to the system not substitute one for another.

Tunes67

MX3ak · Post by **MX3ak** » August 23rd, 2007, 1:17 pm

The stock sensor for the gauge is a simple thermistor 10K or maybe 100K NTC.

That means the sensor, as the themperature rises, allows less current to pass trough the wire from ground signal.

It works just like a resistor does in electronics, so I think one resistor could be shared.

Just measure the resistance of both sensors at same temperature. If they are similar, why not give it a try?

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » August 23rd, 2007, 2:09 pm

Go ahead

I am happy with my solution and I know both of my gauges are accurate. No need for me to undo what I have already done

Tunes67

bdr2k5 · Post by **bdr2k5** » August 23rd, 2007, 11:11 pm

yeah i was gonna do that. or put a resistor on the factory one, but i hooked up mine today at the heater hose, works like a champ

, cept for a lil leak :p , it reads 190 after driving for while, thats my thermostat temp, pretty accurate readings!

i got this bad boy at my store, hooks right up!

you can overnight order it a pretty m uch any oreilly's

http://www.oreillyauto.com/EW3/ProductD ... rentPage=0

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » August 24th, 2007, 1:33 am

LOL Where were you dudes with your pretty & fancy parts when I was ghetto rigging mine LOL

Tunes67

projectB10 · Post by **projectB10** » August 24th, 2007, 3:28 am

LOL Where were you dudes with your pretty & fancy parts when I was ghetto rigging mine LOL

Lol - not to late to make alittle change to your exiting setup. Have a look at this;

http://www.drivenperformance.co.nz/scri ... roduct=274

the 34mm size was the way to go for me. Not sure how the cost stacks up for you NA's??