Temperature Gauge

[ferrarif50]

Hi Guys, Need to install a aftermarket temperature gauge. the reason is my digital gauge acts funny, it goes all the way up and blinks saying its overheating when the fuel tank is full, it works fine when the tank is about half or less. so i cannot trust this reading anymore and want to install a analog gauge.

so, can u guys tell me from where i can get a good gauge and how to install? Its a EFI Diesel

Thanks in advance

[CARBON B4]

Motocade has several gauges.... they also have clusters where u can put few other if you fancy .

But could be some cross connection with the wires with the fuel gauge maybe ?

[Ripper]

  On 5/8/2012 at 8:01 AM, ferrarif50 said:

Hi Guys, Need to install a aftermarket temperature gauge. the reason is my digital gauge acts funny, it goes all the way up and blinks saying its overheating when the fuel tank is full, it works fine when the tank is about half or less. so i cannot trust this reading anymore and want to install a analog gauge.

so, can u guys tell me from where i can get a good gauge and how to install? Its a EFI Diesel

Thanks in advance

A good digi gauge will be more accurate IMO

Chances are that you're gauge hasn't been wired properly. Fuel tank level shouldn't have anything to do with the functionality of a temp gauge. It's just a heat sensor mounted to the engine and a digi display with a processor for displaying temp. Very simple wiring too, just tap to ACC power, place the sensor on the motor and display on the dash and you're good to go.

I would check the wiring first before opting for a manual gauge.

[Sylvi]

'ferrarif50',

You first of all get the internal wiring checked up or you can remove the meter try same out side. Because the temperatur gauge it not connect to your fuel tank.

Sylvi Wijesinghe

[CARBON B4]

  On 5/8/2012 at 8:32 AM, Ripper said:

A good digi gauge will be more accurate IMO

Chances are that you're gauge hasn't been wired properly. Fuel tank level shouldn't have anything to do with the functionality of a temp gauge. It's just a heat sensor mounted to the engine and a digi display with a processor for displaying temp. Very simple wiring too, just tap to ACC power, place the sensor on the motor and display on the dash and you're good to go.

I would check the wiring first before opting for a manual gauge.

Ripper.... I though that the temp gauge indicated the water temp,? isn't that correct?

[Ripper]

  On 5/8/2012 at 8:47 AM, CARBON B4 said:

Ripper.... I though that the temp gauge indicated the water temp,? isn't that correct?

not always machang.

the ECT sensor is your coolant temp sensor. It's wired to the ECU too.

Some vehicles have a separate heat sensor that's hooked up to the engine block itself.

My ford has a sensor like that. Almost all aftermarket sensors sit on the engine block

[CARBON B4]

  On 5/8/2012 at 9:06 AM, Ripper said:

not always machang.

the ECT sensor is your coolant temp sensor. It's wired to the ECU too.

Some vehicles have a separate heat sensor that's hooked up to the engine block itself.

My ford has a sensor like that. Almost all aftermarket sensors sit on the engine block

Got it ! thanks....

The reason I asked this is, there was this incident which kind of baffled me. There was this Jeep ( Grad Cherokee) V8 and for some reason there had been a leak in the cooling system and all the water had gone off. The guy driving it had continued driving till the engine completely went bust..! This guys explanation was that the temp gauge did not show any increase and was at the normal level. He went on to say that since the temp gauge checks the temp of the water and in this case since there was no water it did not give a correct reading...

End of it all the V8 had to be rebuilt which cost the company close to Rs 1 Mn at D*IMO's....

[ferrarif50]

  On 5/8/2012 at 8:20 AM, CARBON B4 said:

Motocade has several gauges.... they also have clusters where u can put few other if you fancy .

But could be some cross connection with the wires with the fuel gauge maybe ?

Thanks !

[ferrarif50]

  On 5/8/2012 at 8:32 AM, Ripper said:

A good digi gauge will be more accurate IMO

Chances are that you're gauge hasn't been wired properly. Fuel tank level shouldn't have anything to do with the functionality of a temp gauge. It's just a heat sensor mounted to the engine and a digi display with a processor for displaying temp. Very simple wiring too, just tap to ACC power, place the sensor on the motor and display on the dash and you're good to go.

I would check the wiring first before opting for a manual gauge.

Thanks a lot ripper, actually what happened was i had a problem with the fuel meter and wanted to get it sorted, the guys at the workshop couldn't find the fault and the temperature meter was also not working when they returned the van. which was working fine earlier . there's no point arguing on it with them since they cannot do the job right.

Do you know any good place that I can go and get it sorted? I have been to some places and most of them wanted to change the full meter panel to normal one. this is the digi meter panel i have

adult upload image

  On 5/8/2012 at 9:06 AM, Ripper said:

not always machang.

the ECT sensor is your coolant temp sensor. It's wired to the ECU too.

ECT - Electronically Controlled Transmission ? or ....

Edited May 8, 2012 by ferrarif50

[Ripper]

  On 5/8/2012 at 10:03 AM, ferrarif50 said:

Thanks a lot ripper, actually what happened was i had a problem with the fuel meter and wanted to get it sorted, the guys at the workshop couldn't find the fault and the temperature meter was also not working when they returned the van. which was working fine earlier . there's no point arguing on it with them since they cannot do the job right.

Do you know any good place that I can go and get it sorted? I have been to some places and most of them wanted to change the full meter panel to normal one. this is the digi meter panel i have

adult upload image

ECT - Electronically Controlled Transmission ? or ....

ECT stands for Engine Coolant Temperature

As for mechanics, whatever that goes beyond my repair skills,i take the truck to a guy in Seeduwa.

He is good with mechanical, Electrical and AC repairs. One man show so sometimes it takes sometime to get a slot.

Most electrical stuff, i do by myself

[The Don]

  On 5/8/2012 at 9:34 AM, CARBON B4 said:

Got it ! thanks....

The reason I asked this is, there was this incident which kind of baffled me. There was this Jeep ( Grad Cherokee) V8 and for some reason there had been a leak in the cooling system and all the water had gone off. The guy driving it had continued driving till the engine completely went bust..! This guys explanation was that the temp gauge did not show any increase and was at the normal level. He went on to say that since the temp gauge checks the temp of the water and in this case since there was no water it did not give a correct reading...

End of it all the V8 had to be rebuilt which cost the company close to Rs 1 Mn at D*IMO's....

Carbon B4, I find it surprising that this guy did not realise something was up before the engine went bust. Sadly there is no 100% failsafe in the engine which will shut it down if it overheats too much. But the engine will start to knock and miss quite badly approaching that point and you will start to notice a massive difference. This has saved me twice from calamity when a dirty radiator used to cause cooling issues in my car (which is now thankfully fixed). So he should have have noticed the rough running and knocking of the engine and just stopped!

[CARBON B4]

  On 5/8/2012 at 11:01 AM, The Don said:

Carbon B4, I find it surprising that this guy did not realise something was up before the engine went bust. Sadly there is no 100% failsafe in the engine which will shut it down if it overheats too much. But the engine will start to knock and miss quite badly approaching that point and you will start to notice a massive difference. This has saved me twice from calamity when a dirty radiator used to cause cooling issues in my car (which is now thankfully fixed). So he should have have noticed the rough running and knocking of the engine and just stopped!

Well, that's the exact same thing I asked this guy surely he should have felt something was wrong, but he insists the car was acting normal until the point of total meltdown ! The poor V8 would have been doing its best and kept on firing, so it would not have been that noticeable like on a 4 cylinder maybe ? Anyway this guy was a little above me in the organization hierarchy so cannot be too rude... Most of the engine parts had be be flown down from the US and that all dded to the cost...

Edited May 8, 2012 by CARBON B4

[YALA]

  On 5/8/2012 at 11:01 AM, The Don said:

Carbon B4, I find it surprising that this guy did not realise something was up before the engine went bust. Sadly there is no 100% failsafe in the engine which will shut it down if it overheats too much. But the engine will start to knock and miss quite badly approaching that point and you will start to notice a massive difference. This has saved me twice from calamity when a dirty radiator used to cause cooling issues in my car (which is now thankfully fixed). So he should have have noticed the rough running and knocking of the engine and just stopped!

there should be an engine cutoff point...mine stalled after the lower hose had punctured in my cab some years back....suddenly the temp gauge was reading 3/4 up and the next thing i know it stalled

[The Don]

  On 5/8/2012 at 11:33 AM, CARBON B4 said:

Well, that's the exact same thing I asked this guy surely he should have felt something was wrong, but he insists the car was acting normal until the point of total meltdown ! The poor V8 would have been doing its best and kept on firing, so it would not have been that noticeable like on a 4 cylinder maybe ? Anyway this guy was a little above me in the organization hierarchy so cannot be too rude... Most of the engine parts had be be flown down from the US and that all dded to the cost...

Well when the temperature goes beyond a certain point, you lose the controlled detonation that you normally have in an engine and you get pre ignition knocks etc and its very noticeable. But there might have been other issues as well. But as a matter of course I always stare at my temperature gauge if I notice the engine is running rough out of habit now!

[Ripper]

  On 5/8/2012 at 3:12 PM, The Don said:

Well when the temperature goes beyond a certain point, you lose the controlled detonation that you normally have in an engine and you get pre ignition knocks etc and its very noticeable. But there might have been other issues as well. But as a matter of course I always stare at my temperature gauge if I notice the engine is running rough out of habit now!

once i did a DIY radiator replacement and forgot to connect the radiator fan motor wiring.

drove to work and close to the harbor in fort, the car was boiling. noticed the power loss, knocking a little too late.

Even when steam was coming from the engine bay, military folks dint allow me to stop the vehicle as this was during the height of war.

A gentleman security guard at SLT finally allowed me to park there but it was too late. The moment i shut off the motor, heard a loud "pop" from the engine bay. Radiator top tank was bust. Thankfully, other than a heavily bruised ego and cost for another radiator, no other harm was done!

From that day...i always double triple check my DIY work, always ALWAYS glance at all the dash indicators

[jdnet]

  On 5/9/2012 at 3:51 AM, Ripper said:

once i did a DIY radiator replacement and forgot to connect the radiator fan motor wiring.

drove to work and close to the harbor in fort, the car was boiling. noticed the power loss, knocking a little too late.

Even when steam was coming from the engine bay, military folks dint allow me to stop the vehicle as this was during the height of war.

A gentleman security guard at SLT finally allowed me to park there but it was too late. The moment i shut off the motor, heard a loud "pop" from the engine bay. Radiator top tank was bust. Thankfully, other than a heavily bruised ego and cost for another radiator, no other harm was done!

From that day...i always double triple check my DIY work, always ALWAYS glance at all the dash indicators

You aren't alone there. First time I let a friend help me put a new radiator in my old jeep, he bent the transmission cooler line. Didn't notice as I was a little drunk. Didn't notice anything until I drove on the highway a couple of days later. Got the smell of transmission fluid, a thud and lost reverse and two gears. Drove more than a week without a reverse gear, waiting for my paycheck. Needless to say, I found some very iteresting ways to park the truck.

[harshansenadhir]

  On 5/9/2012 at 3:51 AM, Ripper said:

once i did a DIY radiator replacement and forgot to connect the radiator fan motor wiring.

drove to work and close to the harbor in fort, the car was boiling. noticed the power loss, knocking a little too late.

Even when steam was coming from the engine bay, military folks dint allow me to stop the vehicle as this was during the height of war.

A gentleman security guard at SLT finally allowed me to park there but it was too late. The moment i shut off the motor, heard a loud "pop" from the engine bay. Radiator top tank was bust. Thankfully, other than a heavily bruised ego and cost for another radiator, no other harm was done!

From that day...i always double triple check my DIY work, always ALWAYS glance at all the dash indicators

they say when an engine is boiling you shouldn't stop the engine all of a sudden and more importantly should not add water to the radiator (that is, if you managed to open the cap without getting burned) when the engine is not running. If possible, the best thing to do is let excessive pressure on the system to go ( compromise safety and open the cap is what I've always did) and then add water as engine keeps running.

If you opt to stop the engine, then wait whatever the time it takes the system to cool down, before you add more water. If you add water to the boiling engine with no water rotation, chances are high that you'll crack the aluminium heads you find in most of modern engines.

[NRX]

  On 5/9/2012 at 7:52 AM, harshansenadhir said:

they say when an engine is boiling you shouldn't stop the engine all of a sudden and more importantly should not add water to the radiator (that is, if you managed to open the cap without getting burned) when the engine is not running. If possible, the best thing to do is let excessive pressure on the system to go ( compromise safety and open the cap is what I've always did) and then add water as engine keeps running.

If you opt to stop the engine, then wait whatever the time it takes the system to cool down, before you add more water. If you add water to the boiling engine with no water rotation, chances are high that you'll crack the aluminium heads you find in most of modern engines.

I wonder why we can't just add water to the coolant reservoir(overflow tank) ? Why is it always the Radiator cap ? Excuse my n00bness

[terrabytetango]

Well the overflow tank is generally useless for feeding water into the circuit when the system is under pressure. What usually happens is, any overflow caught by the tank is usually sucked back in (which I assume is what you're thinking of) when the temperature settles down, by way of the vacuum caused by the increasing density of the water. By the time all this happens, things will have cooled to a point where you can touch and open the radiator cap without hurting yourself. And by directly adding water to the radiator instead of the tank, you ensure there's no air pockets in the system, since if 5th grade physics serves me right air is an extremely good insulator and won't help in cooling down your engine.

And as a practice, after I top it up, I start the engine and top it up again because the water level will almost always drop once the water pump starts doing its thing.

[The Don]

I think the best thing to do if you notice the temperature has gone up and you cannot stop is to keep the engine on low revs. Sadly the ambient temperature around in SL is not helpful but the breeze certainly helps. Once I ended up travelling nearly 60 miles on a car with the radiator fan disconnected (by an idiot of a mechanic) and only noticed the engine temperature go up when got stuck in traffic. Up to that point the air blowing through the system as I was travelling at 70MPH was enough keep the engine temperature down.

[jdnet]

  On 5/9/2012 at 4:31 PM, The Don said:

I think the best thing to do if you notice the temperature has gone up and you cannot stop is to keep the engine on low revs.

Also, shouldn't you turn up the heat and blower?

[harshansenadhir]

  On 5/9/2012 at 4:44 PM, jdnet said:

Also, shouldn't you turn up the heat and blower?

If the car equipped with a one with lines connected, yes. However, if it's pouring or nights this might cause foaming mist on the windshield internally.

[jdnet]

  On 5/9/2012 at 5:02 PM, harshansenadhir said:

If the car equipped with a one with lines connected, yes. However, if it's pouring or nights this might cause foaming mist on the windshield internally.

fair enough. Usual protocol fo me is to tunr the heat up. Never had to do it in the rain tough. Must say the last time I did it a few months back, I was so drenched in sweat that I had to clean out the seat and let it dry.

[harshansenadhir]

  On 5/9/2012 at 5:08 PM, jdnet said:

fair enough. Usual protocol fo me is to tunr the heat up. Never had to do it in the rain tough. Must say the last time I did it a few months back, I was so drenched in sweat that I had to clean out the seat and let it dry.

Not a pleasant experience. Also let me add another similar experience/ cause for system to overheat, that is a failed alternator causing a battey drain.

Had to take the golf home from office in a rainy evening with charging lamp lit knowingly. Had no choice but to operate lights and after a while system current was not suffice to activate the fan relay.

Used the same method as don mentioned to keep the temp low ( avoided congested roads and kept cruising including in neutral gear )

Another tricky thing is when the voltage of the system drops, it tend to indicate less temp than what it is actually.

Just mentioning as someone might find this useful.

[jdnet]

  On 5/9/2012 at 5:15 PM, harshansenadhir said:

Another tricky thing is when the voltage of the system drops, it tend to indicate less temp than what it is actually.

ahhh that never crossed my mind. Good info.

[Ripper]

  On 5/9/2012 at 4:31 PM, The Don said:

I think the best thing to do if you notice the temperature has gone up and you cannot stop is to keep the engine on low revs. Sadly the ambient temperature around in SL is not helpful but the breeze certainly helps. Once I ended up travelling nearly 60 miles on a car with the radiator fan disconnected (by an idiot of a mechanic) and only noticed the engine temperature go up when got stuck in traffic. Up to that point the air blowing through the system as I was travelling at 70MPH was enough keep the engine temperature down.

in my case, it was in fort during rush hour traffic with no chance to park...

after the traffic died, and with few mega bottles of water...managed to drive to my office in col 3. Got the new radiator plugged in there. A second DIY and this time i made sure everything was hooked up