Oil temp gauge

[dannyboy]

Hi all

Let me introduce myself - I'm Dan, living in North Yorks, proud owner for the last 10 months or so of a '72 crossover deluxe microbus. Perfect for us and the 5 kids The bus was imported about 6 or 7 years ago from Aussie so remarkably rust free and pretty original, especially the slightly shabby interior.

I've been lurking here for a while, picking up a lot of helpful tips. Plan is to keep the bus on the road myself as much as possible.

Anyways ... I'm scratching my head trying to get the VDO oil temp gauge to work. The bus came with it installed but no sender attached. So I've installed a sump plug sender ... but will it work, will it heck - it just sits barely off the minimum ie around 50 deg C.

So far I've tried
- another gauge
- another sender
- new 12V feed to the gauge

I've tested the resistance of the sender, both between its bolthead and the spade connector and at the connectors to the gauge ... both read the same, around 500 ohms, decreasing as I'd expect as the oil warms up ... but no deflection of the needle on either the original or a replacement gauge.

Anyone any ideas?!
Anyone able to tell me what kind of resistance they get across their sender both when cold and at normal temp?

Cheers folks.

A puzzled Dan

PS more questions will no doubt follow concerning
- very sloppy steering
- how to sort the current rake - rear needs to come down a bit and maybe front up
- whether red9 front wishbone and rear springplates may answer all my ride/height problems (kinda thinking they will at the mo...)
- how to get a quick win on the soundproofing (only thing the kids don't like is the racket!)
- best treatment for cavities and underside

 

[Merlydog]

Hi Dan & welcome mate..

I recently refitted my oil temp gauge & found the sump plug to be tosh. They don't get great reviews on the forums. Although a little ugly in the engine bay I fitted this;

http://www.machine7.com/product.php?xProd=3261" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Works spot on having tested it in a boiling kettle to 100C :mrgreen:

 

[six]

got a good earth? my earth sucked fixed and works well. also check the gauge has a good 12v feed etc.

personally not convinced any vdo guage is that accurate but they are very useful to tell you if something crazy has happened, ie getting very hot etc

 

[dannyboy]

Thanks guys.

Trying to avoid the dipstick if I can. Current stubby little stick is great for quickly checking oil level so I don't really fancy something longer with a couple of wires out of the top. Anyway Ii's not so much about accuracy really, just wanting to know if it starts to go through the roof & wanting to be able
to keep an eye if we're tanking down the motorway/up a hill or whatever.

I'll try improving the earth, see if that helps.

Dan

 

[gvee]

Fitted mine last week and went for the dipstick kind after a few warnings on the sump kind!
Dont worry about the wires out of the top; I just weaves these through the sound dampening in the top of the engine bay so they come down neatly from above.
Where in N.Yorkshire are you? If you ever find yourself near (Leeds) us you can pinch mine for a test run to see if it makes a difference!

 

[dannyboy]

I'm just outside Thirsk so not that far away.
OK, I'll have a go with the dipstick. See if I can persuade JK to send me one & take back eventually all the stuff I don't need...
Frustrating when what should be a straightforward job ends up taking hours and hours and ££ and ££.

Dan

 

[gvee]

Thirsk?

You should pop to the Harrogate & District VW Club meet on the 5th June!
We meet on the first Sunday of every month at The Royal Oak in Staveley although I heard that June might have a different venue (edit: check here).

 

[Trikky2]

The way to check your sender is take it off, supply it with an earth back to the van and drop it in an electric kettle - see what it reads as the water boils.

 

[dannyboy]

Cheers George, will do my best for the HDVWC meet on 5th June.

The oil temp issues are gonna have to wait til after the weekend now but thanks for all the advice.

Dan

 

[gvee]

Next Sundays plans look to have been firmed up, going for a BBQ down Burnsal. Biscuit has posted the details in the Events section on this forum too: http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=32413" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[dannyboy]

...so I bought a dipstick sender from Machine7, wired it up to my existing VDO gauge via the same cabling and it worked properly first time.

I have to agree with others who have said the sump senders are no cop. Would have saved myself a lot of time.

Full marks to JK who are going to take back 2x senders and the new gauge and refund postage.

Next: getting the bus a bit more level - got about a 3" rake at the moment...

BTW would have loved to come BBQing tomorrow, but unfortunately can't make it. Next time hopefully.

Dan