With the heat yesterday and running down the motorway then back lanes, it really affected the running of the van.
This is a great thread. I bought a sandwich plate from the link early on that came with the set of adapters as described, also a pair of Stack gauges (thanks Paul, they are ace). I found it was well worth dry fitting the plate and senders as space is limited and only one configuration fitted. I put the temp sensor through the threaded hole that allowed it to protrude furthest into the oil flow. I now have the confidence that my engine produces decent oil pressure and that I can run all day at 60 mph with oil temp at 100oC to 110oC. Thing is my bus will pull up to 80mph but the oil temp goes up pretty quickly so I am now thinking about extra cooling as my next area for playtime (I have all tin and thermostat in place bar the one under engine plate - oil filter side).
I'm just going down the extra cooling route, just trial fitted a mocal 13 row cooler and i am knocking up some sort of scoop for it. Just need to plumb in with the temp sender inline under the van.
are any of you guys having oil leak issues with your sandwich plate? I am. Most sandwich plates have a concentric pair of o rings. My theory is the raised ring on the oil filer mount is supposed to bite into the flat rubber seal on the oil filter. The o rings don't do this. Anyone else had these issues or overcome them?
Hi guys Im in process of installing my temp gauge and I know this is an old thread but would you recommend me some of them sandwich plates on ebay eventualy as obviously the links don't work any more.. Also which temp sensor did you use as Im quite confused...
I would recommend that you don't use a sandwich plate. I tried two and they both leaked like a sieve as they had two concentric o ring seals and the sealing face of the oil filter mount has a ridge that is supposed to bed into a wide rubber face on an oil filter. I bought a Porsche 914 taco plate from eBay and used that. The end of the temp sender is a few mm from the end of the dipstick and it seems to work fine. Its how VW/Porsche designed it so has got to be a fair idea.
Auto Atlanta in the USA do Porsche 914 taco plates, its where I got mine from http://www.autoatlanta.com/results.php $85 plus shipping and tax. Its dosh but its pukka
Oops, link didn't take you straight there but if you put "taco plate" in the search box you will find it
I've just had a look at that link and I'm not sure which bit it replaces on a type 4 engine, can anyone enlighten me?
If you look underneath your engine there is a circular plate that is a few inches from the sump drain plug that is called a taco plate (no idea why as it isn't made of cornflour and probably doesn't taste very nice). If you were to remove it you would be able to see the business end of your dipstick. The Porsche part is a direct replacement and very simple to fit. On the photo below (not my engine, its from google images) its not the blue circle which has the mesh oil strainer behind it, its the circle top right of the photo which is shown open without a taco plate fitted.
Thanks, that's much clearer. So if I bought one of those taco plates from the states which temp sender would I need to fit in it? The taco plate solution looks like a much neater solution than many I've looked at.
I got a stack one which comes as a set with the gauge and sender from Demon Tweeks as I remember Paul Weeding rates them. I had to extend the cables as dashboard to engine on a bus is somewhat longer than is normal. As I recall the thread on the Porsche adapter is that same as that on the oil drain plug and most senders are 1/8th NPT so you will need an adapter which Demon Tweeks also sell. By the way if you want oil pressure then Paul Weeding's adapter blocks that fit in place of the oil pressure light switch are superb bits of kit
