Oil temperature dipstick sensor

Lol. Apologies for hijack.

I’d forget the fancy dipstick - it’ll drive you nuts. Just fit a simple oil temperature gauge.

 

Is that one of them thar Ana-Digi scopes? Or a full fledged Digital wonder?

 

Me too

 

My JK VDO oil tenperature dipstick kit is about 1 degree different from a thermocouple sensor in the dipstick hole about 5 seconds before.

I managed to kink mine but you can repair it with care, a junior hacksaw and a reasonably big soldering iron.

My favourite bit of 1990's kit is a Fluke ScopeMeter 95. It works either as a digital voltmeter with a massive display or a 50MHz digital oscilloscope.

No current ranges but I managed to find a HEME 2000 amp AC/DC current probe which goes a bit beyond the usual 10 amps.

 

Thanks all. If I get a proper gauge, is there anyway of neatly mounting it in the space meant for a Deluxe clock as I would like to keep it all as stock looking as possible. And for an electrical novice is this an easy DIY job? I've got the VW diagnostic plug in the engine bay so hopefully can borrow a wire from there, any idea which though?

Glad that my post has given so much enjoyment to you multimeter collectors!

1976 2.0 FI Westy Berlin Weekender with Riviera poptop

 

I went a bit off-piste with a 4-way US-spec marine multi-gauge in the spare pod but it wasn’t a straightforward route so don’t follow my example.

Someone who has done a proper job will surely advise soon, but it really isn’t difficult using the sender/gauge kits available.

By the way we haven’t really got into multi meters yet...Mike was just getting started.


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Ha ha, thanks! I will leave you guys to your cathode ray oscillascopes!

1976 2.0 FI Westy Berlin Weekender with Riviera poptop

 

Hi @NickG - sorry we didn’t help much!

As you haven’t had a better reply from someone who has fitted a gauge in the spare pod I’ll tell you what I do know, although I can’t tell you about the correct gauge to use as I went another route and got a bit carried away:






The dipstick sender is the easiest option but there are other oil temp sender options such as plate senders and sump plug or core senders.
Many recommend Cylinder Head Temp senders as it’s a better indication of how hot the engine is, but that’s another topic altogether.

The dipstick ones JK sells are VDO and run up to 150c but you shouldn’t really see above 120 - much over that and you’ll need to slow down!
They list a longer stick for the type 4 (1.7/1.8/2.0) but I don’t understand why, I tried that and it’s way too long! The shorter one listed for Type 1 (1.6 based) engines is just fine if you add a short gentle bend on the uninserted top end.
It has two connections, gauge and ground. You can either run 1 wire to the gauge and ground the other at both ends or use two wires.

A gauge needs to match the sender characteristics of resistance and range (generally speaking) so a matching VDO gauge is usually recommended but not strictly necessary - I use a water temp gauge which goes up to 120c (250f in my case) and it works fine and is accurate, but ideally an oil temp gauge would range to 150 so your working temps should sit in the center of the range as you look at the dial. With my gauge they sit at the top of the range when hottest. If the needle goes past 120 toward the limiter peg I would need to pull over and cool down! - that’s the down side to a lower range.

The gauge size to fit the spare/clock pod is I believe 80mm or 3 1/8”.
This is the bit I can’t help with as mentioned, but for connections it will usually need a switched live (comes on with ignition) and an earth. Some might have a separate live for lighting which can come off the dash lighting.
As stated it also needs the sender connections, I ran mine under the bus using multi core but it’s been suggested to use the test socket wiring in the loom, I can’t help with that.

I’m not sure of the gauge sizes on the JK kits as they don’t list them but suspect they are 50mm.
Mounting hardware to fit the gauge to the back of the pod may be a challenge, I had to make my own out of the wire ring off a Kilner jar lid, but hopefully you can get answers to that.
Hope this helps.


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You need something like this adapter to fit the 52mm gauge into the space for the dash clock. This is one I designed in Blender, 3D printed it, and fitted two days ago.

 

Are you taking orders for them?

 

I hadn't planned to. I guess I could offer them to the community, priced to cover my costs, but I have no idea if there will be just 2 to send out, or 200 I guess the way forward is just for people to PM me if they are interested in having one.

BTW - this was designed (measured) from my early instrument cluster. I am assuming that the late cluster is the same in this regard.

 

Thanks @Gingerbus , that's super helpful and your quad-gauge is mighty impressive!

1976 2.0 FI Westy Berlin Weekender with Riviera poptop

 

Thank you and sounds interesting @MorkC68 , I'll PM you.

1976 2.0 FI Westy Berlin Weekender with Riviera poptop

 

Thanks @Coda. Will see if @MorkC68 will sell me his and if not would be interested in this.

1976 2.0 FI Westy Berlin Weekender with Riviera poptop

 

It’s actually pretty small to read and being in Fahrenheit with odd segmentation isn’t ideal.
I may remove the needle limit peg so I can see when it goes off the scale...
But it at least shows me when to start worrying more than normal and slow down.


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