Advice Gauges oil temp / pressure Duratec car

[tomwood]

Hi All,

wondered if I could get some advice from the masses. I've got a Duratec car that's just been upgraded to a dry sump setup. Caterham kindly fitted a temp sensor to the new oil tank in anticipation of having it wired up but as yet I've not done this but would like to. I've got the standard Caterham dash (2013 car) which has existing gauges for fuel level, coolant temp & lastly oil pressure.

So what I'm looking to get added is the oil temp.

I've looked in the archives and have seen advice on creating a switch for the existing coolant gauge so you can switch between water / oil temp as needed. I could do this but my favoured approach is to have oil temp on its own gauge if I can.

research tells me there are both mechanical and electrical ways of getting this info.

First Q - on my Duratec car how is it currently done? Are both the coolant temp and oil pressure done electrically or via capillary?

Having looked at some available gauges, I quite like the combined oil temp & oil pressure dials that Think Automotive can supply and would consider swapping out the current oil pressure gauge for one of those instead.

Second Q - is this the right kind of dial to go for? Info on their site is a bit think on the ground so I can't work out if I can feed it from the electrical temp sender I have in my dry sump tank. I'm also not sure I the existing oil pressure gauge is fed in a manner that is compatible with the think auto gauge. Anyone know?

Dial I'm thinking of is on this page https://www.thinkauto.com/acatalog/On_line_shop_Dashboard_Instruments_345.html

The ref for the dial is: Ref: OPOTG

Third Q - what, if anything do I need to purchase in addition to the dial itself?

Many thanks in advance,

Tom

 

 

 

 

 

[Jonathan Kay]

Have you found the previous experiences and kit required specifically with the Think Automotive gauge?

And spotted the Club discount?

Jonathan

[Tony Whitley]

First Q - on my Duratec car how is it currently done? Are both the coolant temp and oil pressure done electrically or via capillary?

Temperature is definitely electrical, in a standard car the pressure is too.  Check behind your OP gauge and see if there's a capillary tube going into it (mechanical) or just spade connectors (electrical).  Fitting a mechanical OP gauge is as simple as building Lego.

[John Vine]

It's definitely worth replacing the standard electrical OP gauge with a mechanical one.  See here for how I went about it.

The unresolved question is whether the temp sender CC fitted to your tank is compatible with the OPOTG gauge. The Think gauge info page says Temperature gauges have 7 foot (2 metre) capillary tubes with 3/8BSP male connections. Pressure and boost gauges have 1/8BSP coned male connections.

So, if that applies to OPOTG, the CC sender isn't going to work.  I guess you have two choices:

1. Replace the CC sender with a take-off union suitable for attaching the Think temperature capillary (if this is possible -- doubtless Think would advise)
2. Replace the existing electrical OP gauge with a mechanical one (OPG100), and use the existing temp gauge for both coolant and oil (via a switch) -- this assumes that the CC sender is one of these.

JV

[tomwood]

Thanks all, very useful info.

John, having read your previous post about changing to the manual OPG, I think as you say that's worth doing regardless.

I was assuming that the oil temp would be electrical into that gauge but having looked at the think auto article you've linked to I'm now highly doubtful. Think I'll give them a call tomorrow and confirm.

perhaps I need to change approach and go mechanical for the OPG and electrical (perhaps as a single gauge) for oil & water temp. As you say, I could go for a switch and make do with the existing coolant temp gauge but I'm not a massive fan of the gauge itself so would probably look to replace it. I've seen SPA do a dual digital oil/water temp dial. That's certainly an option but it's not very in keeping with the rest of the analogue dials.

Tom

[tomwood]

Oh and John, yes, that temp sender you've linked to is the one that's now in my dry sump tank.

[Jonathan Kay]

Have you checked that the resistance ranges of the gauge matches those of the senders?

Jonathan

 

[tomwood]

Ah, there are different senders are there?

how would I find out the range of the one that Caterham has put into the sump tank already?

[Jonathan Kay]

Ah, there are different senders are there?

In the wider world, yes.

how would I find out the range of the one that Caterham has put into the sump tank already?

The two best approaches might be:

1. See what's worked for others (as you are doing). I haven't seen any suggested mismatches, but I haven't ploughed through all of the previous discussions eg in #2.
2. Identify what you've got and check the specs. Have you got part numbers for the two senders that you want to connect?

Jonathan