Oil Gauges

Storm10 · 29-12-2009, 03:03 PM

Just throwing this one out there,
Looking at getting a couple of VDO oil gauges (pressure and or temperature) fitted to our 1800cc T2. I read somewhere that if the van does drop the oil by the time you've noticed your possibley looking at a new engine. Will these give me a little more notice of a problem?

31-12-2009, 12:10 AM

the pressure gauge only tells you of a problem if you are looking at it but will give an indication of engine wear or problems in normal use.
temperature gauge is mainly to prevent over heating so you can adjust your driving style if it is getting to hot.
a higher pressure oil light swith is the best bet if you are worried and you do not have to keep looking at it.
if the engine oil and filter are done regularily you should have no problem anyway,but if a mechanical failure has caused oil pressure drop the damage is already done.

answer is temp gauge is worthwhile buy, pressure gauge is ok but once you have checked the pressure, if good that is it no worries.

Storm10 · 31-12-2009, 08:13 AM

Thanks for your thoughts on this one

jinx · 31-12-2009, 08:28 AM

if you want an array of guages, fit a cylinder head temp guage, its a more accurate guage of the cooling system, the heads will be affected buy high temps before anything else
it doesnt take much extra heat to kill the heads and drop the seats

i have a
cht guage
2 oil temp guages and a
oil pressure guage,

and the rev counter in my bug, driving is leathel as you end up not looking at the road
if your engine is std then done fit anything
maybe look into a berg dipstick,
as you may have gathered, it replaces the dipstick and connects to the oil pressure idiot light, ad starts flashing at you when the oil is a little too warm, then stays on if you get too hot, so you dont have to keep checking it to see whats going on

when im happy with all the mods i have done to my engine, ill be removing everything, you either watch them all the time to see whats happening, or you dont untill its too late!

flat4fanatic · 31-12-2009, 03:53 PM

Theyre handy for keeping an eye on things or spotting sudden changes (you'll get to know what temp / pressure your car runs at). Got a vdo temp and pressure on mine.

Don't really understand the point of the berg ones tbh. If the oil light flashes or stays on if it's getting hot how do you know you haven't run/ are running out of oil?

jinx · 31-12-2009, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flat4fanatic

Theyre handy for keeping an eye on things or spotting sudden changes (you'll get to know what temp / pressure your car runs at). Got a vdo temp and pressure on mine.

Don't really understand the point of the berg ones tbh. If the oil light flashes or stays on if it's getting hot how do you know you haven't run/ are running out of oil?

you could stop and look?
how often do you look at your guages?
how do you know how long the oil pressure/temp has been doing silly things? the berg dipstick allerts you to the fact that your getting hot

the std engines lasted for years without guages, with regular maintance, if you want to spend money on your engine get it rebult to std spec

Storm10 · 01-01-2010, 10:59 AM

Thanks for your thoughts guys.

I have noticed though that VDO Temp gauges seem to come in two temp ranges, a high and a lower, I take it I should be looking at the higher temp gauge as the Bay has one of the New VW Heritage Industrial Engines from the Italian Army (no comments on the amount of reverse gears). This was fitted by the previous owner prior to me buying her.

flat4fanatic · 02-01-2010, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinx

you could stop and look?
how often do you look at your guages?
how do you know how long the oil pressure/temp has been doing silly things? the berg dipstick allerts you to the fact that your getting hot

That's the thing that makes me not trust them.
Without one, a flashing oil light or constant on means your running out of oil so you have to kill the engine immediately and coast to a stop to check. Think I'd prefer them if they flashed a different light. I usually glance at the gauges pretty frequently but theyre clustered around the speedo so theyre easy to see when checking your speed. As you say though it is possible to become obsessed and contstantly watch them.

You get to know what temp your car runs at and what pressure at what speed. On the bug I noticed the pressure dropping at idle recently. Not enough to put the standard light on but gave me a warning something was up - turned out to be a worn oil pump.

Gauge wise make sure it's an oil temp gauge - a water temp will give you the wrong readings. Mines 0 - 150c & it tops out at 110 on a run @ 70. Theyre the same as fitted to mk1 golf gtis and some sciroccos.

Storm10 · 02-01-2010, 12:57 PM

Great stuff, thanks for all your thoughts, I'll now try and secure some funding from Domestic Command. When do you get to the point when theres no more jobs to do...Never