93-97 Coolant Temperature Gauge Modification
- Thread starter RavenTai
- Start date
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RT, excellent work man, I'm so impressed with you and your dedication to doing this thing the right way. Thank you for your energy and your effort. Even though the accurate aftermarket gauge on my rig is really wonderful, i STILL intend to do this mod simply because it will read where the stock sensor sits and will work as one other accurate data and diagnostic point. I think each and every one of us should make this mod!!! Again, I'm really impressed man, you saw this thing totally through and have helped all of us out!!! 
- Thread starter
- #23
Dfmorse, please let us know how it goes.
LR_RESQ, are the instructions in this thread followable? the goal is for mudders of all experience levels to be able to preform this mod.
Exrrover, thank you and welcome to Ih8mud
(mudders official welcome)
TC Thanks, things get under my skin sometimes and I latch on., For most this modified gauge should be "good enough" but an aftermarket gauge certainly does have its comforts, I would be interested in results from those like you that have access to a secondary indication and how they compare. The test bed was as good as I could make it but real world results in an engine cannot be beat. There are so many variables.
LR_RESQ, are the instructions in this thread followable? the goal is for mudders of all experience levels to be able to preform this mod.
Exrrover, thank you and welcome to Ih8mud
(mudders official welcome) TC Thanks, things get under my skin sometimes and I latch on., For most this modified gauge should be "good enough" but an aftermarket gauge certainly does have its comforts, I would be interested in results from those like you that have access to a secondary indication and how they compare. The test bed was as good as I could make it but real world results in an engine cannot be beat. There are so many variables.
boy I just did all the behind the dash jobs I could do and buttoned up my dash 
I wish I had seen the conclution post of your work before I closed it up.
Well next time I have the dash open I think I will look at this mod.
I was following your other thread, Great work
Steven
I wish I had seen the conclution post of your work before I closed it up.Well next time I have the dash open I think I will look at this mod.
I was following your other thread, Great work
Steven
Radio Shack resistors?
Can I use 1/4w resistors or 1/2w, or 5w resistors? I like to cash and carry my parts, They do not carry 3w resistors, not even special order. If 3w must be used I would like to know. Thank you....
Can I use 1/4w resistors or 1/2w, or 5w resistors? I like to cash and carry my parts, They do not carry 3w resistors, not even special order. If 3w must be used I would like to know. Thank you....
- Thread starter
- #26
Thanks Steven
Rainy Day, technically you should be able to use resistors other than those linked above as long as they are the right resistance and wattage but in reality there are varyations between brands and types, this being a pure analog circuit that might slightly change results but probably not much, I think it would be best to use the resistors linked above, but if that is not possible shop for 1 50 ohm and one 110 ohm reasitor each of at least 3 watt, 1/4 1/2 will not work and may cause a cluster melt down or even possibly a fire. 5 watt will be overkill but perfectly acceptable. 5 watt resistors are kinda large you may have troubles with space depending on desighn or you may not as soem 5 watt resistors are larger than others.
Good luck let us know how it goes.
Rainy Day, technically you should be able to use resistors other than those linked above as long as they are the right resistance and wattage but in reality there are varyations between brands and types, this being a pure analog circuit that might slightly change results but probably not much, I think it would be best to use the resistors linked above, but if that is not possible shop for 1 50 ohm and one 110 ohm reasitor each of at least 3 watt, 1/4 1/2 will not work and may cause a cluster melt down or even possibly a fire. 5 watt will be overkill but perfectly acceptable. 5 watt resistors are kinda large you may have troubles with space depending on desighn or you may not as soem 5 watt resistors are larger than others.
Good luck let us know how it goes.
Thanks I will pick up some 5w resisters and get to work., I will let ya know how it goes.
[ 93-94 trucks Thanks to the effort of Semlin a mod is in the works. ]
I was going to PM Semlin but maybe someone else here would like to know also.
Is the 94 temp guage differant? Do I follow the same proceedure that is in your write up Raven?
This one should be fun I am looking forward to tearing my dash apart again
Thanks again, your previous thread really shows how much thought and work went into this mod, thanks for sharing with all of us.
Steven
I was going to PM Semlin but maybe someone else here would like to know also.
Is the 94 temp guage differant? Do I follow the same proceedure that is in your write up Raven?
This one should be fun I am looking forward to tearing my dash apart again
Thanks again, your previous thread really shows how much thought and work went into this mod, thanks for sharing with all of us.
Steven
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good luck getting that 50ohm 5w in place. I personally would just order them from the links and wait a week.
- Thread starter
- #30
Edit: same mod works for 93 & 94 also.
Steven, I forgot you got a 94 after you FJ80 got bit, maybe I should have put this at the top of the instructions instead of the bottom, the instructions above are only known to work for 1995 through 1997 FZJ80's so I am sorry but the 93/94 mod is not ready yet, the dash on the earlier trucks is also different so the “accessing the gauge portion” will not work on your 94 either.
Thanks to Dan we know that In the F(z)J80 series, there are 3 different part numbers for the coolant gauge, grouped 91/92, 93/94 and 95-97
The 93/94 gauge and 95-97 gauge share the same sender (thermistor) so basically all the 1FZ-FE engines, the 91/92 (3FE engine) use a different sender.
Semlin found a used 93 gauge and took pictures, from just those pictures they are similar with some slight physical mounting differences that would prevent swapping a 93/94 and 95-97 gauges, that alone could be the only difference, the basic circuit looks similar but might not be electrically the same,
Semlin graciously shipped me the gauge all the way from Canada so that I could check it out, see if in stock form it responds the same as the 95-97 gauge and if it will take the same mod as the 95-97, if not I would figure out a specific mod for the 93-94.
Unfortunately I dropped the ball.
It got here the day after I left for a 10 day trip to FL, the mail bitch (contractor) left me a slip saying it was waiting for me at the post office. When I got back to GA and went to pick it up they said they only hold them for 5 days and that It was sent back (f’ing no customer service government employees) so far it has not showed back up in Canada (incompetent to boot) 
we are hoping to get it back here so I can check it out,
Steven, I forgot you got a 94 after you FJ80 got bit, maybe I should have put this at the top of the instructions instead of the bottom, the instructions above are only known to work for 1995 through 1997 FZJ80's so I am sorry but the 93/94 mod is not ready yet, the dash on the earlier trucks is also different so the “accessing the gauge portion” will not work on your 94 either.
Thanks to Dan we know that In the F(z)J80 series, there are 3 different part numbers for the coolant gauge, grouped 91/92, 93/94 and 95-97
The 93/94 gauge and 95-97 gauge share the same sender (thermistor) so basically all the 1FZ-FE engines, the 91/92 (3FE engine) use a different sender.
Semlin found a used 93 gauge and took pictures, from just those pictures they are similar with some slight physical mounting differences that would prevent swapping a 93/94 and 95-97 gauges, that alone could be the only difference, the basic circuit looks similar but might not be electrically the same,
Semlin graciously shipped me the gauge all the way from Canada so that I could check it out, see if in stock form it responds the same as the 95-97 gauge and if it will take the same mod as the 95-97, if not I would figure out a specific mod for the 93-94.
Unfortunately I dropped the ball.
It got here the day after I left for a 10 day trip to FL, the mail bitch (contractor) left me a slip saying it was waiting for me at the post office. When I got back to GA and went to pick it up they said they only hold them for 5 days and that It was sent back
(f’ing no customer service government employees) so far it has not showed back up in Canada (incompetent to boot) we are hoping to get it back here so I can check it out,
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Well I hope the mail man gets it all figured out. As for the instructions for taking apart the dash, I've done that lots of times.
If you are going to test out a 93 guage along with Semlin then I will sit back and have a
and watch for the results. Good luck and I will be following your threads with great interest
Steven
If you are going to test out a 93 guage along with Semlin then I will sit back and have a
and watch for the results. Good luck and I will be following your threads with great interest Steven
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Well done, Raven! This one's on the list for sure..
- Thread starter
- #34
so comming up on 3 weeks now, no body has tried this yet?
Some interesting results. even in GA fall weather the temp in my 80 does have some spikes, biggest was with the AC on sitting in a fast food drive through on a hot day (low 90's) . about 205F, in traffic with lights temps often come off of the middle and raise up to about 200. heavy accleration on to on ramps makes for a small spike.
also does anyboady who has hosting be willing to host a large animated .gif of the gauge sweep? could be about 10MB
Some interesting results. even in GA fall weather the temp in my 80 does have some spikes, biggest was with the AC on sitting in a fast food drive through on a hot day (low 90's) . about 205F, in traffic with lights temps often come off of the middle and raise up to about 200. heavy accleration on to on ramps makes for a small spike.
also does anyboady who has hosting be willing to host a large animated .gif of the gauge sweep? could be about 10MB
I'll be trying this mod this weekend. I got the parts in last Tuesday but I had to go to Surf N Turf so I wasn't able to try this out this past weekend. I'm really excited about being able to modify the guage so it works. When I went to Colorado and back about a month ago I constantly had the AC on so that I could tell if the truck was over heating. I'll be glad when I don't have to do this.
Oh yeah forgot to mention I could host the image.
Oh yeah forgot to mention I could host the image.
I've been driving around with mine modified for quite a while. Nice and stable. I've only seen small variations so far.
This is probably the "BEST BANG FOR BUCK" mod to date. I can't imagine why anyone would put this off.
This is probably the "BEST BANG FOR BUCK" mod to date. I can't imagine why anyone would put this off.
have parts in hand- just trying to find an extra 3 hours...
is that a good guess as to time for a moderate to good mechanic and solderer?
is that a good guess as to time for a moderate to good mechanic and solderer?
I could do the whole job in an hour, but I've had it out before. 3 hours is plenty enough time even if you have 2 left hands.
RavenTai said:
PM me for my e-mail address and send it in a ZIP.
-B-
