Temp and Oil Pressure Gauge Questions (1 Viewer)

[Pierps]

Hi All,

Do you guys know what the tick marks on the temp and oil pressure gauges mean? I imagine they are explained in the owner's manual, but I mine is probably fully decomposed in a landfill somewhere.

The tick marks aren't symmetrical, so it implies to me that they have specific meaning (i.e., specific psi and temp).

I ask because I'm doing a body off restofresh on my SBC-powered rig. The PO put in additional auto parts store style temp and oil pressure gauges, and I do find that I like seeing the actual values... especially temp since I've struggled with cooling issues in the past. I just can't stand the aesthetics of the aftermarket gauges and would prefer to depend on the factory gauges.

Rather than try and retrofit new gauges into the old cluster, or spending $800 on the (IMHO kind of ugly) Dakota Digital cluster, I'd like to keep it simple and use the factory gauges if possible.

Thanks!!!!!
Peter

 

[SteveH]

If you trust that the factory gauges are working correctly, I wouldn't sweat it. If you're overheating, you'll see the factory temp gauge start to rise, and as far as oil pressure, as long as you have 'some', you're probably good. I think trying to assign numerical values to the factory gauges is a fool's errand. (FWIW - the owner's manual does not - it just shows 'acceptable' ranges.

A couple of small gauges under the dash aren't the 'coolest', but a good mechanical oil pressure and mechanical temperature gauge will never lie. I put a pair on my pristine FJ45, just to give me additional useful information beyond the factory gauges. Use subtle gauges and a black panel, and it won't scream 'cheap chrome crap from K-mart'.

 

[Pierps]

Thanks. Yeah, I guess I'm torn asthetics vs function, hoping to get both of course.

It might actually be a fun experiment to bench test the temp gauges next to each other . i.e., stick their probes into the same boiling pot of water and compare readings. All I really care about for temp is "overheating vs not overheating." And I'd like to know what the oem gauge reads when approaching that threshold.

For oil pressure, I would agree. I just want some.

If I get around to running this test, I'll post it here.