quick gauge pod question.

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 1:50 am

So just for safety precautions i already bought myself a volt and oil
pressure gauge to put on my driver side a-pillar, but im set on
getting a third pod since i'm getting a 3 pod pillar from glowshift.
i was just curious as to what 3rd pod i should get? i was trying to
decide between oil temp or A/F ratio. which would be more
useful or important? or what other gauge would you recommend?

then again while searching i found:

orangeneon05 wrote:if i wanted it for just looks i would tape three different colored and styled watches to my a pilar

maybe i could fit a watch into one of the holes

my car lacks a
clock since i replaced my stereo head unit...

Post by **jonnymopar** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:24 pm

Air fuel will just bounce around. You could do oil temp. If I really needed to get another gauge, it would probably be a vacuum gauge. Such a great training tool when trying to get the highest gas mileage possible.

Post by **occasional demons** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:29 pm

They do make clocks that fit in the 21/8" gauge holes, just sayin'...

Fuzzyneon · Post by **Fuzzyneon** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:13 pm

occasional demons wrote:They do make clocks that fit in the 21/8" gauge holes, just sayin'...

BALLIN dude is that a boost guage? yeah im boosting right around 3 o' clock

Post by **occasional demons** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:51 pm

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:52 pm

so from what i read up on, vacuum gauges just tell you how your
pistons or cylindars are acting? it just kind of tells you if theres a
problem in your engine, yes?

and im serious about the clock thing

Post by **occasional demons** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:01 pm

iThane wrote:so from what i read up on, vacuum gauges just tell you how your
pistons or cylindars are acting? it just kind of tells you if theres a
problem in your engine, yes?

It can be used for that too. But it tells you what your manifold vacuum is, and using that can help you keep it at the best level for fuel mileage, or power. The highest amount of vacuum, will get better mileage, and finding where it makes the best power without bogging (low to no vacuum) will help make the most power. But generally your ears/foot will tell you that. (You know when more pedal isn't doing any good.)

http://www.summitracing.com/search/?key ... lock&dds=1

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:42 pm

i see, so which would you consider more important? vac or oil temp?

DetergentCandy · Post by **DetergentCandy** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:34 pm

Oil temp.
Vac isn't important at all. Just nice to know what your vacuum is if you care about power/mileage.

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:09 am

maybe if i get desperate enough i'll add the vac gauge under my
dash

thanks for the feedback everyone

Post by **occasional demons** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:17 am

DetergentCandy wrote:Oil temp.
Vac isn't important at all. Just nice to know what your vacuum is if you care about power/mileage.

Either oil or coolant temp, even tho you have one in the cluster, an actual coolant temp gauge that is responsive is nice. The only drawback is it is a little more difficult for a good install, as there isn't a convenient place to put the sender.

I drilled and tapped the head at the t'stat, but the head was off the engine, and even then it was a little hairy. The safest place would be a tee in the heater hose that comes out of the head.

But then an oil temp sender will require some work too.

A vacuum gauge won't really do anything that common sense can. It would be better for diagnostics, but it can be put in the tool box, and brought out when needed. I would get a handheld vacuum pump with a gauge, as it has more usefulness. Bleeding brakes etc. Or if you need to check the MAP values at a specific vacuum. IIRC, I posted the voltage to pressure specs in the FAQ section.

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:02 pm

It Sounds to me that the vacuum and A/F gauges just give you a more accurate
read out on what you can decipher with just your ears. It would be nice to get the
most out of my milage but then again I'm not that desperate. But is an oil temp
gauge really that useful? Could the oil overheat without the engine temp gauge
in the stock cluster ever increasing?

Post by **occasional demons** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:28 pm

iThane wrote: But is an oil temp
gauge really that useful? Could the oil overheat without the engine temp gauge
in the stock cluster ever increasing?

On a stock N/A engine, the chances are slim. The oil is heated a small amount from the friction of being pressurized in the pump, but mostly from contact with the pistons, and the pressure from being loaded/squished in the bearings. It also picks up some additonal heat from pooling in the head. It may heat up if a part is binding, but chances of it heating it up the whole sump noticeably before said part fails is not that likely. You would prolly have other symptoms before the oil overheated.

On a boosted engine, it has to help cool the turbo bearing, plus it is squirted directly onto the bottom of the pistons to help cool them, so the potential is there to heat the oil to a higher temp.

The A/F is useful if it is a wide band, and you are boosted, or pushing the limits of E85. On a relatively stock PCM controlled engine, it is basically more bling than purpose. The PCM is going to have more control over the A/F ratio than your foot. Yes, it might give you a clue if the o2 sensor is failing, or an injector is leaning out, but it won't tell you which one, and the PCM will richen up the others a bit to compensate for it being lean. Whether or not it is worth the expense is up to you.

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 2:51 pm

you sir, are like a walking, talking encyclopedia..

so the coolant temp gauge already pretty much tells me the temp
then.. its just chance that the oil temp gauge will actually beat the
stock coolant temp gauge?

Post by **occasional demons** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:21 pm

The chances of the oil overheating are far less than the coolant. Unless you run really low, and even then the oil light would prolly flash at you going around corners, etc before it got too hot to lubricate anymore.

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:37 pm

okay sooo

Oil Temp: hardly usefull?
Coolant Temp: better readout than the stock gauge
Vacuum Gauge: mainly for boosted cars, not as useful as a hand-pump
(though i saw one in action and it at least looks cool

)
A/F Ratio: Get the best out of your fuel economy
Clock Gauge: tells time, really accurately.

Adam G · Post by **Adam G** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 7:27 pm

a/f ratio....go wideband or find somebody selling a narrow band for like 5 bucks.....I wouldnt spend more then like 10 bucks on a narrowband I got like 3 laying around never used them

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:22 pm

Are You willing to send me one of those three, adam?

BigMac · Post by **BigMac** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 1:53 am

If you're looking at your gauges as safety precautions, you might want to think about a fuel pressure gauge as your third choice. Fuel pump strainers can slowly clog up and drop the line pressure over time, till one day the car just won't run right anymore. The gauge also lets you see if you're not building pressure rapidly enough when starting, or losing pressure too rapidly after shutoff.

Then again, I'm old-school. I like to have as much info about what's going on down/under there as I can.

If you're not doing power mods, oil temp and a/f ratio gauges are a waste of money.

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:01 am

thanks mang, i'll have to look more into those. i kinda didn't see the
point in the oil temp gauge, and i was going to go with a vacuum
gauge just cuz it looked cool. but id rather have something useful lol

darthroush · Post by **darthroush** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 3:23 pm

DetergentCandy wrote:Oil temp.
Vac isn't important at all. Just nice to know what your vacuum is if you care about power/mileage.

Like I've said before, vac is only useless if you don't know how to read the gauge. It can be used for a lot more than determining where the throttle should be to get better MPG.

iThane wrote:okay sooo

Oil Temp: hardly usefull?
Coolant Temp: better readout than the stock gauge
Vacuum Gauge: mainly for boosted cars, not as useful as a hand-pump
(though i saw one in action and it at least looks cool )
A/F Ratio: Get the best out of your fuel economy
Clock Gauge: tells time, really accurately.

Oil Temp is useful if you strain the engine or want to make sure the oil is getting hot enough so you don't have fuel dilution. I am replacing my oil pressure gauge in one of my cars with an oil temp. I drive the heck out of it sometimes. I'm not too worried about temperature since I run a syn, but I suppose if it was a hot enough day and I was pushing it hard enough. There are other times where I just take it on a drive to move it. Since I only change the oil once a year in it, I don't want fuel to be building up in the oil, so I want to make sure the engine oil gets hot enough to burn the fuel off. This will not "beat out" a coolant gauge either like you say in a different post. Coolant and engine oil are two different things.

Coolant Temp will tell you what the real temp is. The factory gauge gives you an "all-good" reading as long as the temp is withing a "good" range.

A/F ratio does not get you the best fuel economy. Having a light foot and not going faster than 65 will. A/F is for when you are tuning a car, or need to monitor a boosted car to make sure everything is running the way it should. If you are boosted and something isn't right...boom.

Clock...if you can legally drive but don't know what a clock is; turn in your driver's license.

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 4:52 pm

Thank You for that legit, thorough explanation!

They all sound useful in their own way, but for more of a show car I'm thinking
clock, vacuum, or I guess coolant temp, just for flashy reasons. Though it would
be nice to learn the art of the vacuum gauge..

darthroush · Post by **darthroush** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 4:58 am

Coolant temp is a good gauge to have since the factory ones are simply "dummy" gauges. I like vacuum gauges; some don't.

Clock...meh.

I'd go with a volt gauge if you don't have one in the cluster. If you do, trans temp would be good for an auto; especially for the ones in these cars. All preference.

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:16 am

i'll check out the coolant temps for sure. i already have an oil and
voltage gauge so i was just looking for a third. i plan on getting a
different stereo head unit eventually so maybe that one will have
a clock lol. and a tranny temp gauge would, no doubt, work excellent
on an auto, but my car is mtx.

darthroush · Post by **darthroush** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:46 pm

What HU do you have that doesn't have a clock? Just never heard of that, lol.

iThane · Post by **iThane** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 5:14 pm

It's By Dual and it's just called an In-dash stereo. I got it at walmart