hooking up aftermarket temp gauge

mywhite89

Registered User
I am looking into adding a coolant temp gauge to my 89. People who have done this, where did you tap into the cooling system at.

It's gotta be a clean addition and I wont unplug my stock gauge. Everythings gotta work properly
 
Whatever you do, don't put it on the bleeder pipe :cool: . There is no coolant flow there and your counting on heat transfer in still fluid to give you a temp reading which could take minutes and then it'll be too late. Also if air is trapped in there which no doubt it would be then that will cause even more inaccurate readings.

I've seen pics in a thread somewhere here that a guy did a really nice job with adding a tap hole etc into the lower elbow of the tstat housing going to the rad. Again the prob there is you won't get an accurate temp reading until the tstat opens, but if you are running a 180 its a mute point cause that puppy will be open all the time.

Perhaps the steel pipe that runs along the pax side of the motor feeding the heater core would be a good place. I'm thinking of trying to find a steel pipe from a car that had auto climate, as the sensor for that was mounted there, and my car doesn't have the auto climate control ;).
 
I put mine into the bleeder tube ( which I assume is why turner said that ) and it has been reading around 200 and seems to be about right, and I drove it delivering pizza's for about 6 hours without shutting it off and didnt have any problem. But its up to you
 
I put a tee-fitting where the factory sensor is supposed to be and screwed the factory and aftermarket sensors into the tee fitting. Although I'm sure that it has a bit of a problem with accuracy and response time, as stated, it reads at the expected temperatures during driving.

I too was thinking about adding the steel pipe from the climate control cars for this purpose, but that surely wouldn't be an accurate reading. Might try it anyway, just to see.

Another idea I had, which I'm starting to like even more, is using the burp fitting from a standard 3.8 t-bird and putting both sensors in the tapered holes and moving the small thermostat housing hose to go through it instead of the regular SC place. Then either weld or plug the nipple on the SC housing. Still in the brainstorming stages of this one though - I just thought of it yesterday at Pull-A-Part. :D
 
Matt
If you are willing to weld or braze why not do what I did. I added a steel pipe bung right at the bypass tube. This way the tip of the sensor is in the flow and gives you a good reading all the time. I just used my torch and did a gas weld. Good idea to use a couple plugs and a plate to pressure test before installing. Mine has been like this since 2004. Just an idea, but it does require some fitting and welding. I only installed the tip of the sensor into the flow about a 1/16". The sensor on the bottom is for add on gage and sensor on top is the stock gage.

http://www.sccoa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=12076&d=1112734712


Later
dbd
 
That's an idea I was thinking about too, but (and I'm no welder) it seems like welding a patch on a hole would be easier than welding in a new bung. Thanks alot for the picture though, gives me more to think about!
 
Matt
If you are willing to weld or braze why not do what I did. I added a steel pipe bung right at the bypass tube. This way the tip of the sensor is in the flow and gives you a good reading all the time. I just used my torch and did a gas weld. Good idea to use a couple plugs and a plate to pressure test before installing. Mine has been like this since 2004. Just an idea, but it does require some fitting and welding. I only installed the tip of the sensor into the flow about a 1/16". The sensor on the bottom is for add on gage and sensor on top is the stock gage.

http://www.sccoa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=12076&d=1112734712


Later
dbd


That was what I was referring to ;), nice job.

As for using a sensor on the steel pipe on the pax side, that is a continuous flow area so you would get accurate immediate readings.
 
The passenger side metal tube - I was thinking that since it's been "out of the engine block for a little while" it might be a few degrees off. Just a guess though
 
The ECT sensor is inline with that flow when it comes out of the intake manifold. The flow is fast enough I doubt your gauge would see the temp drop if there was one by that time.
 
Maybe so....

So is that were that tube is supposed to hook up? That nipple on the ECT sensor "extension"?

You're probably right about the temperatures then, I didn't realize that was where it hooked up.
 
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