justanother4x4

my water temp gauge isnt working after new sensor so I really want to use some mechanical gauges from summit. I want to use a oil and water gauge that is mechanical, and I want to thow in a vacuum gauge as well to keep an eye on that gas mileage and over all running condition of the motor. If I use these instead of the stock sensors, will the ECU go crazy because its no longer getting a signal from these sensors? I am cotemplating where to put the gauges as well, I was thinking about getting one of those 3 hole gauge pod hold that sat right on top of the dash from a WRX, any ideas guys?

midiwall

A couple of ideas on this...

- I'm not sure about the 3.0, but on the 3.4 there are separate sensors for the ECU and the dash gauge in the case of the coolant temp, so anything you do there won't affect what the ECU sees.

- Be careful about using true mechanical gauges in the cockpit. I figure what you really mean is that you want to _not_ use a digital electronic gauge, not a gauge where you actually bring live oil into the back of the gauge. That'd be bad.

- Generally, when you add gauges like this, you add a dedicated sender for the gauge so that you don't interfere with anything else that's going on. The downside of this is that it's possible your gauge could be showing you something other than the ECU sees. For example, I run a wideband O2 sensor as well as an A/FR gauge that's tied into the ECU feed from the stock O2 sensor. Between those two, and looking at what the ECU reports via the OBD II interface, I get _three_ different numbers. You have to take that kind of stuff in stride and get to know the gauges well enough to understand how they're working.


Hope that helps... in short, go for it, you'll be fine.

Greg'sToy

i run a sunpro mechanical oil pressure gauge, with a custom A-pillar mount. the gauge is fed from a T at the sending unit, so both the guages are working. the stock oil pressure gauge gives crap readings in my opinion...

dragon564

Yes, it can drive the ECU up the wall and stop the truck from starting or running properly if you remove the stock gauge sensors. The "T" type taps works great for oil press and vac for temp I would get the whole kit sensor included. Over here is Japan they sell a short piece of pipe with a pre tapped whole for the sensor to screw into, you cut the rad hose and presto it goes in there you can PM me if you want more info

Ilovemountains

Im speaking from personal experiance here. I bought some mech. gauges at Auto Zone for my old Saab. The oil pressure guage had a small white plastic hose that got way to cold and cracked pumping 40psi of M1 all over my carpet! I like the electronic sending units myself, although the mech. are probably more accurate but Im not sure. I am looking into a set of VDO guages myself. I may build an entire new guage cluster using them...

Marc P

I am running a Sunpro coolant temp guage, and plan on a trans temp guage soon. I put my guage over the non working stock guage, but when I get the other guage, I may look into some sort of dual pod setup.

justanother4x4

thanks for the replys, my oil pressure gauge works fine so I might just leave that alone. Mechanical oil gauges are a pain in the butt because the plastic tubing can leak, I use to have some in my 79 camaro and I used brass tubing for the gauges but the gauge was really loud(ticking noise)
The coolant sensor for the gauge is on the drivers side of the intake on the back of it right? I can't find a maunal thats worth buying yet, so I have been in search of a FSM.