Oil temp warning light with oil temp gauge

[fvracer27]

Anyone running a oil temp warning light along with a oil temp gauge? I want to run both because where I mount gauge I can not see it very good. The problem I'm having is locateing a good spot to put the warning light sender.

Thanks
Mark

[Mad Dog Racing]

Never heard of a temp warning light. I run a pressure warning light, but temp is something I check on one of the straights if I'm not distracted by something else. I'd think that something that causes such a sudden change in temp to need a light to catch it would show up as a loss of pressure or some other noticable problem. If you can't scan your gauges at least once a lap or so, you need to get more comfortable driving.

The other thing is guessing how much cooler to tape up. Down here we run everything from completely covered coolers in January or February to "don't even think about looking at the temp" in July or August when both the temp and humidity are 98 and up. I tend to error on the safe side and run a bit too much cooler, but I've found that some cars need almost none and others can't get enough with no rhyme or reason. But that is more or less stable for that car, once you learn what it needs.

[Matt King]

I had an oil temp light in a car that I ran a data logger in that had four programmable LED lights. Pretty easy to do with an AIM or similar system as long as you are already logging the temp. It wouldn't be that hard to wire one in with an analog temp gauge either. But the only time mine ever became useful was when I watched the temp go from 250 to over 300 in the span of a lap. It gave me a little warning before I heard the rods clattering!

[fvracer27]

I have a temp gauge and have the sender in the place where most everyone puts it (front lower right of the block) I need to find a spot for a second sender.

If you can't scan your gauges at least once a lap or so, you need to get more comfortable driving.

I want to put the gauge in a place so it is out of my way to make it more comfortable to drive and a small light I can put anywhere. If I don't see the gauge then the light will be staring me in the face. same with oil pressure warning light alot of people run those along with a gauge. Just another thing to say hey "STOP"

[brian]

Go to Summit racing on line and research the temp light. They have tons of stuff and the prices are quite reasonable. They also ship same day. Warning lights are a good idea thats why all the data systems have them. Years ago, we had a driver that had such a hard time remembering to look at gauges, we wired the OP warning light to the ignition. When the oil presssure fell the engine turned off!

[Dave]

The light can be kind of distracting I just use a gauge, and if it gets to hot you fix it by putting a piece of race tape over it.

Dave

[fvracer27]

[quote]Go to Summit racing on line and research the temp light. They have tons of stuff and the prices are quite reasonable. They also ship same day. Warning lights are a good idea thats why all the data systems have them. Years ago, we had a driver that had such a hard time remembering to look at gauges, we wired the OP warning light to the ignition. When the oil presssure fell the engine turned off!/quote]

I know where to get the stuff I need to know where on my engine I can grab temp other than the bottom left of the case.

Mark

[fvracer27]

The light can be kind of distracting I just use a gauge, and if it gets to hot you fix it by putting a piece of race tape over it.

Dave

The warning light only goes on when there is something wrong it should be distracting.

Mark

[Mad Dog Racing]

Don't know what your plumbing looks like, so can't offer anything exact. Had two different D-13's and one ran almost constantly with the temp pegged, tried at least a half-dozen different methods. The other one always ran cool on the stock doghouse cooler that fits in the fan shroud. Kind of thing that drives you nuts. But both had external oil plumbing. If you run one of the cooler/filter blocks like SR sells, you may have an extra plug in the front of the block if it wasn't set up that way in the past. Can't do that on the fly if it wasn't drilled and tapped at a rebuild.

A lot of vees run a remote cooler, so if you do, I would think you could put a fitting in the return line, then you know the cooler can't keep up. If you don't have a remote cooler, the other hose to fit into would be a remote filter line. Either way, using a remote line would not necessarily exactly match the temp in the oil sump, so you would have to come up with what temp to use for the warning light. But if it's just a warning, it tells you to look at the gauge.

But a temp sender goes to ground when the gauge pegs, at what, 300F. I'm terrible at electrical theory, but I know you can check the gauge by grounding it. Could you set it up so the light comes on when the sender goes to ground? Or would that just give you a light that goes from off at cold to brighter as it gets hotter?

[brian]

A Tee fitting at the block outlet or on any oil line could work. A dual acting sending unit would go in at the block. VDO makes several kinds of pressure sending units for VW but I don't know of any temp warning lights that are designed for the VW block. I've seen temperature probes stuck into the oil dipstick hole but nothing for a light.

[fvracer27]

cool thanks
I was going to run a T with both senders but the really would not be in oil flow so I would rather not run a t fitting.

My engine is set up with the SR block and stock cooler but I don't have extra hole.

There is a spot next to the distributor. There is one on the side of the block next to the distrubutor and that is where I have the oil pressure sender located. also there is a plug on the front of the engine next to the distributor that is not being used and I have seen some guys put there pressure switch there so I guess I could but the oil temp light sender in that spot, I just did not know if it mattered if it needed to be in the lower part of the engine.


Thanks for the information guys

Mark

[brian]

Generally speaking the temperature of the oil will equalize throughout the engine. Granted, areas like the cylinder heads would contain hotter oil since that's where most of the heat is generated, but I doubt there is such a thing as a cool spot.

[neilcox]

Look at this http://www.fwmurphy.com/20t_25t/

this gauge has a limit switch that can be set for a specific temp to power a light. I have used these and they are good to great gauges.

Neil

[fvracer27]

Look at this http://www.fwmurphy.com/20t_25t/

this gauge has a limit switch that can be set for a specific temp to power a light. I have used these and they are good to great gauges.

Neil

That is a pretty cool gauge

[Mad Dog Racing]

Quote - There is a spot next to the distributor. There is one on the side of the block next to the distrubutor and that is where I have the oil pressure sender located. also there is a plug on the front of the engine next to the distributor that is not being used and I have seen some guys put there pressure switch there so I guess I could but the oil temp light sender in that spot, I just did not know if it mattered if it needed to be in the lower part of the engine. - Unquote

The plug on the front of the engine is the one I was talking about, the one on the side used for oil pressure is awfully small. Didn't know if you had the one in the front drilled or if it was in use for something, that's where I return the oil from the cooler. If you have it blocked off, you could put the warning light sender there, it's likely to be 10 or 20 degrees off from the sump, but close enough for a warning.

[fvracer27]

[quote][The plug on the front of the engine is the one I was talking about, the one on the side used for oil pressure is awfully small. Didn't know if you had the one in the front drilled or if it was in use for something, that's where I return the oil from the cooler. If you have it blocked off, you could put the warning light sender there, it's likely to be 10 or 20 degrees off from the sump, but close enough for a warning.
quote]

Yup I think I will try it there.