Fourth Horseman

To the best of my knowledge all Ford products (with the possible exception of SVT products) have "idiot" oil gauges. I went the same route on my Marauder and replaced it with a real, functioning Autometer sender and gauge.

I hope to be buying a Mustang at some point and have a question regarding your installation 281GT. Well, actually two questions:

1) Did you just leave the factory in-dash oil pressure gauge unhooked? I'm assuming that if you hooked it into the after-market sender it would not read correctly. Or did you plumb it so that both senders are in at the same time? Not a big point, really, and if you've got the Autometer gauge you don't need the factory one, but it would look odd to see one gauge reading zero all the time.

2) Is there a spot near the oil pressure sender where we could also put an oil temperature sender? You know, like a port with a plug in it? Or is there only room for one, where the pressure sender is?

Thanks!

Johnnytuinals

What about the TEMP gauge???wonder if that tells yea that you will over heat ...JohnnyT

Silver Ponys

When my GT had a leaking hose I was unaware of the water guage went up and turned red. The message center then told me the engine was overheating. I did wonder about the oil gauge though

Sonic Boom NH

I can add a bit of insight, at least dealing with the SVT vehicles. I own a 2003 Ford SVT F150 Lightning and it too has the dummy gauges. I installed a triple pillar pod and actually did a complete write up explaining it. The only gauge that works real time with accurate information is the psi (boost) gauge for the blower.

Ford has for quite a long time used simple pressure/voltage gauges (go/no-go). Basically how they work is, for example the oil pressure, is just that a pressure switch. If it sees a predetermined amount of pressure, say 5psi, the gauge will register in the normal zone. If it does not see any pressure, or lower the then the predetermined amount, the gauge simply shows nothing, or 0 oil pressure.

The same is true for temperature except that gauge is based off a voltage reading, I believe, and how it works is if it sees a certain voltage range it registers normal, and if it sees enough voltage it will register in the hot zone of the cluster.

The voltage gauge is the same, if it sees a predetermined amount of voltage from the battery, indicating it is getting a correct charge, it will register in the normal zone.

From all the reading I have done I found the reason to be that Ford, among other manufactures, did this because many customers would complain or believed they had problems when reading “real� gauges. In an attempt to keep warranty repairs down, or more like, keeping many people that didn’t know how to read a gauge or what it should read under certain conditions out of the dealership and tying them up Ford and other manufactures went to these, now not so new, dummy gauges.

I installed and A/F (air/fuel) gauge, due to having a supercharger, an oil pressure gauge and then installed a temperature gauge with a switch so I could monitor transmission, oil, and water temperatures with one gauge. Therefore I actually have 5 gauges in a triple pillar pod configuration for my Lightning.

NOTE: When connecting an aftermarket oil pressure gauge you MUST also install the factory oil pressure gauge as well. Failure to do so will cause the computer to think the vehicle lost oil pressure and may prevent it from starting and/or running normally. The factory oil pressure gauge, as well as all the rest, do send inputs into the vehicle computer to tell it all is good or not good.

So by all rights, and not defending Ford, I believe the true reason for the gauges that come stock is not necessarily a money savings for Ford but a headache savings for dealerships and their technician’s…

Derf00

Yep, it's the same for MOST cars on the road these days. It's more than just a cost saving measure. I for one (JMO) would find Real time gauges distracting(but helpful). Some of the Chryslers now have real-time gauges and one of the complaints I hear is how distracting the guage is when just driving around town. Up down up down uppppppp...dowwwnnnnn.. That and can you imagine if the average schmoe could really see what was happening with their engine on let's say start-up? Maaann...the dealership and manufacturers would be inundated with stupid people that don't understand how to interpret the guage.

I say, for the few of us who it does matter to, sucks but as you have done, get a set of real guages to monitor the status. At least you will be able to recognize what is normal and not normal compared to the average joe/jane that doesn't.

saud alzaabi

well... i noticed it too i switched on the car at the morning untill the temp gauge was in the middle so i drove my car for like 5 hours i stopped like 3 or 4 times but just a little rest and later when i got back home the temp gauge was still in the middle...so at first i thought that there is an improved cooling system or something but then i began to be suspecious... but i also didn't know the other gauge were the same

Derf00

Lol...I didnt even see your post until I posted mine... You hit the nail on the head... It's like why run the Windows Task Manager on the desktop instead of the background? There are services that run that the average person knows nothing about and would frankly confuse and cause the computer technicians headaches.

Fourth Horseman

Interesting. This was not the case on the Marauder. The only place the factory sender sent signal was to the gauge. The computer didn't get any read on oil pressure at all. So no idiot light or check engine light for low pressure. Hence my desire for a real working gauge.

281GT

torch red: Here is a pic of my gauge pod. You will also notice that I have two LED's mounted in it. The one beside the temp gauge (the green one) lights up whenever the engine cooling fan or A/C compressor is on. The clear one beside the volt gauge is for a shift light. It actually lights up red. It's a high output LED and is VERY bright. Also since it's very close and easy to see I thought it was a good place for a shift light. It's not working yet because I am still working on an electronic circuit to drive it but I thought it was a cleaner solution to a shift light than any of the current aftermarket solutions.


[IMG]local://upfiles/13562/99C2C92F287F44D7A3F6BC897D347232.jpg[/IMG]


And someone else asked about sensor placement. Senders for things like oil pressure and temperature are gauge specific. In other words you must use the sender that is designed specifically for the gauge you are using. So...
For the oil pressure sender I removed the stock sender and installed a brass "T" fitting into the block. This is located right behind the oil filter on the driver's side of the block. Then I installed the factory oil sender in one side of the "T" and the sender for the Autometer gauge in the other side of the "T". I also had to use a 45 degree elbow to get clearence.
For the coolant temp. sender I had a bigger challenge. Since I couldn't find the factory sender for the temp I removed a plug in the aluminum coolant crossover on the top front left of the engine. I drilled all the way through and tapped it for 1/8" pipe thread and installed my sender there. I could not use a normal pipe thread adaptor in the hole because it is a special thread with a rubber seal. Apparently created by the "Infinite Wisdom" department at Ford Motor Company. I should also mention that I filed four sides of this plug flat so I could still get a wrench on it after drilling out the center which eliminated the 1/4" square hole that was used prior to install or remove it. I had to do all this because I could find NOTHING that would fit this hole. So that's why I made my own adaptor by modifying the factory plug.
So my stock gauges still work along with my Autometer ones. I also did not want to disconnect any of the stock sensors because the computer is expecting to see signals from these sensors. Disconnecting either or both is sure to cause problems.

BTW: Fourth Horseman - NICE Marauder. Those cars are very unique and cool!

torch red

thx 281gt for the pic and the info, looks awsome, i believe i will be making the same upgrade!