Oil Vs Water Temp Gauge

[tuyen]

I have a apexi 'temp' gauge and im deciding weather water temp or oil temp one would be more useful to monitor in an rb20det. As i havn't got either a radiator hose adapter nor a oil filter plate yet.

Obviously the water temp gauge which comes stock on cars is not extremely accurate, cant really say that its very useful.

As far as my little knowledge goes, a factory thermo stat keeps water temps stable so it shouldnt change much after its reached a certain temp while the oil temps can fluctuate quite a bit depending the the way the motor is being driven. So by saying this, i would be leaning more towards monitoring oil temps?

what do u guys think?

i use my car for mainly street/daily driven purposes with the occasional squirt down the hwy/fwy

ive tried searching on forums and google for 'oil vs water temp' but no luck :S

Thanks in advance,

Tuyen

[TurboX]

Cant think of the last time I saw any car broken down on the side of the road from too high oil temp!

Seen plenty from too high water temp though.

Both important but I would go water.

Although I do have an external fan assisted OIL cooler

[tuyen]

lol i like to note i dont have an external oil cooler apart from the 'fins' on the oil sump which i think hardly makes a difference if they were there or not haha

also another question, i would think an oil pressure gauge would probably be most preferred out of the two other formentioned gauges, as it would show if there is a leak or motor is dying in the ass while u are at high rpm, but realistically u would kinda be able to tell when ur motor is in trouble from noises or whatever right?

[TurboX]

I cant disagree with the OIL Pressure Gauge considering my RB20DET AWD is being rebuilt as we type from lack of oil pressure!

The countersunk screws on the back of the oil pump come out causing oil pressure loss but I ignored the symptom because of the common R32 issue of the gauge reading from near zero to full scale regularly and I thought it was a faulty sender.

Expensive mistake!

[Bl4cK32]

I had oil temp, oil pressure, and water temp via the pfc hand controller.

From studying it at various times, i found oil and water temps seemed to follow each other. If the water got hot, the oil temp followed.

Oil pressure was a real good one to have, because if temps were ok, but no pressure....bye bye engine.

[tuyen]

ok well im trying to source a matching APEXI EL 60mm black faced oil pressure gauge now but its pretty hard to find. -.-

As for oil or water to monitor.. which would u choose Bl4cK32 ?

[Craved]

water temp guage

oil will still lubricate even when really hot, and on the street usually will never get very hot at all..

water temp is more important

[MerlinTheHapyPig]

I had oil temp, oil pressure, and water temp via the pfc hand controller.

From studying it at various times, i found oil and water temps seemed to follow each other. If the water got hot, the oil temp followed.

Oil pressure was a real good one to have, because if temps were ok, but no pressure....bye bye engine.

how did you get that? sr20 pfc only has water temp

---

anyway, as far as gauges go. I'd be going oil temp, water temp, oil pressure, boost. and it's not just rice factor. It pays to keep an eye on things, because the stock gauges aren't too great. If you're gonna get oil temp or oil pressure, you may as well get both because they will connect to the same fitting (usually sandwich plate on oil filter)

Though i do find it amusing when you see the old riced up non-turbo lancer with like battery voltage, monster tach and shift light...

[Bl4cK32]

Sorry, what i meant was i had a separate oil pressure, and oil temp gauge and had water temp on the pfc hand controller.

But yer, water temp if you arnt getting a pfc.

[Duncan]

Oil temp, since you already have a water temp gauge....the only thing that really matters in water temp is no temp (ie probably lost all coolant) or really hot (ie stop, quick!) the readings in between aren't so important they are controlled by the thermostat in a healthy coolant system.

On the other hand there is a world of difference between 110o and 130o oil temp, the engine may still be running at 130, but not for long.......

*edit* BTW does the PFC actually show oil temp? the standard ECU doesn't which means its not on the ECU loom....so where does PFC get it from? water temp does go to the ECU for cold/warm engine maps

[t51rjohn]

i would use oil temp as you when you have oil temp & water temp you realise the oil takes longer to warm up on first start of the day, so you are probably giving your car boost when oil temp is not up to scratch, so is missing parts of engine. Either way i have Oil temp, Oil pressure, Fuel pressure, water temp, boost and soon getting EGT & wideband. When i know it is running sweet i can start tuning it.

Thanks John

if all of that or part of that is bo**ox then let me know as that is my perspective.

[tuyen]

thanks for the input guys.. yeh i was under the same impression John

i guess i could choose to use it as an oil temp gauge as since oil takes longer to heat up, i can monitor when its up to normal temp and then be able to start giving it some boost in the morning or when cold.

or i could use it as water temp, as a change in water temp is ment to be more important/crucial in terms of actual monitoring engine health (ie. leak or whatever).

since car wont be track car.. oil temps will never rise to crazy temps but would be good to know when engine warm enough to start thrashing, while water temp would be useful to know when theres a leak ? but then whats the chances of water leaking ?

yeh i also have boost and exhaust temp gauges. lookin for an oil pressure gauge as i know they are most useful

[MerlinTheHapyPig]

Oil temp, since you already have a water temp gauge....the only thing that really matters in water temp is no temp (ie probably lost all coolant) or really hot (ie stop, quick!) the readings in between aren't so important they are controlled by the thermostat in a healthy coolant system.

On the other hand there is a world of difference between 110o and 130o oil temp, the engine may still be running at 130, but not for long.......

*edit* BTW does the PFC actually show oil temp? the standard ECU doesn't which means its not on the ECU loom....so where does PFC get it from? water temp does go to the ECU for cold/warm engine maps

power fc only shows water temp

i disagree with what you say on water temp. It's very useful because it tells you when to take a break (or when you need to upgrade radiators). The stock gauge won't distinguish between 80deg and 100deg, usually 100deg+ is when you want to take a break. You don't want to have to wait until the stock temp gauge reads H because it's usually too late when you get to that stage.

mind you, last time i was at winton, it must have been 30deg, and stock r32 gtst radiator held up great. (91deg was highest all day, though i was cheating and had the heater going)

[PHATR32]

why dont you get another gauge? and have both oil and water

[tuyen]

nah not keen to get another gauge unless its an Apexi EL black faced one to match with the other gauges, which are now discontinued cos of the EL2 ones (need control box etc).. -_-