I spent part of Friday night and yesterday morning installing some new gauges. I put oil temp, oil pressure, and water temp in a 3 pod overhead windshield mount painted to match the interior. The gauges are all electric, so it was just some simple wiring. I did have to move the mirror mont a little lower on the windshield to clear the gauge pod. The actual install wasn't bad, but I did get a little creative with the sending units.

I took my HPOP resivioir off and had some bungs welded into the back of it for an oil pressure sensor and the oil temp sensor. Since my stock fuel bowl is gone, I had plenty of room for it. But, I also wanted to know what the oil pressure is in the bottom end of the engine, so I put an additional sensor in the engine block. I put a small switch in the cab and wired the two different sending units to it, then on to the gauge. So, I can select which sending unit is displayed on the gauge, either the one in the HPOP res or the one in the block. Water temp was easy, since there is a spot on my coolant filter setup to install it.

Pics are in my gallery here and on my webshots album.

 

Looks good JT. What did you use to get the mirror mount off the glass?

 

Thanks Scott. We used a Bic lighter to apply a little bit of heat to the button from the insite, which softened up the glue. After that, a putty knife was forced under it, a little bit at a time until the button came off. All the while, being careful not to pry up, just force the blade in to break the glue bond. It probably wasn't the best way, but it worked and didn't crack the windshield.

 

Looks great! I think that the black/tan color combo is the only color scheme that looks good with the CF gauges. The CF looks great on that truck, and the installs are great. Those bungs have nice beads, is that the same place where you got your turbine outlet flange welded up? I can't wait till i get more gauges. I will have that, but Fuel pressure beside it, because i dont have it on my pillar.

Can you give some readings now, such as oil pressure at idle, when running, oil and water temps? Did the gauge install fix your worries about low pressure at idle?

 

Jeremy did the oil cooler solve your problem or are we still having low pressure at Idle and if so is it low at both senders

 

Thanks Kris. I wasn't sure how the CF gauges would look in a truck, but I like them too. The welding was actually done by a different guy. There are two welders in town that are rumored to be the best, one did my EBPV the other did the bungs. I figured I'd have some done work done by both so I can examine it, when it's something I consider minor, in case I ever need something major done. The pics may not show it the best, but I think the welding on EBPV was cleaner than the bungs. I'm also going to keep an eye on the bung welds for leaks. It doesn't take much of a pin hole in the weld to let some oil out.

Oil pressure at idle runs about 25 psi on both the block and HPOP. While running, block pressure goes up to 50 psi & HPOP stays around 40 psi, dropping a bit to around 30 psi when I'm accelerating hard. And, since I put the gauges in, my stock oil pressure gauge hasn't dropped like it's been doing. But, I'll keep my eye on it. It it comforting to be able to have some actual numbers though.

Oil temps get up to around 215, water temp hits about 190, with the outside temp about 50 today. I did notice a couple things about the temps though. One, water temp comes up before oil temp, until oil temp passes it. And two, when the factory temp gauge reads normal, water temp is only about 150, a little short of actually being up to temp.

 

Alan, I haven't actually replaced the oil cooler yet. I wanted to see what the actual numbers were before I spent the money on a new rear head. Today, the numbers were the same in both places, 20-25 psi at idle. Obviously plenty of pressure. But, the stock gauge didn't drop either. I'm keeping my eye on it though. I think the oil has to be really good and hot for it to happen. I tried to get the oil hot today, but didn't have a lot of time to go driving where I could really run it for a bit.

 

I finally found it in the manual .. idle pressure in the HPOP reservoir is minimum 12psi

From what I have heard 20 -25 in the block sounds about right

 

Great job JT, very useful info also.

 

Good looking install JT. Glad your rig is running right. I bet that old pump was probably good. Now you know you should be good.

 

Thanks for the numbers Alan. That gives me some baseline numbers to look at. I think my old oil pump probably was fine. Like Tenn said though, now I know it's good.

 

Found a problem. Small oil leak, and I mean small. Just enough to have a small amount of oil on the backside of the HPOP res after about 30-45 minutes of run time. Not enough to shower the motor, but enough to make a mess. The bad part is it appears to be coming from the weld around the bung on the oil temps sensor. The end of the threads were clean, and oil was only around the bung somewhere. Apparently there is a very small pin hole in the weld that is only letting oil out once it's up to temp and thinned out.

I'm not excited about this, and I was thinking I don't want to disassemble the whole thing again to have it fixed. So my quick and hopefully permanet fix was to pick up some Quck Steel epoxy putty and put some all the way around the bung, completely covering the whole thing, from the exposed part of the bung, over the weld, and onto the HPOP res. I put it on tonight, but didn't go for a drive. I'm off on business for the next couple of days and will let it dry thoroughly while I'm gone, since the temps are pretty cool here, but not yet freezing. I did put a little heat on it with a hair dryer, but don't want to push the issue and pop a leak before the epoxy putty sets up completely.

If that doesn't fix it, I guess I'll have to take it back apart and seal it from the inside somehow. There is a small (1/32" - 1/16") gap between the bung and the res on the inside, so I would need to figure out how to fill that gap. I don't know if standard solder would work or not, since both parts are aluminum, I don't know how well or if it would bond. I do know I don't want to use any putty on the inside of the res, simply because I don't want to run the risk of part of it breaking off and clogging and injector.

Hopefully the Quick Steel will seal the leak, but I'm open to any suggestions for sealing the small gap on the inside if I have to go back into it. One thing's for sure, it will not go back to that welder. He's now had the only bit of business I will have with him. Plus, I'd rather fix it myself so I know it'd done right and I also don't want to have the truck down for a week while I'm waiting on a weder to fix it.

 

Have the welder or the other one fix it. that's the only sure way to seal it up. I'd ask him if he presure tested it. He should be able to pump it up and get some soapy water and see where it's leaking from....

Just my .02

 

Crap JT, that sucks. I wouldn't condemn the welder just yet though. A pinhole leak is not a total surprise in an application like this. Aluminum welds don't come cheap and that was a small/intricate weld. For all you know your turbo has a small leak at that weld site but we are talking air there.

I think JB weld or whatever you used there may work but does not give the same comfort that a good weld has. It may be a pita, but if you can get him to fix it free of charge, that would be the most desireable option. When I welded up my sump assembly, it leaked so I JB welded it. I could go no further with it with my equipment and that worked. I would feel better if it was solid metal though. Nevertheless, I believe it may seal your leak, for a while. BTW, my JB stuff is on the inside but I have a filter to grab anything up.

 

If I have to take it back to a welder, ultimately I will. But, I'm trying to avoid that right now. I'm hoping the putty will seal the leak. I looked at several different ones, and this one is the only one good for over 300 degrees, up to 500. I know the oil doesn't get that hot, but the JB said it could get unstable at sustained temps of 250 plus, close to oil temp. The extra ball of putty I had, dried up rock hard - it seems like some tough stuff. I'm hoping the putty I put on there got into the pin hole, or seals up well enough around it to stop the leak.

Tenn, you're right, I shouldn't condem the welder. After all, one of the welds is holding great. It's funny though, one weld looks good, the other (the leaking one) not so much. It's like two different people welded them.

If I take it apart, I have to get new gaskets (money), pay another welder (money), and have the truck down for a week again. John, I agree that pressure testing would be a good idea, but I think it would be tough, with the two big openings on the top and bottom. The lid could be used for the top, but I don't know how he'd seal the bottom up with it off the truck.

I'm trying to get it fixed quick, because I won't drive it with oil leaking. I'm still wondering about the bonding ability of solder to aluminum though, if the leak is still there. I can do that myself in a matter of minutes. I'd only be out a few hours work and the price of some new gaskets.