Took me around 3 hours (longer than it should but I'm a perfectionist) and the gauge is in. I've even got the bulb getting power from the cluster illumination fuse so that the gauge dims WITH the cluster I know I know PICS PICS PICS. What do you guys think about the placement of both the gauge and Sirius radio?






It's an Autometer Z-Series with a green LED bulb (I paid extra for that) so that it matches the cluster VERY closely Whatcha guys think?

 

AI didn't realize you had just one gas tank. Not a bad place for the gauge. When I get the gauges I want for my truck I'm just going to get a gauge pod for the pillar and mount them there (that's just me though).

EDIT: Does that gauge use an electric sending unit?

 

Yep, electric sending unit. I've read that the mechanical MIGHT be more accurate by 3 or 4 degrees... But to deal with all that copper line and worrying around it getting punctures and making an ATF mess in my truck... Not worth it...

 

Where did you install the sensor? How did you install the sensor?

And dude, you need to kick that country music listening habit. It's messing with your brain.

 

I knew you'd ask eco. I got some second opinions about where to install the sensor and decided to first try it in the test port on the trans. I researched it a lot and saw that everyone using the test port had good results so I'm gonna try it out. I'll be using an infrared temp gun to compare the gauge to the actual temp of the transmission. I did spend the money on the Autometer cooler line manifold ($35 well spent.... not) and I can still use that if the test port doesn't work. BRING ON THE HECKLING!

 

Well, it's better than nothing, but if you are the perfectionist you claim to be you would have put it in the cooler lines.....corner cutter.

 

The way I look at it... There's really no way to screw up the test port install, AND it's totally reversible, and less work. So if this way works, then GREAT! Saved myself some work and possibility of breaking something / creating another place for a possible leak. If not, 100% reversible and I still have the manifold (which I wouldn't mind putting to use since I spent so much money on it).

 

Drove the usual hour drive back to school tonight (all freeway @ ~63mph) and the gauge read between 125-130* depending on how I was driving (cruise control, passing, downshifting, etc). Got off the freeway and drove 3 blocks to my house (including some turns and trans shifting) and when I pulled up to my house the gauge read 130-135*. Got out and shot my bellhousing with an infrared temp gun and it read 140*.

So I'm pretty satisfied with the placement of the sender, and the gauge. Still have yet to decide if I'll keep it there, I need to do some city driving and also pull some weight and see how the gauge reacts. I'll keep ya'll posted.

 

Looks good, too bad you had to put a hole in your dash. I love my a-pillar gauges.. looking from inside the truck - hot, looking from the front or back outside - nice and aggressive looking. I've got the phantom series, though.

Just curious, do you have any pics of what wire you used? I still need to wire up the lights and I've never done it before. Thanks.

 

The bulb is on its own circuit. Ground black wire and run white (hot) to the fuse for instrument illumination (4 amps on my truck). This will make it dim with the rest of your gauges.

 

nice. your dash is friggin immaculate!

roadvirus, can you drop in some pics of your a-pillar cluster? Skandocious, can you still see the road, or do you keep staring at your new gauge all the time? I would have to take the light out to keep from running into a tree while checking to see if my gauge mathed the dash ligths.

Looks good though.

 

Keep it under 180* and your e4od won't give you the finger!

 

Nah, it's not too distracting at all. If anything the Sirius is the distracting one, looking at songs, and that bright blue light at night

I'll try Hey are those numbers (125-130*) pretty close to what your gauge reads on the freeway? And where did you tap your sender? (I'm assuming you have a trans temp gauge)

 

Bellhousing? Try that again with the cooler lines and see what you get...the inlet and outlet at the cooler and/or the trans to be specific. That and maybe the bottom of the trans oil pan just to see what it says there.

 

I had a sender in the return line for a while. It's gone now.

The highest my tranny ever got was 180* but I was beating the crap out of it in 4Low in the Moses Lake Sand dunes in 100*+ ambient temperature. On the freeway it was running 130* or so. Towing the boat up Stevens pass.. 150-160*.

190-200* your fluid begins to break down irrevocably.

Cheers,
Mike