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Old Dec 27, 2002
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DIY Oil Gauges (with Pics)

After 4 days of crawling around my car... I am writing this DIY to hopefully remove the guess work from doing this. It is not an easy job, but it doesn't require a degree in particle physics either. I did it by myself. The real problem lies in clearances. Yet again the tiny engine bay in our cars comes back to bite you in the ***. And thanks to that space saving design, this becomes far more complicated than it has to be.... so here we go.

You need the following tools:

Flashlight

15/16" Box or open end wrench

Pliers

Needle Nose Pliers

A knife or wire stripper

Several Phillips and Flat Screwdrivers

A wire hangar


You need the following materials:

Autometer Oil Pressure Gauge

1 Color of 14 Gauge Wire

4 Colors of 18 Gauge Wire

Heat Shrink Tubing

Tap Splices

Ring Terminals

Disconnect Terminals (Spade and socket)

Electrical Tape

1/8" NPT to -4 AN Adapter -- Straight

1/8" NPT to -4 AN Adapter -- 45 Degree

-4 AN Stainless Steel Braided Hose

2x -4 AN Hose Sockets

90 Degree 1/8" Brass elbow (1 male, 1 Female end)

1/8" Brass Tee (3 Female ends)

Teflon Thread sealing tape or paste


1. Jack up the car and put it on stands. Open the hood.

Go under the right side of the car and look for a rubber boot approximately 3" in diameter on the firewall. It is very tight in there so you may have to move around to find it. It is behind the transmission and above the frame rail. You should see a large bundle of wires coming out of it. When you find it, you should see that there is a "nipple" on one side of the boot. Take a sharp knife and cut the nipple open. Now go into the car and peel back the passenger side footwell carpet. When you get to the center console you should see the back of the boot that you just cut. Go back under the car, tape the 14 Gauge wire and 2 18 Gauge wires to a straightened hangar and push it through the hole in the boot. When you think you have the hangar through, go inside the car and pull the wires through. Make sure you have enough wire to reach the gauges inside, and the sensors outside. Don't forget to account for the fact that if you run the wires through the dash, the path they take may not be straight. Leave extra wire. Once you have the wire through, just tape over the hole you cut in the boot from the outside.






2. Now you have a choice... you can do the sensors or the gauges. I did the gauges first. I wanted to make sure I had all the wiring right so I didn't waste time looking for shorts once the sensors were hooked up. (FYI: I have no idea where you are putting your gauges, so all the references I'm going to use are related to my personal placement of the gauges in the lower center panel of the dash.)

Take the wires that you have just run through the firewall and tuck them under the edge of the center console. This way they are hidden. A better option is to remove the console and tape the wires to an existing bundle of wires. I took the console off.





I then ran the wires up into the area behind the panel where the gauges are mounted.


3. Time to hook up some wires. Disconnect the negative battery cable. (All wires have some kind of terminal on the end. Use heat shrink tubing to attach the terminals then cover it in electrical tape)

Go back into the engine bay and get your 14 gauge wire. This is the Ground wire. I routed it around the perimeter of the right side of the engine bay and fastened it using a ring terminal to the engine block ground. This is on the front right corner, you will see the grounding strap going to the frame. Undo the bolt (10 mm) and attach your ground wire.



You need to find 2 more power sources. One for the dash lights and you need a 12V source that only works when the car is on.

For the dashlights... Remove the gauge cluster. See the Indiglo Gauges DIY for that. You don't need to disconnect anything. Once you have the gauges out to the point where you can see the connectors on top, look at the middle of the blue connector. You should see a red/black stripe wire. Cut back the tape around the wire bundle to give yourself some room to work with and put a tap splice on that wire. That will give you a source for dash lights. Take your new wire and run it to where ever your gauges are. Tape the tap splice to the rest of the wire bundle and put the gauges back in the console.

For a 12V source, I used the Accessory Plug (Lighter). Put a tap splice on the yellow/green stripe wire. There's your 12 V source. Run your new wire to your gauges.

You now have all the wires you need... Ground, 12 V, Dash lights, and a sender wire for each gauge.


4. You now need to give yourself enough terminals to hook up all these wires too. On the back of the gauge you should see 5 connections. 2 for the light and 3 posts to hook up the 12V, Sender and ground wires to.

So split your wires. Here's what I did....

Cut yourself some small lengths of wire.

Attach a male disconnect terminal to each end. Take a knife and strip out a small section of insulation from the middle. Using heat shrink tubing, attach the short wire in the middle to the source wire.

You need to split 1 time for the dash lights and 12 V (2 connections) and twice for the ground (4 connections).

I set it up so that if I needed to remove the panel, I could remove the gauges without unscrewing them. That is why I used the disconnect terminals. If you want to just wire them in permanently or have to unscrew the terminals to get them out, don't use the disconnect terminals.

Now....Take the light out of the back of the gauge. Attach a female disconnect to each wire. You will need to cut a short length of wire for the other terminal posts too. I directly attached the sender wire from the gauge to the sender (no terminals in between), so I had 4 short wires with a ring terminal on 1 end and a female disconnect on the other.

Now, attach the short wires to the gauge. Match up the disconnects coming from the gauge to their associated source wires (that's why you should color code or label the wires). Hook up the Dash Lights and Ground to the light bulb. Hook up the sender, 12V and Ground to the back of the gauge. Make sure the live 12 V does not touch the sender wire. You will fry the sending unit.

Go hook up the battery and make sure it works. The lights should come on when you turn on your headlights. Put the key in and turn it so all the warning lights on the dash come on. The gauges should twitch when you do this.







5. Back under the hood... Now that you have working gauges, its time to hook up the senders.

Jack the car up again. Remove the oil filter. Above the filter you should see a wire running into a shroud. This is the oil pressure idiot light sender. Peel back the shroud to reveal the wire connection. Take a pair of pliers and pull the connector off. BE CAREFUL. That black thing above it is your intake manifold. Once the wire is off take your 15/16" open end wrench and remove the sender. Now that you've noticed that the sender is in a recess up there, you'll wonder how the hell the autometer pressure unit is going to fit. It isn't! That's where your Stainless line will come in handy. The only problem... You can't go straight out because the manifold is in the way. Same goes for left and right. Try down... oops... oil filter is there. So this is what I did.

USE TEFLON SEALING TAPE OR PASTE ON ALL THREADS

THIS IS THE REVISED PART

You will need a few specialty tools to get the stainless hose assembled. The directions might say you can use a hacksaw, don't... it isn't going to happen. What you need is an air powered abrasive disc, a hose clamp and a bench grinder. I had a shop put the hose ends on to the stainless braided hose for me, but if you've got those tools, you can pull it off yourself. Put electrical tape over the spot on the hose you want to cut, then put the hose clamp on over 1/2 the tape. Using the cut off tool, cut right along the edge of the clamp. This keeps the braids from expanding. Remove the clamp and tape, and deburr the end of the hose on the bench grinder. Then put the end fittings on as the instructions that come with it say. I used Earl's (Holley) Hose and fittings, but you can use any brand you like (Aeroquip, Russell, etc...), just make sure that you can run motor oil through it and that you buy end fittings that are the same brand as the hose (some companies make end fittings that only will work with their hose). Screw the 45 Degree Adapter fitting into the oil pressure port in the engine block. A short handle wrench helps a lot as it is very tight. Get it on as tight as you can... This is where mine leaked when I used the brass tubing. orient the fitting so that it is pointing down and towards the right side of the car. Once it is on tight, screw the stainless line to it. I ran mine to a bracket I made myself from sheet aluminium, a 90 Degree bracket and some U bolts to hold the T fitting on. You can mount the senders anywhere you want, I bolted the bracket to where the stock airbox was mounted. it sits under my Injen CAI and does not interfere with anything at all.

These pics are a little big, but here is the bracket...

Bracket 1

Bracket 2

I don't have a pic of the other end, but there isn't much to see. I had to add the 90 Degree brass elbow to the T fitting to get the hose on, depending on your orientation of the T fitting, you may or may not need it. Screw in the Stock Idiot light sender and the Autometer sender to the fitting. You may have to splice extra wire into the idiot light wire, it's pretty short. Wire them both up.

Once the filter is back on, that's the end of the pressure one. Start the car, make sure the gauge registers something. I am currently getting readings of 25-30 PSI at idle, 65-75 while driving, and 90-95 on the redline. Note that when the oil is cold, the readings will not seem right. When the car first starts, the needle should jump to about 75. It's cuz the oil is thicker when its cold. Once it warms up, the gauge pressures will start to look more reasonable.

END EDIT



Theres my DIY... I know it's alot. Give yourself some time and a lot of patience. GOOD LUCK!


Last edited by Boilermaker1; Apr 16, 2003 at 03:33 PM.
Old Dec 27, 2002
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very good DIY. i was waiting for this.,
good job
Old Dec 27, 2002
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thanks alot! great DIY
Old Dec 27, 2002
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great DIY, i'll be sure to try it out!
Old Dec 27, 2002
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Very nice DIY
Old Dec 27, 2002
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Very Nice DIY. I will be sure to do this one to =)
Old Jan 3, 2003
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Couple more things that I've noticed since I've put them in...
First. When you take off the oil filter, put it in a cup or something and cover it up. This keeps junk out while you're working. When you go to put it back on, apply another thin coat of oil to the seal ring.
2. Make sure you have some kind of padding between the intake manifold bracket and the sender fittings. The autometer gauge is much more sensitive than I thought. I used marine foam stripping.
3. I apparently didn't have something tight when I did it the first time and was dripping oil. Make sure you keep an eye on things for the first few days after you do it to make sure everything seals. It turns out the filter was loose, but just keep an eye on things.
4. Don't be surprised if the pressure is very high when the car is cold. Let the oil warm up, then the gauge will work as it should.
Old Jan 5, 2003
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where are the pics i dont see them. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/IMG]
Old Jan 9, 2003
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As I said in another thread... I had an oil leak because I used too many brass fittings in order to plumb a path to install the Autometer Sending unit. So I revised my DIY for use with Stainless Braided Hose, which I just installed and it solved the leak problem. The leak is now eliminated.
Lesson learned: Being cheap seldom works.
I HIGHLY recommend just spending the $35 or so to buy the stainless line and fittings when you do this. They seal up so much better than the cheap brass pipe that you get at a hardware store. They're also designed for use with oil, so there should be no problems. Just make sure you buy stainless hose that is for automotive use and that it can be used with Motor Oil. There are many kinds of stainless hoses... make sure you get the right one.
If anyone wants to know... I got the Stainless Hose and Fittings as well as the gauges from Jeg's High Performance . They had the best prices and the stuff came to my house in 1 day (with regular shipping). They also have a tech line if you run into problems along the way.
Old Jan 9, 2003
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Good job, But I would put some washers and some lock washers on that bracket. there looks to be enough room for them.

An ounce of preventative maintenance is worth a pound of Fixin the dam thing again.
Old Jan 9, 2003
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Looks good. I know how to do it now.
Old Jan 10, 2003
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part numbers for that hose from jegs and those fittings would be extremely wonderful...

did you still retain the factory idiot light sender also?? it's just extra insurance....you never know which will go out first....the factory or the aftermarket...especially since the car was only 6 months old so they will have about the same life expentancy....

-stackz
Old Jan 10, 2003
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Jegs Part Numbers:
361981604- AN -4 to 1/8" Straight Adapter $1.99
361982304- AN -4 to 1/8" 45 Degree Adapter $6.49
361300104- AN -4 Auto-Fit Hose Ends 2 @ $5.99 ea
361303004- AN -4 Auto-Flex Hose 3' Long $14.99
1-800-345-4545 is the number

The stock idiot light sender is attached to the T fitting. You can see it in the pic on the bracket... it's under the shroud. I suppose I'll edit the DIY just in case it doesn't occur to someone that it needs to go back in there.
Old Jan 11, 2003
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i'm lazy... can u just do it for me?
Old Jan 14, 2003
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Nice job!! Also, nice MOMO stuff!
Old Jan 20, 2003
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I'm curious what range of oil temp you're getting? Obviously from ambient to maximum. What's the maximum you've ever recorded and under what conditions. What about just cruising on the highway? [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/IMG]
Old Jan 20, 2003
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I don't have the temp sensor hooked up. I have to drill a hole in the oil pan to put the sensor in (weld a fitting in or use teflon washers to seal it) and I don't want to waste 4 quarts of perfectly good Mobil 1 nor do I really have a good feeling about removing the oil pan. I'm thinking about just taking the gauge face out of the car since all it's doing now is sitting there and putting something like an A/F gauge in.
I'm not going to turbo charge my car, so I'm not sure what difference it would make what the temp is.... it's going to be what ever it is. If you want the gauge to find out... I'll sell it to you (everything's new, but the face is in my car right now, not really permanently attached yet). I guess it was a stupid purchase for me....
Old Jan 20, 2003
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Nah, thanks. I just need to know how hot it gets stock so that I know whether or not I need to add in an oil cooler.
Old Jul 27, 2003
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i have an R1 Air to Fuel guage and a Oil Pressure guage for sale if anyone is intersted. all parts are included to install these in.
Old Aug 5, 2003
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added to diy
Old Oct 20, 2006
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Originally Posted by Boilermaker1
Jegs Part Numbers:

361981604- AN -4 to 1/8" Straight Adapter $1.99

361982304- AN -4 to 1/8" 45 Degree Adapter $6.49

361300104- AN -4 Auto-Fit Hose Ends 2 @ $5.99 ea

361303004- AN -4 Auto-Flex Hose 3' Long $14.99

1-800-345-4545 is the number


The stock idiot light sender is attached to the T fitting. You can see it in the pic on the bracket... it's under the shroud. I suppose I'll edit the DIY just in case it doesn't occur to someone that it needs to go back in there.

Part numbers don't work on Jeg's website. Do you think it would be possible to just zip tie the autometer sender to something, instead of making a bracket? The sender i have is wayy smaller than the one you installed, i guess they are different for the C2 series autometer guages.

Where on the block do you attach the braided hose to?
 
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