AutoMeter Attaboy

[DEFYANT]

Just thought I'd let you all know, my sending unit for my 4327 replacement Oil Pressure guage quit. I did the swap last March and was still under warranty (imagine that!).

Anyway, AutoMeter requested I test the guage to make sure it was the sender. It was and a new sender is in the mail.

[KSMarauder03]

speaking of this why are the stock gages considered useless?? I will be upgrading mine if so just havent seen why they are bad.

[MM03MOK]

speaking of this why are the stock gages considered useless?? I will be upgrading mine if so just havent seen why they are bad.The OEM oil pressure gauge doesn't truly read pressure. Off at zero, on at 60. Volt gauge is fine.

[67435animal]

The OEM oil pressure gauge doesn't truly read pressure. Off at zero, on at 60. Volt gauge is fine.

True, but, when you buy the real oil guage, the two won't match. Easy solution is to buy the matching volt guage.

[MM03MOK]

True, but, when you buy the real oil guage, the two won't match. Easy solution is to buy the matching volt guage.True....that's what we did.

[DEFYANT]

True....that's what we did.

Me too.

It was cheep enough.

[RF Overlord]

speaking of this why are the stock gages considered useless?? Notice how your gauge always reads EXACTLY the same, regardless of temperature or RPM? That's because the OEM oil pressure gauge is nothing more than a fancy idiot light. As long as your motor has ~6 lbs of pressure or more, the switch closes and causes the gauge to read about 62 lbs. Many of us have installed a kit from AutoMeter (p/n 4327) that replaces the OEM gauge unit and switch with REAL working pieces. Unfortunately, the aftermarket gauge doesn't exactly match the OEM one; at night it doesn't have the back-lit numerals, but in daylight they're almost identical.

The OEM voltmeter is NOT a fake, it actually does work, but as animal said, many of us bought the aftermarket one and swapped it out at the same time just to keep them matched. The aftermarket voltmeter is p/n 4391 and is around $35 at Summit or Jeg's.

If you're interested in doing the gauge swap yourself, there's a write-up in the how-to section of the FAQ here (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/faq.php?faq=how_to#faq_real_oi l_pressure_gauge).

[DEFYANT]

...and then you can install the ole volt guage into your pick up truck, like me :-D.

[schuvwj]

I've had to replace my Autometer oil pressure gauge sending unit 3 times.
I think it's time to go mechanical.

Bill Schuver

[MENINBLK]

hmmm...

I installed mine earlier this year and its been fine so far.
Is there a bad run of senders ???

[DEFYANT]

The tech I spoke to eluded to customers using teflon tape. A small piece of tape can get into the sender and FUBAR it. Not sure it that applies or not.

[MENINBLK]

Now that you mentioned this, I have noticed today
that the gauge is not reading as high as it used to.
At idle it reads barely over Zero.
The highest it goes to now is just over 50.

I will check it again when its cold, and see what it does.
I know on a cold start, it almost goes to 100.

I'll let you know what I see.

Is this how yours went bad ??

[TripleTransAm]

The OEM voltmeter is NOT a fake, it actually does work,

Looks like Ford managed to get to the voltmeter as well.

This afternoon as I was installing my modified oil pressure gage into MM#2, I decided to swap voltmeters just for grins. Two totally different behaviours, it would seem. I'll know more by end of day tomorrow, but the gage on MM#1 seems much more accurate (based on what I was expecting to see, given the readings I've seen on Autotap logs). MM#2's voltmeter appears to show 1-2 volts too low, and even then this discrepancy appears to vary based on either driving time or interior temperature.

:shake:

[Rider90]

MM#2's voltmeter appears to show 1-2 volts too low, and even then this discrepancy appears to vary based on either driving time or interior temperature.

:shake:
Very strange. So should my readings be at 15/16 volts at cold startup or still at 14? Here I thought we had 12 volt vehicles :dunno:

[DEFYANT]

I received the new sender about 3 weeks ago and installed it last week. The oil pressure is right where it was before.

For *****s and giggles, I dremeled the old sender open for a peak inside. There seems to be alot of moving parts that I am not very familure with the names of.

I think I still have it and will post up some pics.

[DEFYANT]

Very strange. So should my readings be at 15/16 volts at cold startup or still at 14? Here I thought we had 12 volt vehicles :dunno:

Up to 16 should be fine with no accessories running. While idling with everything on, your volts could drop to 12 and still be normal.

[TripleTransAm]

Typically a battery will show an open circuit voltage of 13.x (13.6? I forget). Once you put a load on it, the battery's "internal resistance" will show up, and you'll get about 12 volts at the terminals. That's if current is flowing from the battery. So in order to charge the battery, the voltage has to be greater than this (current flows based on voltage differences, not absolute voltages).

[DEFYANT]

It was explained to me like this:

Think of electic as water. The battery is a pool and the altenator is a pump to supply the pool. Your wires are hoses. The more water you flow through the hoses, the lower the water in the pool, the more the pump has to pump water in.

Does this make sence?

[TripleTransAm]

Sort of. The basic analogy is sound, but there are some small details to work in.

The battery is a continuous chemical reaction in a box (until it runs down, of course). The chemical reaction puts 13.6-ish volts between the two terminals, when you measure it with a large resistance meter like a voltmeter. Large resistance means it won't draw noticeable current as it measures voltage... if it did, it would affect the system and invalidate the measurements.

So in your analogy, the water pressure at a closed hose is the open-circuit voltage. (I said 'closed hose' because current isn't allowed to flow, since the circuit is open - voltmeters don't draw enough current to be considered a 'circuit').

The difference with respect to the water analogy comes when the battery is in a functional completed circuit. The voltage appeared between the terminals because the chemical reaction stuffed the necessary amount of electrons on one terminal (and an equivalent set of 'empty spaces' on the other). The chemical reaction will grind to a relative halt once the pre-engineered voltage is reached. Once these electrons start flowing, the chemical reaction has to speed up once again in order to keep replenishing the stock of electrons. For this reason, the voltage seen at the terminals will actually drop once current begins to be drawn, to about 12 volts.

So the best way to adapt the water analogy to this is to imagine the closed tank of water as the electron "reserve", with a pump maintaining a certain pressure. Once the gates are open and the water comes rushing out, the pump kicks in to maintain water in the tank but it has a maximum flow rate: the water level may not drop, but it won't be under the same pressure as it was when the tank was closed. Close up the tank again (ie. disconnect the circuit), and the pressure will shoot right back up to where it was before.

If eventually the chemicals are depleted, the ability of the battery to push electrons onto the terminal is reduced or ended, which is equivalent to the water pump above shutting down completely from running out of energy... the water level eventualls runs out, no more current flow - dead battery.

The effect of the alternator is to push water back into the tank, against the pressure of the pump. That means it's gotta be pushing at a pressure greater than what's pushing current OUT of the tank. How quickly the tank refills is a matter of how much more pressure you're applying in the reverse direction.

There's yet another battery behaviour that isn't covered by the water example, but we can try to make up an analogy anyway: if you push water too quickly back into the tank, you can risk heating it up too much and having it boil and evaporate inside the tank. If this happens, the pressure of the water vapor might keep water from being let into the tank... this is what happens when you charge a battery too quickly. In the battery case, gas will form at the electrodes and the electrolyte might be compromised, reducing the battery's capacity or lifespan.

This is what happens when you overcharge an old battery. You will hear lots of boiling sounds coming from within the battery. In extreme circumstances, the battery will actually balloon from the pressure (as my dad demonstrated to me sometime back in the early 80s when trying to rescue a battery that was WAY beyond its intended lifespan). I came close to doing this when charging up my 78's battery last winter.

So in the above scenarios, we can see how it's not good when an alternator goes wacko and starts charging things at 16 volts or more.

[DEFYANT]

Another post worthy of "stickyness". Thanks

[EbonyMarauder03]

A couple of questions to the guys and gals who have swapped to the true oil pressure gauge.

1) How many wires do the factory sender and the Auto Meter senders have?

2) Has anyone tried to make a jumper harness to see if they can get the factory gauge to work with the Auto Meter sender and save us the grief of gauge face swaps?

Thank

[RF Overlord]

1) How many wires do the factory sender and the Auto Meter senders have?One each. The difference is that the factory switch has a plug-in connector, while the AutoMeter sender has a nut-and-stud connection.
2) Has anyone tried to make a jumper harness to see if they can get the factory gauge to work with the Auto Meter sender and save us the grief of gauge face swaps?Yes, it's been tried, and no, it doesn't work. The gauge in the early '03s is ballasted to read only in that one small section of the scale, and when used with an actual sender will not read properly at all. Sometime later in '03, they changed the gauge unit and there is a resistor that can be removed to make the gauge read more or less correctly, but you still have to dismantle it to make the modification.

[sspmustang]

Can anyone provide details for Trans temp gauge # and install details? Thanks.

[Rider90]

Can anyone provide details for Trans temp gauge # and install details? Thanks.
I just bought this gauge:

http://dieselmanor.com/isspro/r6859r_ev_transtemp.asp

I like the white face and the backlighting. It says green in the desciption, looks more aqua, so I got green bulb covers too since they were a whopping $1.78. This gauge will be going on my steering column until I don't like it.

[DEFYANT]

Can anyone provide details for Trans temp gauge # and install details? Thanks.


I seached and foend this quick answer for you. Simple quick and easy:

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showpost.php?p=53236&postcount=2

Thank Logan for this one.

[EbonyMarauder03]

Thanks to Overlord for the quick answer. I guess I'll be doing the gauge thing this year along with some Addco front and rear bars from Dennis.

[schuvwj]

Now that you mentioned this, I have noticed today
that the gauge is not reading as high as it used to.
At idle it reads barely over Zero.
The highest it goes to now is just over 50.

I will check it again when its cold, and see what it does.
I know on a cold start, it almost goes to 100.

I'll let you know what I see.

Is this how yours went bad ??


When my Autometer oil guage goes below 50psi at 60mph I replace the sending unit. Once replaced the oil always pressure runs at 60-65psi at 60mph.

[Eric91Z]

When my Autometer oil guage goes below 50psi at 60mph I replace the sending unit. Once replaced the oil always pressure runs at 60-65psi at 60mph.

Are the sending unit and gauge the only parts that need to be replaced? Can you use the stock wiring that is running in there? And same thing with the Voltmeter - you can replace just the gauge and use the stock wiring?

Also, how hard is the sending unit to replace (for the oil pressure gauge)?

[GreekGod]

If you are over the age of 40 and definitely if you are over age 50, you need He-Man size 2 5/8" gauges. The position and 2 1/16" girly-man size of the MM's gauges are crap! I never even look at mine since they are so far below sight lines where we should be looking-the road ahead. Food for thought:




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I use it, it works, I like it and it can be velcro mounted. A little Over $100 and can be used in most '96 and up vehicles.

[Rider90]

My ScanGauge should be at my doorstep tomorrow :banana2:

[Eric91Z]

If you are over the age of 40 and definitely if you are over age 50, you need He-Man size 2 5/8" gauges. The position and 2 1/16" girly-man size of the MM's gauges are crap! I never even look at mine since they are so far below sight lines where we should be looking-the road ahead. Food for thought:


The 2 1/16" gauges down there are fine with me. Especially since they are not gauges that need to be viewed all the time. Also planning on putting a tranny temp gauge down there.

The A-Pillar pod will be reserved for the boost and fuel pressure gauges - as soon as they are needed.

[TripleTransAm]

Are the sending unit and gauge the only parts that need to be replaced? Can you use the stock wiring that is running in there? And same thing with the Voltmeter - you can replace just the gauge and use the stock wiring?

Also, how hard is the sending unit to replace (for the oil pressure gauge)?


Can't speak for the voltmeter, but the OP gauge 'can be' plug and play if you follow the instructions on how to adapt the wiring harness, otherwise you have to snip the factory wiring to connect it to the real gauge. Same for the sender versus the factory switch: there are instructions on this site somewhere detailing how to take a portion of a switch and adapt it to the autometer sender, allowing you to simply plug in the factory connector.

This is the route I took. I bought a second OP switch and factory gauge (in order to preserve my originals) and the real Autometer gauge and sender. I opened up the new factory gauge in order to remove the useless guts, and carefully transplanted the guts from the real OP gauge, but wired in the factory socket connector. Likewise, I removed the socket portion from the factory switch and adapted it to the Autometer sender, so I just had to remove the original switch from the engine and install the modified sender, and then reconnect the stock wiring.

This way, when it came time to transfer all this from MM#1 to MM#2, I just had to remove the sender, reinstall the original switch, and do the same with the gauge. No wiring to mess with.

Be prepared for a little bit of oil loss when you remove the factory switch.

[sspmustang]

I seached and foend this quick answer for you. Simple quick and easy:

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showpost.php?p=53236&postcount=2

Thank Logan for this one.
Great info, thanks!