Mechanical or electrical oil gauge?

[Florida240sx]

Which one is better?Read up some about how to install.Was reading a write-up on the mechanical and people were saying that the fittign may break off from weight of the hose...Someone lead me in the correct direction on which to get.

[nismofly]

ive heard you should get all electric gauges because theyre much more accurate than mechanical gauges

[nissanfanatic]

I wouldn't say that Electrical are more accurate than mechanical. But different brands are better than others.

I would do electrical oil pressure gauge tho so you don't have oil running into the cabin of the car. That and they are easier to mount plus usually aren't much more than mechanical. And if you ever plan on getting a fuel pressure gauge and having it "in car", you have to get an electrical.

[Jookmasta]

i personally run a mechanical oil pressure gauge and i must say that in the end, the electric gauge will be cheaper and it WONT leak on ya. the mechanical gauge runs about forty five (autometer that is) but it requires a nice SS line unless u go with the nylon which could melt with the turbo underhood heat. Now my SS line ran me fifty bux by itself due to it being 10 ft long. so tha added costs will deter u. so to the leak thing. i had to recently re-teflon tape the hose to the fitting on the back of the oil pressure gauge cuz i use to get a little oil running down the side of my door. now when i say little, its like a drop or two every week but that gets annoying real quick. the pros of the mechanical gauge is the increments it has on it and the fact that it is real time as supposed to a sensor, the cons are as what i previously stated: costs, and chance of leak.

[Florida240sx]

Looks Like I'm going to go with Electrical.Know anywhere that has a write-up on how to do or a recommended gauge? Looking for autometer...unless steered away

[Checkered-Member]

Most important: Vacuum/Boost and Oil PressureLess important: EGT, Oil Temperature and Air Intake TemperatureNot important: Volts, Narrow Band Air fuel Ratio, water temp

[Florida240sx]

http://www.sportcompactonly.co...#appsWhat about the one that goes from 0-100psi?

[Checkered-Member]

http://www.sportcompactonly.co...#appsWhat about the one that goes from 0-100psi?

Thats the one I have, expect mine looks different

[DRIFTEADOR]

i'd say oil is not as important only because you don't pay enough attention to it. whats the chance you'll be looking at it when something does happen? i've had one before and it just so happened that I spilled all my oil on the freeway. the pressure dropped in a matter of seconds. I noticed the dash light before i had a chance to look at the gauge. an adjustable warning light would be better

and i like having a a/f "discolight". I wouldn't use it for tuning of course but it tells me when the ecu switches to open/closed loop operation. saves me a few bucks on gas when i'm broke

my other choice would be egt.

[Fenvy]

this is defi din gauge: oil pressure, oil temp, water temp. It is too bad that some of these don't work for others. But think of it as insurance, it might just save you.

if you are having a turbo setup, all 3 are important to you. Boost gauge is over rated, if you have an eletronic boost controller, you don't need it as the display will also display the amoutn of boost. my blitz sbc-id can display the level of boost in kpa, bar, psi reading in numerical or graph system, sure beats any gauge.

As for the delay for the eletrical sensors, it's almost non-existant, you won't notice it.

if anything, EGT is the most useless. As you know, at different rpm, your engine may run leaner or richer. It only takes a few seconds to rev to redline and back down again. The EGT gauge have to read the temp for exhaust which doens't change quick enough for such a quick rev. In thoery, EGT works but only if the throttle is the same rpm/throttle is maintained for a little while. Let's not also forget that it uses temp to work properly. My question is 1) so, how do you know at what temp is lean and what temp is rich? in addition 2) what about weather factor? are you going factor in the outside temp on a scorching day and on a raining day? IMO: egt is the most uselesss and a waste of money

[Florida240sx]

I need boost gauge because I'll have an MBC.

[Fenvy]

my sbc-id was 380$ brand new

a mbc will run maybe 100$? I Dont knowa decent greddy eletrical boost gauge will cost alittle over 100$

for 200$ I think you can get lesser boost controller already. BTW, I am sure you dont want to live with the boost spikes. Someone, just the other day, stated that mbc is unable to hold anything beyond 12psi properly

[Florida240sx]

Know what MBC it was?Couple people I know have been running for a while at 16+PSI with the Joe P MBC and Hallman ES MBC which is one of the two I would be using. $50 for either.

[Fenvy]

I have no idea, but yeah, why dont you do some more research about mbc? maybe I'm wrong or maybe you'll discover something bad

[Florida240sx]

Well with the Joe P and ES modelof hallman if you don't tighten it correctly your screwed.The one member on here I talked to hd that problem because he didn't tighten it all the way once he had is set.He got replacement part and tightened correctly and has been god for a year now not one problem.

[DRIFTEADOR]

this is defi din gauge: oil pressure, oil temp, water temp. It is too bad that some of these don't work for others. But think of it as insurance, it might just save you.

if you are having a turbo setup, all 3 are important to you. Boost gauge is over rated, if you have an eletronic boost controller, you don't need it as the display will also display the amoutn of boost. my blitz sbc-id can display the level of boost in kpa, bar, psi reading in numerical or graph system, sure beats any gauge.

As for the delay for the eletrical sensors, it's almost non-existant, you won't notice it.

if anything, EGT is the most useless. As you know, at different rpm, your engine may run leaner or richer. It only takes a few seconds to rev to redline and back down again. The EGT gauge have to read the temp for exhaust which doens't change quick enough for such a quick rev. In thoery, EGT works but only if the throttle is the same rpm/throttle is maintained for a little while. Let's not also forget that it uses temp to work properly. My question is 1) so, how do you know at what temp is lean and what temp is rich? in addition 2) what about weather factor? are you going factor in the outside temp on a scorching day and on a raining day? IMO: egt is the most uselesss and a waste of money

i can see oil+water temp being beneficial as they both move slowly giving you time to react and also cause they move when expected. on a hard run for example, if temp goes beyond normal you let off. but oil press doesn't. you wont see it coming if pressure drops and you won't have time to react before the dummy light comes on. so why even have it. btw, i dont think your placement is optimal.

imo, a needle is easier to read than a number when you're trying to keep your eyes on the road

egt is installed a few inches from the exhaust port so weather wont have a big effect on its reading. and you want it because if your motor is running hotter than normal, whether it's because you're leaning out or because like you said, it's hot outside and you've been beating on it (the car of course ) it'll let you know to let off before you melt a piston.

[Fenvy]

well, in defense of oil pressure, sure, in the even of a complete death of a oil pump or something blew up and result in 0 pressure, a oil pressure gauge would be useless.

But what if you have a dying oil pump? you can see the pressure lower than usually, it's not completely dead but enough to make you be wary and probbaly do something about. What if you are burning oil? leaking oil? the abnormal reading will reflect.

As for EGT gauge: Let's pretend your car is not tuned. You got EGT gauge and you think you're protected. In truth, your car runs a little rich or normal at low rpm but at high rpm it runs lean (correction, I said rich earlier). Now let's pretend you run a 1/4 mile. The amount of time your motor sees high rpm is maybe around 8 seconds. Is the EGT gauge going to reflect a reading of normal temp (normal a/f) to high temp (lean a/f) and back down to normal (normal a/f) that quickly? In addition, when the temperature rise.... is it indicating lean a/f? or you're beating on the motor? or both? how do you differenciate?

xs engineering is not selling wideband, so they probably don;'t have a hidden motive behind this statement: Quote »Q:

CAN I USE AN EGT METER TO DETERMINE IF I’M RUNNING RICH OR LEAN?A: Although an EGT’s reading may give you an indication of richness or leanness, it is, by nature, a slow-responding device and should not be used as the main air/fuel ratio-metering device. Accurate air/fuel ratio monitoring devices that are reliable start from $1200.00 on up. Any other air/fuel ratio meter should NOT be relied upon.[/quote]
Modified by Loveless at 7:50 PM 6/20/2005

[Florida240sx]

Reason for my oil pressure is to see if pump is dieing and perhaps I'll happen to be watching if it drop and able to kill engine.EGT will help you tune but money may be better spent elsewhere.Although If you are taking a long road trip will be able to make sure everything is normal.

[Fenvy]

Reason for my oil pressure is to see if pump is dieing and perhaps I'll happen to be watching if it drop and able to kill engine.EGT will help you tune but money may be better spent elsewhere.Although If you are taking a long road trip will be able to make sure everything is normal.

taking a trip? expect to be stuck in traffic

anyways, this topic has been covered many times before. I Asked the same exact question about 1/2 year ago and finally came to this conclusion. Do a search to listen to others opinion.

[DRIFTEADOR]

for me it was a punctured line to the turbo from bad wg dump placement I have a pretty cool video that my friend shot when it happened...smoke everywhere. i see your point though. i guess in my case I never found it useful so i wont have another gauge cluttering my view.

and i never said anything about tuning. egt gauge measures egt, not afr or timing directly. if your tune is ****ty, the gauge will give false readings, true, but the same goes for others (like o2) and that doesn't make them useless. although, if you already know that either fuel or timing is in check, it can help with tuning the other.

as far as response time, i dont know what kinda crazy power you're making but for me, a 1/4mile run lasts a bit longer than 8 seconds with most all except the launch being high rpm . anyways, at the top of 4th, even 3rd gear, rpm shouldn't move so quick that you can't catch a good reading. that along with common sense (for example that a substantial dip of fuel or timing between a given rpm window will obviously make the gauge fluctuate) makes it a good monitoring tool, and at least decent tuning tool. Peronally, I wouldn't tune with anything i couldnt datalog, it's virtually impossible to glance at a gauge, then another, then another, then rpm and time simulaniously, but i've known of people who do it that way.

oh and xs engineering's info is way outdated, wb controllers/sensors have been a lot cheaper than $1200 for some time. down to $199 now