Water temp gauge

[wetwilly8690]

I just bought a water temp gauge its on its way but people have been telling me different ways to hook it up what is the best way?

[Darius]

It is best if you put it in the coolant stream.

If you don't want to run your stock gauge, I'm sure you can swap the new sender in its place.

[wetwilly8690]

Well the stock gauge is really off and it works sometimes and doesnt other times thats the only gauge that really doesnt work

[Darius]

In that case, just put the new gauge sending unit in place of the original sending unit. If you don't already know, it is on the intake manifold casting right next to the oil fill cap. There are two sensors, one is for the ECU and the other is for the gauge cluster. Leave the one for the ECU alone.

[DriftX]

Fyi, ive tried faze and autometer, but there coolant temp sensor probes are about half inch too long for the stock temp sensor location.

[BoostFab]

sandwich it in the return hose.

Greddy Water Temp Radiator Hose Adapter

measure the size of your hose inside diameter and get the appropiate size: http://www.nipponpower.com/product.phtml?p=467

[240love]

i was gonna start a thread about this but now that he did it...well does anyone that is runing one of those sensors(like the greddy one) have pics of how they are running theirs on their rb...?

[Cpt_Impossible]

Do not run it in the return hose, that is a stupid idea. You want to know what temperature the coolant is leaving the engine, not after it has been cooled by the radiator.

http://www.nissport.com sells adapters as well. You just cut a chunk out of your upper hose and clamp the adapter in the middle, screw in the sensor probe and ground it. This works well on the 25 and 26, but on the 20, space is very limited on the upper hose. With the koyo radiator I only have about 2 cm between the water neck and the radiator inlet pipe so I had to find a plan B.

Plan B is to get a digital fan controller that monitors the ecu's temp sensor (2 wire). I have the HKS unit and love it. It is very accurate and I can controll the fans and a water sprayer from the cabin based on temps. It has peak/hold and warning but costs about $180.

If anyone wants, I have a Nissport adapter as well as a Cyberdyne digital water temp gauge (black with red) with the sender. Like I said, it wont fit in my setup but if you had a 20 with stock radiator or a 25 or 26 it should work great.

$50 shipped within the US. The gauge was installed so the wires are there but may not be full length.

[Cpt_Impossible]

Email me at [email protected] if anyone wants to take that off my hands.

[eh?]

Did you swap out the RB25 sensor and install the KA sensor? I usually drive with my laptop hooked to my ems and I find that if it did start to overheat (over 200F) the stock gauge moved accordingly and works well enough for me.

[wetwilly8690]

Like my gauge will start working once it gets so hot but only go to the 2nd notch and it over heating then

[bmadd2402]

how do you know it is overheating? is it boiling over? also the rb sensor will read correct, but the temp will actually be much higher. did you swap to the ka sensor? there are also other good options out there such as the hks fan controller, which works with the stock coolant temp sending unit and displays water temp as well as controlling efans.

[Cpt_Impossible]

zerothread?id=262601

[BoostFab]

Do not run it in the return hose, that is a stupid idea. You want to know what temperature the coolant is leaving the engine, not after it has been cooled by the radiator.

you are contradicting yourself here or confused with the wording used here! i said return line is what is coming out of the engine. return = returning to the radiator, it's pretty much understood in car terminology. or often called the lower hose, where the water come out of the engine, and gives the actual temperature of the water from the engine.

how do you know it is overheating?

the mormal engine operating temperature is around 170F-180F; Nismo thermostat get your temps to 160. off course if your temp goes 200+ then u know you have a cooling issue.
Modified by BoostsFed at 5:40 PM 10/23/2007

[Cpt_Impossible]

you are contradicting yourself here or confused with the wording used here! i said return line is what is coming out of the engine. return = returning to the radiator, it's pretty much understood in car terminology. or often called the lower hose, where the water come out of the engine, and gives the actual temperature of the water from the engine.

When people say return hose I think returning to the engine, maybe that is wrong.



As far as I know, our engines flow this same way. The lower (as you said to use) hose will give an inaccurate reading. That is why the factory senders are on the upper hose.

[DriftX]

Of course that fitting would work for the temp gauge, but have you ever tried to sandwich soemthing inbetween them? It's maybe 6 in long and impossible to put a T in there.

[Carl H]

i drill and tap manifolds when installing aftermarket temps sensors...gives the most accurate reading.

[BoostFab]

As far as I know, our engines flow this same way. The lower (as you said to use) hose will give an inaccurate reading. That is why the factory senders are on the upper hose.

yes [upper], typo error on my part; returning still means returning to the radiator (water source). i suggested to use the return hose [upper]; as i have in my setup.

[Carl H]

the lower hose is the return, nissan puts the thermostat on the lower hose...opposite of most domestic cars.water comes out of the upper neck and goes thru the rad into the lower, hence why the lower hose is cooler than the top even tho thats where there the thermostat is located.if you can weld a bung onto the metal pipe bit that the upper rad inlet connects to, do that as you wont have to buy an adaptor and it will be very accurate; we found that when the sensor is in an adaptor it reads about 5* cooler than when its in the intake manifold.

[BoostFab]

lol; we can't agree; i guess "return" is relative.

i suppose namely say upper and lower to get rid or any confusions for the guys here!

same thing apply to a turbo oil return line, it goes back to the source (oil pan); water returns to the radiator (source).

[Nick51]

are you getting a probe or?

i have my sensor probe snugged inbetween the manifold for right now, not the best reading but eventually i will tap it into the top hose

[Cpt_Impossible]

lol; we can't agree; i guess "return" is relative.

i suppose namely say upper and lower to get rid or any confusions for the guys here!

same thing apply to a turbo oil return line, it goes back to the source (oil pan); water returns to the radiator (source).

Yeah, in trying to prove you wrong, i started searching but found that some people say return is to the rad and some say to the engine, I guess it's just whatever way you think about it.

[BoostFab]

here's one example you can add the aftermarket water temp sensor