Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

I have a apexi 'temp' gauge and im deciding weather water temp or oil temp one would be more useful to monitor in an rb20det. As i havn't got either a radiator hose adapter nor a oil filter plate yet.

Obviously the water temp gauge which comes stock on cars is not extremely accurate, cant really say that its very useful.

As far as my little knowledge goes, a factory thermo stat keeps water temps stable so it shouldnt change much after its reached a certain temp while the oil temps can fluctuate quite a bit depending the the way the motor is being driven. So by saying this, i would be leaning more towards monitoring oil temps?

what do u guys think?

i use my car for mainly street/daily driven purposes with the occasional squirt down the hwy/fwy

ive tried searching on forums and google for 'oil vs water temp' but no luck :S

Thanks in advance,

Tuyen

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/121590-oil-vs-water-temp-gauge/
Share on other sites

Cant think of the last time I saw any car broken down on the side of the road from too high oil temp!

Seen plenty from too high water temp though.

Both important but I would go water.

Although I do have an external fan assisted OIL cooler :(

lol i like to note i dont have an external oil cooler apart from the 'fins' on the oil sump which i think hardly makes a difference if they were there or not haha

also another question, i would think an oil pressure gauge would probably be most preferred out of the two other formentioned gauges, as it would show if there is a leak or motor is dying in the ass while u are at high rpm, but realistically u would kinda be able to tell when ur motor is in trouble from noises or whatever right?

I cant disagree with the OIL Pressure Gauge considering my RB20DET AWD is being rebuilt as we type from lack of oil pressure!

The countersunk screws on the back of the oil pump come out causing oil pressure loss but I ignored the symptom because of the common R32 issue of the gauge reading from near zero to full scale regularly and I thought it was a faulty sender.

Expensive mistake!

I had oil temp, oil pressure, and water temp via the pfc hand controller.

From studying it at various times, i found oil and water temps seemed to follow each other. If the water got hot, the oil temp followed.

Oil pressure was a real good one to have, because if temps were ok, but no pressure....bye bye engine.

I had oil temp, oil pressure, and water temp via the pfc hand controller.

From studying it at various times, i found oil and water temps seemed to follow each other. If the water got hot, the oil temp followed.

Oil pressure was a real good one to have, because if temps were ok, but no pressure....bye bye engine.

how did you get that? sr20 pfc only has water temp

---

anyway, as far as gauges go. I'd be going oil temp, water temp, oil pressure, boost. and it's not just rice factor. It pays to keep an eye on things, because the stock gauges aren't too great. If you're gonna get oil temp or oil pressure, you may as well get both because they will connect to the same fitting (usually sandwich plate on oil filter)

Though i do find it amusing when you see the old riced up non-turbo lancer with like battery voltage, monster tach and shift light...

Oil temp, since you already have a water temp gauge....the only thing that really matters in water temp is no temp (ie probably lost all coolant) or really hot (ie stop, quick!) the readings in between aren't so important they are controlled by the thermostat in a healthy coolant system.

On the other hand there is a world of difference between 110o and 130o oil temp, the engine may still be running at 130, but not for long.......

*edit* BTW does the PFC actually show oil temp? the standard ECU doesn't which means its not on the ECU loom....so where does PFC get it from? water temp does go to the ECU for cold/warm engine maps

i would use oil temp as you when you have oil temp & water temp you realise the oil takes longer to warm up on first start of the day, so you are probably giving your car boost when oil temp is not up to scratch, so is missing parts of engine. Either way i have Oil temp, Oil pressure, Fuel pressure, water temp, boost and soon getting EGT & wideband. When i know it is running sweet i can start tuning it.

Thanks John

if all of that or part of that is bo**ox then let me know as that is my perspective.

thanks for the input guys.. yeh i was under the same impression John >_<

i guess i could choose to use it as an oil temp gauge as since oil takes longer to heat up, i can monitor when its up to normal temp and then be able to start giving it some boost in the morning or when cold.

or i could use it as water temp, as a change in water temp is ment to be more important/crucial in terms of actual monitoring engine health (ie. leak or whatever).

since car wont be track car.. oil temps will never rise to crazy temps but would be good to know when engine warm enough to start thrashing, while water temp would be useful to know when theres a leak ? but then whats the chances of water leaking ?

yeh i also have boost and exhaust temp gauges. lookin for an oil pressure gauge as i know they are most useful :)

Oil temp, since you already have a water temp gauge....the only thing that really matters in water temp is no temp (ie probably lost all coolant) or really hot (ie stop, quick!) the readings in between aren't so important they are controlled by the thermostat in a healthy coolant system.

On the other hand there is a world of difference between 110o and 130o oil temp, the engine may still be running at 130, but not for long.......

*edit* BTW does the PFC actually show oil temp? the standard ECU doesn't which means its not on the ECU loom....so where does PFC get it from? water temp does go to the ECU for cold/warm engine maps

power fc only shows water temp

i disagree with what you say on water temp. It's very useful because it tells you when to take a break (or when you need to upgrade radiators). The stock gauge won't distinguish between 80deg and 100deg, usually 100deg+ is when you want to take a break. You don't want to have to wait until the stock temp gauge reads H because it's usually too late when you get to that stage.

mind you, last time i was at winton, it must have been 30deg, and stock r32 gtst radiator held up great. (91deg was highest all day, though i was cheating and had the heater going)

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • I suppose that's true. Barring almost any situation, I'll never sell so what the market does is kind of irrelevant to me. It's possible I'd make most of my money back. That spreadsheet I mentioned? Maybe I could make back more than what the car's total costs thus far are, but the parts and all that is possibly a different story... Thanks for reading. It was certainly a good moment and just makes the ties to the car that much stronger. It's exciting that the option will be there to bring it over, however I have some plans with a shop that may end up keeping the car there longer, not sure. Coupled with the fact I want to move there and haven't solidified any path yet. So in a way, it feels like I'm in a limbo state that is uncertain; time will tell.
    • No worries, everything worked out in the end. I just wanted to make the point that it doesn't matter where it comes from (I.E Australia), it can be broken or improperly built. I would still purchase from these companies in the future. B2R - Not certain how that finished, this was on a car I wired a few things and street tuned. I know the owner ended up shipping the motor back to Australia for investigation. Hopefully some of it is covered under warranty.  Turbosmart - I always pressure test everything that goes on my car. It's a habit from my career in oil and gas. I run two 40mm's and both had major leaks from the actuator to exhaust portion through the shaft. I returned both, they shipped me back two and one was leaking and the other had a 38mm top (40mm gate with 38mm actuator cap, no idea how that happens). Eventually after a lot of back and forth I found myself with two non-leaking gates. I believe this happens a lot more then people would like to believe but you would never know if you don't pressure test them prior to installation. Crank Motorsport - Issued a full refund and let me keep the seat rails. I turned them into scrap metal for other projects. GKTech - Shipped me out a replacement and asked that I modify it as per my idea and that they would do the same for a future revision. ATP - Can just needed a large shim to bolt up properly.  Haltech - They started an actual proper Beta channel for firmware's a few months back and stopped using the general public for testing. I'm now much happier.  Speedtek - f**k Speedtek. I would love to watch them burn.     
    • I've got a Turbosmart wastegate, ATP catch can, many GK Tech parts and Haltech everything. Everything's been perfect, sorry to hear your experience wasn't the same
    • The only high-power RB I've personally seen go pop after running for all of an hour on a dyno was built by B2R, while being remotely tuned by B2R. The only wastegates I've ever had leak like a sieve, return, still leak, return and get shipped back the wrong ones were from Turbosmart. The only final drive that I've ever purchased that were unusable, twice... were from Speedtek. The only seat mounts that I've ever purchased that placed the seats in the door frame were from Crank Motorsport. The only poorly designed parts that I had the manufacturer confirm should have been designed as per what I mentioned were from GKTech. The only ECU I've had firmware updates consistently break things are Haltech. The only catch can I've purchased that didn't fit in its advertised spot was from ATP. So forth and so on... Moral of the story, doesn't matter where it's from. Do your research beforehand and stick with products and companies you've trusted in the past.    @joshuaho96 If you want it done right, do it yourself.
    • Something coarse-ish. 180 is good.
×
×
  • Create New...