Having a difficult time with these GlowShift Gauges people. I bought a water temp gauge which has three installation choices. Website suggests everything is in the box but I obviously did not read carefully enough.

1) replace existing temp sensor (which would render my dash temp gauge useless amongst possible other problems).
2) use their (additional part) adapter or make my own to piggyback the original sensor with theirs (arguably not accurate as in the opinion of my guy here it would not be consistently fully submersed in fluid so readings might be inaccurate).
3) cut my upper radiator hose and insert adapter (now seemingly the best solution).

Now after multiple inquiries with first no reply and then an offer of 10% off my next purchase (ha ha ha ha ha!) they are asking me for the inner diameter of the upper rad hose. Can I just take it off and measure, or is my coolant going to spill out? Surely I'll be trying to get the bubbles out for the next two weeks. I've refilled it several times this past 6 months and I have my 50/50 with WW just where I want it.

Or, anyone have a hose out and available that can do an inner diameter measurement for me?

Thanks!

 

If you pull the hose it will definitely spill some fluid. Maybe Eric could measure his for you since he is doing an engine rebuild currently and his must be apart.

 

Looks like 1-3/8 ID at the radiator end. Good luck.

 

IMHO inserting into upper hose also introduces error. If thermostat has the bleed hole, some coolant will pass all the time. If no bleed hole, there will be times of no flow, and temp in engine is higher. Another possibility is drill and tap intake. With stat out you can feel the bottom of the temp sensor.

 

Another possibility is drill and tap intake.

Any particular spot seem better than another?

What about returning it for a refund and buy a UltraGuage and monitor several functions?

 

I like the Ultra Gauge idea, except for oil pressure.

However, how about hook glowshift to existing gauge sensor? Dash gauge would read zero, but could be brought back to service by plugging wire back in.

From RAVE:

The Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor (X114) has
approximately 136 ohms resistance when the coolant
temperature is low. As coolant temperature
increases, the resistance of the sensor decreases.
This varying resistance causes the current through
the sensor to change and the gauge to register the
temperature. When the coolant is hot, the resistance

of the sensor is approximately 17 ohms.

Don't know what values are for glow shift sensor.

 

it really depends on what the resistance value that the glowshift gauge is looking for. Most temp sensors are of the NTC (Negative Temperature Coefficient) variety meaning that as the coolant temp increases the resistance value of the sensor goes down. You need to figure out if the glowshift gauge is an NTC or PTC variety. If its an NTC then it would work as long as the ohm range is close to what the stock rover (gm?) type..

I'd use something standard such as a VDO or an Autometer gauge as the senders are easy to get and the resistance curves for the senders are usually published.

 

From the sounds of it he has a mechanical temp gauge, which has its own temp probe that needs to be immersed in coolant to work.
So if he unscrews the OEM temp sensor and screws in the temp probe that will render his dash gauge useless.
Now just so we are clear, the temp sensor ontop of the intake manifold is for the ECU NOT the dash, the one for the dash is behind the alternator.
The best and most accurate placement for a mechanical temp gauge would be in the intake manifold in the runner behind the ECU temp sensor.
That does require drilling a hole and then tapping in threads and you might want to figure out a way to collect all of the metal shavings from drilling so they dont float around and tear up your water pump bearings or clog your heater core.
The easiest idea would be to install the new temp probe into the dash sensor hole and then glue the dash needle to the 9o'clock position.

 

For oil pressure, they sell a sandwhich adapter plate that goes between the oil filter and the engine block.

 

Now, I'm torn about this but hey I think this is very valuable information for us and others. Why spend the money and put a gauge in that isn't accurate. We already have an inaccurate gauge that came with the truck and I don't care about flashing lights and fancy instruments.

The reason I bought it in the first place is because I (we) have a need to measure our temps accurately. And in my truck I felt I had even more of a need because of the cooling problems I have had.

I agree with Savannah in that both the tapping into the hose and piggybacking off the sensor might yield inaccurate results.

Unplugging and rendering any other system useless is very inelegant. Although I could rig up a sound meter in place of the dash gauge to insure I don't go deaf from the lack of soundproofing in my truck and my Severe Duty fan.

Spike I think you nailed it. As inelegant as the solution appears, it'll probably be the most accurate method for measuring my temps.

I raised the inaccuracy of the piggyback method to the company but they decided not to answer that part of my email. I'm going to raise it once more and see if they can provide me with a solution.

I like the mechanical gauge more than the Ultragauge philosophy whether or not it's reasonable. Maybe for the same reason I choose to drive a 16 year old truck over getting locked into one of those newfangled machines.

But just to clarify, the Ultragauge supports my '96 D1. I'm not up on that OBD stuff yet.

Let's see what they say.

Thanks as always.