oil pressure gauge install DONE!
 

Parts are gathering, now in the planning stage. The functional wiring of the gauge is pretty simple obviously, short of getting the wire ran from the sender up. Not worried about that. The question is, did any of you run a switched hot for the gauge light? Did you pull it from any particular wire? With all the immobilizer stuff, and being somewhat worried about tapping into the wrong wire for some reason, just wondered what you guys did. Seems like a real B!tch to get to the wiring cluster! Thanks!

there's a spare connector in behind the lower cubbies for a cell phone - you can get switched power off of it.

Mine has the climate controls in the lower portion just above the batwing. The cubby block is just above. Is it difficult to find or is it pretty obvious? I thought about running a wire across from the fuse cluster so that it is switched on with the actual headlights...

Alternately, you can tap into the light for the console ashtray, which is what I did.

I ran a wire along the underside of the dash using a fusetap from the fuse panel.
Can't remember what fuse but I think it was A9 or C7.

Oh, that might just be the ticket! Forgot about that little light. I don't particularly care if it dims or not. Still not sure where I am going to put this thing. Not a single flat surface anywhere in the dash... and I'm not yet ready to give up my center cubby. It is probably going to wind up under somewhere.


Also, what do you guys think of this oil temp setup, running it off the bung on the other side? Think the sender might be too deep?

Oil Temperature Gauge & Sensor Set - Engine - Transmission - 1/8-27 NPTF By Patrick Motorsports Porsche & Mid Engine Performance Specialists

This is the oil temp sensor I used in that port:

https://www.vdo-gauges.com/sensors/temperature-sensors-switch/temperature-sensor-only/temperature-sender-300-deg-f-150-deg-c-m14x1-5.html

Cool! Much, much better!

Installed!
 

Got the oil pressure gauge installed today. Went with a 996 sender and VDO gauge. The mount is from Autometer. Location actually works quite well. Hot oil pressure at idle sits just above 1 bar.

Overall, not a bad job, but a little fiddly here and there. Ran the sender wire down through the shift cable boot and up through the center console. Pulled hot and ground from the extra acc lead behind console. Pulled light from the center console light. Most of the time spent was wiring and getting everything to look tight. :cheers:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1521245967.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1521245980.jpg

Looks good! I'm too tall, I think my leg would hit it...

I never did the light since I don’t track at night. If I’m driving on the highway at night I don’t really worry about oil temp and pressure.

Believe me, I almost didn’t do it. But everything was apart and I was there... so went ahead and did it.

I just did this also and wanted them up on top of the dash for easy vision while tracking. Used a mustang gauge pod, lightly modified. Pretty pleased with the result

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1522674373.jpg

Nice! Did you have to take the dash out to get them to mount up/run wires?

I'm most impressed with how he did the job hovering at a 90 degree angle? A DYI would be awesome! ;)

my anti gravity skills are legendary.

In actuality, if you've ever done any car wiring work, this is straightforward.

If you remove the cover of your sun sensor front and center of the dash, you'll see a hole for the wiring harness.

Remove your radio and hvac system, get your hand back there, and start feeding the wire up from behind the lower console.

Then starting from the top of the dash, drop a feed wire down until you see it by the center hvac vent. tape your sender wires to that feed wire and pull it back out of the dash.

From there you can do the same for power and grounds. Then just wire up.

I attached to dash with heavy duty velcro and a few spots of butyl just to keep it from vibrating.

Nice job. Did you find that it impedes your vision/ distraction at all on the track?

This is a cool solution I just might try. There is a single version as well:

https://www.autometer.com/2-1-16-dual-steering-column-boxster-97-01-911-99-01.html

My first track day with this setup is tomorrow, so I'll let you know. I moved it towards me on the dash (which slopes downwards) to improve visibility and went with black gauges to reduce distraction. I believe they will be more at-a-glance then a distraction, but will follow up after some time at lime rock.

So gauges were not a distraction at all and line of sight was fine. It was cold out so oil temp only got to 235. Pressure seemed consistently low, but the gauge seems to move kinda slow so it was hard to tell. Any other vdo guys have this issue?

No, not at all. My VDO oil pressure gauge's needle swings with rpm changes quite readily, seemingly as it should. In fact, you could use mine as a crude sort of tach.

The gauge needle will obviously respond as directed by the sending unit. What sender are you using?

vdo 360-028

Huh. That's the same sending unit that I have used on several different cars, and it is the correct 0-80 psi sending unit which matches the gauge. So no clues there.

Upon a cold start, my idle pressure's pretty high, as one would expect. Once warmed and at idle, the pressure is corresponding low, again as one would anticipate. And when running thru the gears, the needle swings left to right as a function of rpm, just like you'd think it oughta do.

So I guess that I am out of possible answers now!

Thanks - DM

running 5w50 i see about 70lbs of cold oil pressure at idle, dropping down to about 10-12psi hot idle. While the gauge does swing as you get on it, its not as instant as one would expect, making it hard to check, especially while tracking. Where did you run your ground? Perhaps I need to upgrade my ground location

Same setup for me too. I run M1 15W50 and see 80+ psi cold, 15-17 psi after a session (hot ~ 220F). I have tons of live data on this on my youtube videos. From 3,000 RPM up to 7,000 when oil is hot, pressure hovers around 40-45 psi. Oil pressure gauge definitely moves instantaneously. My oil temp location is on the bank 2 valve cover rear.

All my wiring and gauge connections are behind where my cup holder was and I used the console metal frame for a good ground. Works fine for me. Your oil temps seem slightly high considering it was cold. I will see maybe 225F with 85-90F air temps, but I do have a 2 qt Accusump.



http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1523035910.jpg

I think i grounded mine under one of the bolts that was under where the front of the shifter is. I think... I may have grounded it to the ground wire of the phone plug, which is where I got my wire... I can't remember :(

My vdo gauge (I have the VDO 350-104) with that same sender and I run 10W50 oil.

Here are the things I have observed:

• At cold - the gauge goes to around 70 (essentially pegged) regardless of RPM
• At normal highway driving, oil around 190-200F it is around 55-60 and stays up there as long as I have some revs up. At idle it drops to around 20 (ok let me find some of my videos to verify, when I was running other oils, the oil would go lower than 20 at hot track level idle)
• On track, if I got up to around 235F oil temperature, it would max out around 45'ish PSI. Note that the oil pressure read at this location is around 10 PSI lower than the oil pressure at the crank and down near the oi pump (See AZ986S video where he displays two oil pressures - the one read from this spot and the one read on his accusump). The hotter the oil, the lower max PSI readings I have observed.
• The oi pressure does respond to RPM, but it is like if the needle were in some molasses. Easiest to see whe the oil is around 190-200F (normal driving). Go to idle, the oil pressure falls down shortly after. Rev it up, the oil pressure will rev up, again slightly delaying.

Here are a few laps from Sebring about a year ago, at the beginning of the video the oil temp is 205'ish and by the end, the oil pressure is getting close to 240F

First lap in video:
End of front straight:
RPM: 6250'ish
Oil temp:205'ish
Oil pressure:50

Going down the back straight, 2:21 into video
RPM: 6250'ish
Oil temp: has now climbed to 220F
Oil pressure: 45'ish

2nd and last lap in the video
End of front straight: 2:55 in video
RPM: 6500'ish
Oil temp: 225'ish
Oil pressure: 42.5'ish (1/4 of way between 40 and 50)

Back straight 5:10 in video
RPM: 6000
Oil temp: Almost up to 240F
Oil pressure: 40

This was on 5W40 - it is better on 10W50 for me, but it is still the nature of the beast with these engines...

How does this compare to how your oil pressure gauge was reading?

https://youtu.be/0Od4GJDpvDc

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0Od4GJDpvDc" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here's another Sebring, Nov 2017, with the gauges visible - you have to maximize the video in HD and squint, but it is there :) This is with 10W50 and it is a "little" better... These laps around around 6-7 seconds faster than the other ones from above :)

https://youtu.be/4DTCPJizquo

hmm. From those videos, my gauge definitely feels like its moving more slowly. If I run it up to rpm quickly in a lower gear, it takes a bit for it to catch up, and that doesn't seem to be the case for you guys.

I followed the instructions to a T (16 gauge wire to sender, 14g ground) and a fused power source. The only thing I didn't do is use a dedicated ground, so I'll have to check on that.

I have oil temp on the drivers side, oil pressure on the passengers as I'd assume you guys do also.

My car has always run hot and I'm not sure why, but its also a base car with a 3.2, so maybe a bit less cooling capacity.

Can someone postulate as to what the unmarked lines on the gauges indicate. The one after 200 seems like 210 to me (what my car runs on the street), then 240?

From measuring with my durametric:
The two that are to the left of the 200F are 170F and 190F. I was expecting a linear progression from the 120F mark to the left past the two evenly spaced ticks on the way to 200F, but they measured out as 170 and 190, then verified with 200 when I got to that level.

I have been treating the two on the right as 220F and 240F but when I was street driving with the durametric the time I did the calibrations I never got it hot enough to verify anything over 200F. And the two ticks to the left of 200F are not linear, so who knows :)

But if you look at this other VDO gauge that runs off the same sender (and this is an interesting thread as well)

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum/827720-oil-temp-gauge-using-the-built-in-oil-temp-sensor.html

https://www.vdo-gauges.com/instruments-displays-and-clusters/by-series/cockpit/cockpit-300-deg-f-oil-temperature-gauge-use-with-vdo-sender.html

The 180 and 220 marks on this cockpit gauge seem to match our VDO Vision Black gauges:
The 180 seems to split the two lines that I marked as 170 and 190 -Edit: i just figured out to overlay the graphics, the 180F lines up with the 2nd line that I was calling 190F.
The 220 seems to line right up on the line I am calling 220

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1523041922.jpg

I have never gotten to the 220F on the street, the only time I get over 200F on regular street driving is if I get jammed up in traffic and not getting good airflow. On the highway it is 200F and below.

I also have a 180F low temp thermostat.

What sender are you using? I grounded mine at the ground in the auxiliary plug. I just tapped power and ground into that plug. It would be VERY cool to be able to find the male side of that particular plug and make a custom harness.

I used the 996 sender. My gauge operates similarly to the others, almost like a tach. If you used the 996 sender, is it possible you swapped the leads? Not sure if that would make a difference or not, but maybe?

using a 2 pole vdo sender, same as most everyone. The other pole is an on/off switch, so I don't think thats possible.

I'll take a short video over the weekend.

I don't see how it could make a difference, but they specifically call that out in the instructions for the gauges if I recall. Might be worth a try...

That would be very cool! :cheers:

He's got the VDO sender that is the non-porsche branded version of the (presumably) same part. If the leads were swapped (and I think the blades might even be two different sizes) it would not work at all, the one is simply a low pressure switch that (presumably) completes a circuit to ground when the pressure drops below a certain level.