So I know have mechanical Oil Pressure and Temp gauges, the oil goes to 50PSI and stays there steadily as I am idling, the temp raises to 170 - 180 so I am guessing everything is fine and one of my OEM switches was faulty then? Going for a test drive! Cheers and thanks for all the help and tips as always! This forum is a life savior for my lil car
Test drive recap : -Oil Pressure, idle cold at 50PSI, idle hot at 40ish. At top of revs putting the foot down before automatic gears shift, gets to almost 60PSI. So basically 40 hot idle to 60 at max rev. -Coolant Temp, it's 87 degrees out today, engine was working at roughly 180 to 190, then I hit bad bumper to bumper traffic, got to 202F, would go back down to 190 as soon as getting some speed and not hot idling in traffic anymore. Parked 5 minutes for grocery shopping, came back gauge was at 245F, ignition on dropped it straight to 210, driving around dropped it in 3 minutes to 202F and a bit more driving right below 200. Open road temp 190 to 200, bumper to bumper 200 to 210. Thoughts? Thank you
That all sounds about normal and everything seems to be working fine. Difficult to say if OEM sensors are bad, but now that you have proper mechanical gauges, I would not worry about the Engine light, can always remove the bulb to it so not on all the time. Nice having proper gauges eh? What brand did you use and where did you mount them, under dash? Do you have a coolant overflow/recovery bottle? David
Having proper mechanical gauges is actually really coo, this way I know what's up for sure, but my OCD / paranoia is also on point now hahaha I installed them below the dashboard, the previous owner already made some holes as there's an after market switch for a heat vent to defog the rear window (not very efficient) so I just clustered them around it. The engine light is now off as not attached to anything. I have an overflow tube but no recovery bottle. Now on to get a shorter power steering belt as mine, even with the pump prompted all the way back is still not tensed enough... It's a never ending job taking care of those beauties haha Thanks again for the help! Oh one last question, at what temperature does it start to be too high and I should stop and look into it?
"I have an overflow tube but no recovery bottle. " You may want to look into installing an overflow/recovery bottle, can actually make cooling more efficient as it becomes a "closed system", radiator remains full, no air pocket, any overflow goes into bottle and not on ground, as engine cools, fluid returns to radiator.........plenty of inexpensive ones on the market or can even get one of those nice polished aluminum or stainless steel tanks! Enjoy your Labor Day longweekend! David
Temp usually rises 20*-40* when engine is shut down, 230* within two three minutes isn't unusual. Should fall back to normal within a minute or so after restart.
