Thread: What gauges and why

On what motor/gearbox etc. are you referring to.

Td5 defender on standard gearbox

Fuel gauge.
Chances are, on any english car, if it does work, what it displays is fanciful.
And a voltmeter. It tells a lot about the battery and alternator.

Three typical gauges are coolant temp, oil pressure and charging current, often came in a three gauge bezel. I still have my Smith gauges in that configuration.

With a Td5 you can get a OBD bus based system that can use the vehicles inbuilt sensors or have a look at Madman they have a gauge that can measure a couple sensors.

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

And a voltmeter. It tells a lot about the battery and alternator.

+1 on the Voltmeter. Endlessly useful.

I also have a boost gauge, which can be useful at times but most of the time isn't.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8kY7cndY-w"]Land Rover Defender Dash Console Upgrade - YouTube[/ame]

VDO temp, tacho and oil pressure gauge.
If I did it again wouldn't bother about the pressure gauge.. the scale is too big (0-100) to show any real difference so the needle just hovers around the 5-20psi most of the time.

Boost came with vehicle so kept it.

Engine watchdog is excellent. Acts as a second temp gauge just to be safe.

EGT very useful when climbing hills so I keep the temps below 700degress to avoid overheating the head and melting bits. I think 720 degress is the recommended max temp for my 200tdi at least.

A dual volt meter for measuring both batteries. (not shown in video).
Would also add a low coolant temp alarm if I had some spare cash.

I fitted a boost gauge and found no value in having it at all. When I get around to it I am replacing it with a EGT gauge.

I would like oil pressure gauges in my One Tens. My Series has one, and I reckon it'd react faster to failure than the oil warning light in the newer vehicles.
A combined oil pressure/engine temp gauge would be perfect, just like the Series
Though as Bushman83 says, you have to get a scale that is appropriate to the engine.