oil temperature gauge

DarkHor$e said:

Change the center PP dual gauge module to a GT350 one. 2nd gauge is oil temp instead of useless vacuum. Plug and play, no programming or mods required. Gauge is smart enough i guess. FR3Z-10849-E. Got this idea from Brevees.

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I can't tell, did you swap the shiny trim from your vac cluster over to the temp cluster? It looks like the trim ring piece can be removed with just the screws.

luc said:

You seems to be one of those person that always want to be right, regardless of the facts and always want have the last word
Re read my original post..... The only reason we know at what temperature the red start is because DickR was nice enough to post the info from the FSM...NOT because the gauge indicate it.
I'm done replying to you

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I just want you to think through the whole situation critically and from possibly more than one point of view.

Once you know what the markings on the gauge mean (thanks to DickR here), you have one of two situations. Either you trust the gauge (making the markings sufficiently informative regardless of what they specifically are) or you don't (in which case having numbers isn't going to make a questionable situation any better).


Norm

GT Pony said:

Snipped from a thread about the same subject.

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Maybe its me, but the colour Red is used for Danger, in all walks of life. So if the needle is in the Red, that's not good is it :eyebulge::eyebulge:

What oil temps are a "concern" whether precisely measured to the "degree" with calibrated gauges systems or only to "a range" using the oem calculated temp? Is "warm/yellow" OK to continue but "hot/red" requires allowing the oil to cool? If you knew the exact temp would it make any difference?

Assume Ford recommendations are followed regarding using oil that is at least as good as Motorcraft 5W-30 synthetic blend changed after every event. How do you determine which oils are at least as good as the recommended Motorcraft oil?

goldengooner said:

Maybe its me, but the colour Red is used for Danger, in all walks of life. So if the needle is in the Red, that's not good is it :eyebulge::eyebulge:

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The start of the red zone is 296 deg F ... so yeah, that IS danger zone for most oils, especially 5W-20 is you're running what Ford recommends. I feel a lot better with 5W-30 if the needle ever gets to the beginning of the yellow zone and beyond.

DickR said:

How do you determine which oils are at least as good as the recommended Motorcraft oil?

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The ones that meet or exceed the Ford oil spec for either 5W-20 or 5W-30.

DrGrabster said:

Is that why our export cars don't have oil temp or pressure to be seen anywhere? Because it's just an estimate and might run foul of our laws.

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Your country has laws that oil temperature and pressure gauges need to be accurate to within a certain +/- % ... ??

GT Pony said:

The ones that meet or exceed the Ford oil spec for either 5W-20 or 5W-30.

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Ask a silly question, get a silly answer.:doh:

FYI I use Mobil 1 5W-20 extended life (or what ever the current marketing name is for the "extended drain" version). Reason: Due to autocrossing abuse (high revs mostly) the "possible" extra viscosity life/film strength and additives makes me "feel better" about long drain periods. Do I have supporting facts? Nope.;) In even very HOT weather autocross situations the oil temp in my 15 and now my 18 has never gotten above the green zone.

I used this UOA (Used Oil Analysis) data summary to help choose an oil. Note that Motorcraft and Mobil 1 seem to shear down quite a bit.

I use Mobil 1 10W30

GT Pony said:

I used this UOA (Used Oil Analysis) data summary to help choose an oil. Note that Motorcraft and Mobil 1 seem to shear down quite a bit.

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Ouch!

Thanks for the info. What was the source?

DickR said:

Ouch!

Thanks for the info. What was the source?

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A different Mustang forum (svtperformance), which will not link from this one because it must be viewed as 'competition' or something.

To me it doesn't make sense for Ford to derive the oil temp from the head temp or whatever. I mean the heat is produced in the bottom end. Oil is the first thing to heat and the oil temp gauges I had responded before any other gauge that mattered. Oil temp spike wil alert you to an issue with rod and main bearings pretty quick.
Oil pressure doesn't mean as much as a true indicator of engine health in my opinion, yet it is THE oil gauge in most American cars.

GreenS550 said:

To me it doesn't make sense for Ford to derive the oil temp

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Yet Ford has been doing that for at least since 2001. I'm pretty sure oil temp in non-GT350 Mustangs is only there for the "look, I have an oil temp gauge which tells me its a real performance car" factor. Since its derived, there is absolutely no hardware costs involved for the digital display and for the real gauge in the GT350s, that uses a real oil temp sensor. Thought it was nice of Ford to send the derived temp down the bus in the same format as the real GT350 sensor did so they could sell the GT350 gauges to regular Mustang owners.

Okay, so where is the port in the block to install the sensor?