Hi guys,

I had a few questions about my water temp guage which I am about to install. I did a search on this a while back and I found a good thread which would have answered most of my questions, but now I cant seem to find that thread again. I also had a few wiring questions which were not addressed, probably cause no one here is a total nooB at electronics (yes, I suck at teh electronics).

Anyways, I have the Nordskog 2 1/16" digital temp guage, which I think used to be Intellitronix (went out of business?). I also got the Nordskog temp sender kit which has the 1/8" NPT sender and a 1/2" and 3/8" adapters.

#1 SENDER LOCATION
I plan on using the stock temp sender location, which means the adapters are not necessary right?


#2 WIRING IN THE TEMP GUAGE
-Red wire +12 V = where can I tap this into?
-Black wire (ground) = run a ground wire to the engine block?
-Purple wire (dimmer) = gonna ground this wire for max illumination
-Blue wire (to temp sender) = This needs to be wired into the back of the sender right?


#3 SPLICING THE WIRES
I'm not sure how everyone does it, but I was planning on snipping the proper wire for the +12 V and just wrapping all the wires together and wrapping it with electrical tape. I have a feeling this is not the best way to do it, I was thinking about getting some of those little twisty things that you stick the wires into, but how do you all do it?

I'm guessing I will have to do it with the electrical tape. I say that because the wires only come out behind the gauge about 4 inches, and that wiring will be behind my A-pillar where there does not appear to be much room for those twisty thingies.


#4 WHAT TYPE OF WIRES TO USE
When I wired up the light source for my Autometer boost guage I used some spare speaker wire I had. The wire seems to work ok, so I wanted to know if the same thing can be done for all the electrical connections on the water temp guage?

I dont know what size the speaker wire is but it is your average speaker wire that you can run from the speaker to your reciever.

 

Maybe this thread can be placed in the archives if we get enough good replies. There is a boost guage install how-to in there, maybe we should have a temp guage install how-to as well? I looked for one in the archives but I didnt see one.

So who wants to help a nooB out?

EDIT: oh and just so you guys dont think I'm a complete dumbass, I have managed to changed the oil (3 times), change the tranny and diff fluid, and do my own spark plug changes. Then again...I also managed to cause some problems by touching the wrong bolt on my tranny and having a hose accidentally come undone while doing my spark plugs. So you guys can see why I posted this thread.

 

1. Which sensor are you going to replace? The stock one is near the oil pressure sender on the rear housing for the gauge. The sensor that's in the filler neck is for the ECU.

You might check this thread about locations:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...threadid=74058

BTW, I just used the hex bolt location for mine. It works fine however you need to cut on your coolant neck cap a bit to get it to fit with the sender in place.

2. You can get little fuse taps at your local NAPA or other auto parts store to jump power off the fuse box. Just hook to the ignition fuse.

3. You can use electrical tape or you can get some heat shrink stuff. The heat shrink stuff is cool as you'll never have to worry about it just falling off.

4. The Autometer instructions suggested using 18-Gauge wire, so that's what I used. It's a little thin, but you don't need 8-Gauge for this kind of stuff.

 

I had checked that thread for locations, when I read the instructions on the ciriani site, somebody had to buy extra parts from OSH to make the sender fit. Unless I have pics of that guys modifications, I am afraid I may not replicate his steps.

I was not sure if this was a problem with the Nordskog temp sender or if it was the same of all temp senders. The location I was planning on using was the the one near the oil pressure sender on the rear housing.

I may try to see if the Nordskog sender will fit in that location first. If it will fit right in, I will probably just use that and dremel off the neck cap as you suggested.

I will check that out as well, you are talking about the fuse box next to the clutch pedal right?

COOL!!! I wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong with that.

Well, I dont know enough about wires to tell what gauge size they are, but I will probably just buy some 18G wire just in case.

 

Yep, just jump the power from there. I used some quick connects so I could run one wire from the fuse box and a second to the gauge. My gauge is mounted on my steering column so I wanted to be able to remove it without having to rewire stuff.

 

PM me if you would like some help with the wiring, and are anywhere near San Luis Obispo.

 

Heya,

Thanks for offering to help, hopefully I will be able to install the gauge without any problems. The only thing I'm worried about is being able to screw the sender probe into the appropriate location.

The 1/8" sender seems to be hard to screw into the adapters that came with the kit. I had the same problem with my boost fittings. With the temp sender, I am afraid that the 1/8" sender might not go in far enough to be in contact with the water.

Is the fitting only being able to screw in halfway normal too? or do I need to just apply a little more force when screwing the sender in place?

 

I had to apply quite a bit of force to screw in the sender all the flush to the fitting. I also had to use a muscle or two for the fitting.

 

Regarding wiring, I am NOT a fan of cutting the cars wires. I recommend using in-line splices. They are inexpensive, and you can buy them at any auto parts store. Basically, you just crimp the in-line splice onto the car wire and your new wire. It connects them without having to cut anything, or tape anything. They are easy to remove too.

 

A couple weeks ago I decided to install my water-temp gauge in the hex bolt location next to the filler neck. I got the bolt out and then realized to screw in the adapter I'd have to remove the filler neck. I promptly broke one of the bolts off that holds the neck onto the housing and had to spend days drilling out the rest of the bolt. This is apparently a common occurrence as I got alot of replies on how to fix it. After all that I finally got the neck off and decided to continue trying to install in place of the hex bolt, only to find that the autometer adapter was threaded differently and wouldn't fit without stripping.

So I backed out, put everything back together and installed it in the throttle body coolant line which was nice and easy. And easy to reverse if you ever want to remove it.

I haven't heard of anyone else having this much trouble, but I thought I'd post my experience just in case it helps.

 

Hey everybody,

I have a quick question, I am almost done with the install, but I stopped to double check on the location of the stock temp sender. It is directly bellow the oil filter right? I think I am going to use that location sicne the 3/8 in adapter I have will not go in thermostat housing location.

I need an answer ASAP, I am also looking in the FSM to see if I can locate it.

 

BTW, here is a pic of the stock temp sender which I think is under the oil filter. I'm not talking about hte one on the thermohousing.

 

BTW, here is a pic of the stock temp sender which I think is under the oil filter. I'm not talking about hte one on the thermohousing.

 

Ok, after reading about how someone removed the coolant filler neck, I decided to go that route as well. The only problem with that was that the guy broke one of the bolts while taking it off.

And wouldn't you know it one of the bolts broke on me as well (I was hoping that wouldn't happen). Somebody must have put a plastic bolt in there by mistake. Anyways, I will just go ahead and drill that bolt out and replace it with a new one. For now I will get a heavy duty clamp to hold that end of the filler neck together.

One of the other things I am worried about (besides the broken bolt), is whether or not the adapter is in far enough. The sender is all the way in, but I'm afraid if I keep trying to tighten the adapter onto the housing, something else will break.

 

One more thing I forgot, when I was cleaning all the metal bits off after drilling I knocked the seal off between the filler neck and housing. Once it was out of the crease it expanded and wouldn't go back in so I had to go to the dealer to get a new one for $5.00.

And that was supposed to be the easy way to install the sender...

 

I'll be sure to be careful when cleaning drilling out the bolt. I thought I had read your post on another thread but I guess it was this thread where I read about the broken bolt.

I knew that I might possibly break the bolt, so I thought I would be careful taking the bolts off. I guess that didn't help, cause on the first 1/4 turn the damn bolt broke.

What did you use to fix the bolt? did you use a dremel or a full sized hand drill? did you have to re-thread the hole? or did you just use a longer, smaller diameter bolt and have a nut securing it underneath?

 

I used a dremel but it screwed up the area surrounding the bolt so much it couldn't be rethreaded, so I used a longer bolt with a nut. I'm planning on buying a new thermostat housing at some point and just replacing the whole thing.

 

All that for a broken bolt? do they make bolts with a hole for a cotter pin? that way you dont have to worry about the nut falling out

On a side note, do you guys think driving around with one nut on the coolant neck is a good idea? I am just thinking about it, just in case I have to drive to a nearby hardware store. There is a NAPA about 20 minutes walk away, but there is a bigger hardware store with more stuff, but its a 10-15 minute drive away. I dont hink its a good idea, but I thought I'd ask.

 

Is it a good idea, no. Will it kill anyone or blow up your engine, probably not. I'd bring water just in case, just to throw it in if you need to. And bring tools because if you need to put the new bolt in the parking lot, you'll wanna do it right.

 

ludeowner,

That nut broke on me as well. It fused into the housing so I couldn't use my screw extractors to get it out. I just drilled it and then put new threads in with a Helicoil kit.

To make sure everything was still flush for a good seal, I bought some gasket material and created a gasket.

 

BTW, I also replaced those screws with some new ones from Ace Hardware.

 

If I am unable to get the hole re-threaded will a nut and bolt work as a permanent fix? or will the constant heaing and cooling cause the nut to come undone?

Also what did you use to drill out the broken bolt? a dremel or a big ole hand drill? I once tried drilling out a broken bolt from a turbine housing and my itty-bitty dremel was not up to the task. Maybe the bit that came with the kit was too weak?

I bought some drill bits from Pep Boys and I'm gonna use them with the dremel and hopefully they will work ok.

 

I used a regular hand drill (don't own a Dremel tool). I started with a smaller drill bit and went all the way through the bolt. Since it was fused into the sides, I had no choice. Then I kept increasing the drill bit size until I got the right size (1/4") for the Helicoil install.

 

looks like I will have to invest in a good plug-in hand drill.

On a side note, I did manage to get all the wiring done (except for the temp sender). I fuse tapped the +12 V to the #10 fuse labeled "rear wipers". I wired the ground and dimmer together and routed it to the shifter console. I just need to sort out the broken bolt issue so I can finish installing the wiring onto the sender.

Here is a crappy pic of the Nordskog digital guage. Its hard to tell but it says 375 degrees. I will take some better pics when it gets light out again, but take my word that the gauge is bright as a ****! and the brightness is just the way I like it.

 

Hey Guys,

I just got done wiring in the sender but it still isn't getting an accurate reading. Here is how I have everything wired up.

+12 V fuse tapped to the rear wiper fuse. Should I fuse tap it to another fuse? like the engine fuse?

temp sender hex bolt on thermohousing. There was a little cardboard type washer. Maybe I wired it up wrong?

-NUT
-LOCKING WASHER
-"cardboard" WASHER
-WIRE
-SENDER WIRE


DIMMER and GROUND wire are grounded to a bolt under the shifter console. Do I need a better ground?

EDIT: one other thing I forgot to mention was the LED display flickers slightly. I thought that maybe the reset button might be jammed cause it looked a little crooked. Are the Nordskog reset buttons supposed to be pushed way in, or do they only slightly click when pressed? I didn't bother to check the reseet button before I installed the gauge.