I bought an Autometer water gauge from RX7 Store. I am having trouble with the sending unit. The piece itself is too small for the hole, and none of the adapter pieces are fitting. The smallest one it came with is too big for the hole.
I am attempting to install tis in the whole that the stock sender unit is in. Is this the wrong location?

Thanks for the help ahead if time.

 

If you are keeping your stock gauge in the car, you should probably keep it connected. I recommend buying a greddy radiator hose adapter. You remove about a 1 inch section of your radiator hose just after it straightens out from the thermostat housing. The sender should bolt right to the adapter. This way, you don't have to start drilling and tapping anything. I think the adapter is under $30.

Adam

 

If you have time it might be easier to take off the filler neck housing and drill a hole out of the front and tap it in there. Thats what I ended up doing. Hope this helps.

 

This is exactly what I did on two different FD's. I'll try to post pics later.

Frank

 

there is another thread with the same issue but atleast you guys sound like you have your heads on straight. The other people were talking about taped sensor to the filler neck... I have no clue what the hell some people think they are doing under the hood of the FD. Go to www.rx7turboturbo.com and go to rob robinettes link and see the how to section and this does a step by step with pics. Oh yeah keep that stock sensor in there if you can the computer uses its signal to calculate maps its not just for the gauge that you see. Good luck and becareful and make sure you run the tap straight.

 

Hi,

I also removed the filler neck, drilled and tapped it, has worked perfectly for over a year now with the electrical autometer temp guage.

Andrew Wojteczko
www.voytechco.com

 

????? I installed the Autometer water temp gauge a while back, there is an adaptor that will fit the existing threaded holes on the t-stat housing. If you don't have it in the box then you need to take it back and replace it.
Absolutely no drilling necessary, just take out one of the hex bolts.

 

Fisa, bring it over and we can tap a new hole for you. This is the best and only way of doing it.

 

Not to be all knowledge guy and stuff, but the gauge temp sender (under the oil filter) does not send any info to the ECU. That's taken care of by the thermosensor in the back of the thermostat housing (the green connector). Just bein' all clear

Meiogirl, can you put it into one of the holes already in the thermostat housing? Like the one right behind the filler cap that has a worm screw in it?

 

Only way??

Mine works fine with the Greddy adapter.

 

Here's mine...i just removed one of the hex bolts that Trexthe3rd was talking about.

 

Oh yeah...you'll notice that I had to cut one of the wing's off on the filler neck cap. Not a big deal

 

alien7

Which sending unit is that. Did it fit without any tapping?

 

Here is a link describing the install.

http://www.rx7turboturbo.com/robrobi...temp_gauge.htm

 

adam,

that's just the autometer water temp gauge. Sending unit came with it......no tapping required. I just unscrewed the hex bolt that was there, wrapped the sending unit threads with a little plumber's tape for sealing, and screwed it in.

The only drawback is that it will take a short time (3-5 min) for the unit to give an accurate temp reading, since it takes that amount of time for the coolant to pressurize and expand up to reach the unit. This should only happen when starting a cold car, btw.

If you look at the left side of the filler neck, you can see the head of another hex bolt. If you've removed your air pump, I think you could easily put the sending unit in that location.

 

I have VDO gauges. The sending unit has the same size threads as the oil drain plug. I like your install.

Adam

 

Thanks man....considering it was one of the first things I did to my car after I got it, I just took the easiest route, lol.

The hacked off 'ear' of the filler neck cap bugs me a little though, so eventually I'll move the sending unit to where the left hex plug is lower on the neck.

I didn't think that other temp gauges had a different thread size....if I ever switch out my guages I'll have to keep that in mind!!

 

This must be an electrical gauge hookup, not a mechanical, correct?
The mechanical has the capillary type tube that you can't kink, this looks like an electrical wire hookup.

Frank

 

Correct, that is the autometer electrical gauge. It will fit on top of the housing like in the picture. You will just need to run a wire from the sensor to the gauge.

Jason

 

adam, do you have a picture of your vdo water temp guage?

i've got a vdo boost guage. i can't remember what model/series it is off the top of my head though. Thanks.

Jimmy

 

Another way to do it is to install it in place of the sensor for the stock gauge, which is over near the oil filter rather than on the filler neck. 1/8NPT sensors will thread right in. As spurvo pointed out, that sensor is used ONLY for the gauge, so besides the stock gauge being dead after removing the stock sensor, there are no ill effects. I have not had the stock sensor in there for several years.

Another option is to linearize the stock gauge.

-Max

 

ive been digging for my options on installing my autometer elec water temp guage and i noticed this one mentioned from maxcooper. anybody do this?? any pics of where the sensor is located?? i dont really care if the stock guage doesnt work. since it seems useless anyways

 

FlyRX7 - What kid of readings do you get from the sensor being up there? I'm looking at mounting a gauge to my car, and am looking for a good spot to install the sensor. I like that spot for being easy and nothing else is there, but was thinking that it's really high on the cooling system. If the car does start to overheat or run hot, it will blow some of the coolant out into the catch can (and then suck it back in when it cools off). So my concern with that mounting point was that the sensor would be reading the steam temperature and not the coolant temp. What do your readings look like?

Again, these were just my ideas and usually reality work a whole lot differently then theories...

 

I'm going to install my sensor next week and am wondering the same thing. What are the disadvantages of screwing into the top of the housing? As opposed to say drilling and tapping lower on the housing, or going through the stock sending location?

 

You link does not work