You just need to get a quality gauge. Dakota Digital makes one that reads accurate compared to the VDO's. If you want to know why, search the archives or thesamba.com, theres a ton of info about em. I havent seen mine climb above 400 yet, but no trips uphill yet.
Raymond Paquette wrote: > I've had both head and oil temp guages on earlier ('66 and '71) busses, and > don't think the head temp was very useful. Once warmed up, it only climbed > above 350 if I did things I shouldn't, like push up a hill that was really > too steep for the gear I was in. While you can cook your heads pretty > quickly, it should really only happen if you're messing up. Interestingly, > it did give me info on tuning, like it would settle around 335 when I > had my > points and timing set right, good spark plug wires, good gas. If it > hovered > higher (without obvious cause) I knew I had some maintenance to do. > Outside > air temp made little difference, aside form how long it took to get warmed > up. > > Oil temp can climb without you realizing it though. > > I've had external coolers as well. Best one had an electric fan that > turned > on around 170 degrees. You can also get an oil thermostat to keep from > overcooling. It bypasses the cooler until you get up to temp. > > If I had to choose one thing to keep me safe, I'd go with the oil temp > guage. You can always slow down and/or downshift to keep them temp down. > My guage saved my ass several times when the oil bypass plunger stuck down > (bypassing the stock oil cooler). Without it, I wouldn't have known until > something really bad happened. > > My $.02 > |
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