Just taken my 1975 kombi in for a service and the bloke reckons i should get an oil temp gauge fitted as I am leaving broome and heading north he quoted me $150 to do it. do I need to or will I be ok without it??? cant really afford $150 being a tight arse backpacker but then I might regret it later? thanx

Just remember, doing it yourself always saves money. That's where we come into it!

Go to your local auto parts supplier (Repco, Burson, Super Cheap) and ask for a VDO sender and VDO Gauge. From memory, the gauge cost $55 and the sender cost $11 (screws into the sump plug hole). Buy a good length of wire (about 6 meters) and wire the thing yourself. Total cost will be about $70.

Sender: 320.007
Gauge: 310 010 015

I cant stress how important a good gauge set up is, especially for long hot drives. What you need it for is really for noticing temp variations. If you drive around town, and your max temp is about 100C, but then one day it rises dramatically, you know something is awry.
Hope this helps

Cheers
Tnate

If I was in Broome I would get it done for me at $150, no holes to drill, oil to spill & no mistakes to make

Get a dipstick sensor: they're accurate and they can't get knocked off by rocks like the sump plug ones can.

And yes, it's worth spending the money so you don't cook the kombi. When the time comes to sell it (I'm assuming you'll sell it at then end of your backpacking) just bump up the price by $150 and you've got your money back!

problem is - as far as shopping around- he is in Broome & leaving soon

ok cheers guys i think ill get it done for me i spoke to the bloke he said it was the dipstick type but when i asked him the price again he said $150 for parts and another $50 for fitting but I suppose its not to bad. cheers

Please someone correct me if im wrong but doesnt a dipstick just replace the old one and is like 35sec to plug a wire into the oil pr sender,methinks to ask for a second opinion would be a wise move.:o

Think of it this way would you rather spend $150 or sit on the side of the road with a blown motor or have to leave the car there ... and when you get back half of its gone.

Or the other alternative... getting it towed to a town then havin to spend proberly 3 to 4K on a new engine

$150 is pretty good to me.

Im sorry if this has been answered b4...... where can i buy a dipstick sender from???... (the one which goes to the warning light)... i know you can get them from online shops in america, but surely places sell them in QLD... any ideas???
Thanks

Yes where do you purchase a DIPSTICK oil warning temp light as i wouldnt mind one myself

Have not seen any on sale in Sydney.... anyone know wher eyou can buy one.

Hiya, now im confused,so the dipstick sender type can be a gauge or warning light? Sounds like this is a good time to organize a group buy!

My buggy had a dip stick sender that worked with a seperate guage (VDO). I replaced it with a screw in type for three reasons.

1. The seal on the dip stick sender in my opinion is inadequate. The original dip stick uses a cup over the dip stick tube, the dip stick sender is flat with a big felt washer. This is bad for a buggy, but a protected engine may be OK.

2. Every time you check the oil you have to remove the wires from the sender. What a pain in the bum.

3. If you use the sender for oil measurement you need to make sure that you set it up correctly and that the setting does not change if the grub screw decides to comes loose.

Because for this I decided to have a mechanic drill and tap the case for a fixed VDO sender and use the original dip stick.


I have never heard of a dip stick oil warning type before, but it does sound like a good idea if the dip stick sender is the way you want to go. Sounds very easy to install.

I've got one of the Gene Berg dipstick oil temp senders, which you can attach to your current oil pressure warning light as Aussiebug described above. I decided to run another wire and attached it to a new warning light, either way it works as above...

The biggest pain with it is that you have to be careful not to damage the mechanism when you are checking the oil level, and like Manxed69 mentioned the dipstick then has a wire attached, in my case permanently. I have been thinking about changing this wire to the super flexible silicon (high temp) stuff (Dick Smith/ Jaycar should do this) to make it easier to handle. Probably not to much trouble to also carry the normal dipstick for making measures and fitting the temp sender dipstick for driving.

Otherwise all I can say is that I've never had my car hot enough to turn it on... which is a good thing. It gives me piece of mind that the car isn't cooking itself.

And mine does have a little plastic cup cover on the dipstick where it fits the in the pipe, to keep crap etc out.

This would be the easiest and cheapest way to go, mine cost about NZ $70 ish

Cheers
Jeremy

Hi

I think the the dipstick senders are bit tizzy and easily unpluged or stuffed by hamfisted people checking the oil, i think that they are also round so its hard to get an acurate oil level because the dipstick acts like a piston and pushes the oil away unlike the 1/2 circle factory dipstick.

I feel its better to use the conventional VDO sender, in the blank off plug if you have a universal case or drill & tap the oil pressure relief valve plug near the oil pump or if your motor is apart, drill & tap the case for the sender.

The only other fault I can see using the Berg type that flashes the oil light is that in my opinion if you see the oil light come on you should stop, with temp sensing dipstick you might just slow down a bit to cool the motor down thinking you have an oil temp problem, where in actual fact you have an oil pressure problem, 2 diffrent problems that need diffrent actions from the driver.

1302Steve

i have had the sender that replaces the screw in the oil pressure releif valve. no wires to worry about when changing oil
no chance of being disconnected no wiring all over or under the place,

used this for 10 years never a problem it's set and forget