$55 for a nice water temp guage for your Vanagon!

[IdahoDoug]

So, over the years it began to bug me I could not see the Van's oil pressure and I added a guage. Recently, it began to bother me that the water temp guage had always been erratic. So I added the water guage below a week ago and have enjoyed it so much I thought I'd pass along a "turn key" solution for others who've thought about a water temp guage.

The Guage on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09JYXH96L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The water sensor mount on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D8V2MC9?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_dt_b_product_details

So the guage comes with the wiring and the threaded sensor but you purchase the sensor mount separately as they don't know what vehicle it's going on. Mounting the sensor was a breeze. Drop the spare, choose the hose bringing hot water TO the radiator, and make a cut all the way through. Slip this 38mm adapter in, tighten the clamps - done. Here's a photo:
(Edit: I am unable to upload photos - not sure why. Will try again later)
(Edit II: Still unable to upload photos. I used to be able to, they'd appear in "My Photos" and I could post them up. No idea why this has been the case for over a year. It's a 2MB photo against an 8MB max, and when I press "Submit" it tells me a successful upload happened and asks "do you want to return to the gallery...etc etc. So if there is a kind hearted person who can help - shoot me a PM and perhaps I'll get smarter)





The adapter is a work of art, and has a threaded hole that accepts the sensor probe, and you can even see in the photo there is a little allen set screw whose sold purpose is to mechanically lock the sensor in so it cannot unscrew. When I installed it, I used C clamps and little chunks of wood to pinch off the coolant, so I only lost a few ounces doing the job. Well worth avoiding a complete system drain and refill.

Then the guage. You'll need to run the sensor guage up into the dash. There is a grommet on the floor around the gas pedal that worked well and I pushed the connector up through it with some WD40 lubricating it and a screwdriver to push it up and through. First, lift the carpet and insulation. I placed a chunk of wood under the insulation so it was easy to feel I was through and up in the interior. Then I pulled it up through the dash with a wire. Mine simply comes out of the edge of the snap on binnacle cover next to the oil pressure guage wire that does the same thing. You'll need to find a ground, and switched power and that's it. Here, mine is temporarily hung on the ashtray as we are headed camping tomorrow but I'll secure it later:


So, I thought there may be others who'd tackle this but are stopped by not knowing what will work on the Vanagon, or what will fit, etc. This was a breeze - a 1 banana job.

The guage is cool in that you can set it to sound an alarm at a certain temp, and it retains the max temp and has some other features pretty nice for the price point. Now I can relax when driving hard, and also know my new radiator fan sensor is turning on and off at the correct points.

Cheers!
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[hdenter]

How long was the sensor wire? I love the idea of a better water temp gauge, but I think I would rather mount the sensor back on the motor or a hose just off of it so that I would have a more accurate reading in case of clogged radiator or failing water pump.. I like the warning feature...

Hans
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'79 triple white convertible bug
'84 sunroof vanagon
'85 weekender

[jocoman]

Very Nice. Thank-you
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'86 Westfalia 2.0L Zetec
'97 Volvo 850 AWD Turbo
" The fun never stops"

[IdahoDoug]

Hans,

The sensor wire is plenty long to connect up at the radiator area as the guage comes with an extension also. I think I wrapped about 2 feet of excess. I thought about one at the engine also, but frankly it's a lot more trouble and the water from the engine arrives up front in mere seconds.

The scenario you describe of a clogged radiator is nearly impossible to contemplate how from one minute to the next it would clog and stop flowing. Long before that, you'd be seeing progressively higher and higher readings as whatever is clogging the radiator began restricting flow - alerting you it's time to replace We're talking over thousands of miles to accumulate accretions and deposits.

The same is true of a water pump. They don't catastrophically fail and stop pushing water. They die by having the bearings go and begin wobbling, taking out the shaft seal and leaking more and more.

A belt could come off, though - so I understand the placement on the engine itself would be optimal. You might contact the guage maker and see if they offer a longer extension. And since it's just a wire, it would not be rocket science to add on 15 feet of your own if handy with a soldering iron.

Cheers.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[Sodo]

You'd wanna choose a location for the sender that doesn't get in the way of the spare tire.
And it you were gonna jam in a bigger spare in there someday...

===========

There are times I value a 2nd opinion... (and the 2nd temp location too).
I would be compelled to do this if I lost confidence in the VW gauge.
My MO would be to put a little tiny digital readout on a pigtail that I could pull out, (make visible).
....for the 2 weeks in the summertime.

But now that you have a 2nd guage I guess you will find out if your temp fluctuations are the gauge or the engine.

Fingers crossed it's the gauge! And that you can find that problem too.

========

I agree that a 2nd opinion is valuable for our costly antiques.

With the Subaru OBD2 this temp value appears on the ScanGuage screen.
Incidentally it has always validated that my VW gauge is consistent.
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[DuncanS]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[4Gears4Tires]

I have 2 of the water sensor mounts, 1 for in 1 for out, and they work really well.

However, make sure you use the grounding bolt to ground it to the chassis. The gauge will not read correctly trying to ground the coolant.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[jimf909]

[IdahoDoug]

Yeah, I guess you can't account for all situations. In my van, the temp guage has always been a useless fun house needle - pointing this way and that, and the red LED flashes from the moment I start it to the moment I shut down. I completely ignore it. So this has been a great help.

One negative on the guage is the red color is very dim and hard to see in the sunlight. So I don't have a guage I can glance at. I have to lean over, cup it with one hand, and still its a struggle. I will reconfirm connections, but at this time I can no longer recommend the guage for this reason. I may construct a deep black hood or something when I mount it permanently.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[4Gears4Tires]

[bobbyblack]

I like this!

Now, what Skills said about other failures makes me wonder if there is a "flow meter" we can put somewhere pre or post water pump, and then post thermostat. Maybe alarm if the flow stops on BOTH meters? That would be cool. Or I guess I mean it would be sure of cooling "action".
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[DuncanS]

A working temperature gauge is a flow meter.

Duncan

[vanis13]

[the_benjamin_effect]

I am genuinely curious on the thoughts of placing the sender closer to the engine block vs directly before entering the radiator. Will there be any thermal cooling in the ~10 feet of coolant lines from engine block exit to radiator inlet that falsely indicate a "cooler" running engine on the aftermarket gauge? Or is it so minuscule (<1*F) that we should not care?

I'm not aware of any "flow rate" of coolant under normal operating temperature and pressure conditions. If you have any thoughts, let me know.

Here is another option for those 2WD 2.1 folk: http://texasvanagons.com/adding-a-water-temp-sender/
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-1967 Sundial Camper 1914cc "Sunny"
-1978 Deluxe Westfalia Jake Raby built PowerStroke 2109cc "Westy"
-1987 SYNCRO Westfalia GoWesty 2400cc "Ruby"
-2000 Subaru Impreza Sport EJ22 ¼ million miles "Trusty"

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. I.A.M. 751
International Brotherhood of Naval Flight Engineers. I.B.N.F.E. LOCAL 8251
My other ride has 18,400 horsepower!