Anyone running one of these. I had one (Berg I think) back in the early 80's and have been looking for the past couple of years...
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/cla...etail.php?id=1196002
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Bergs does not work with a gauge. Not sure about the other.
I have one... Works great. Have enjoyed it since summer 2013.
Typically I put it on during long road trips as a belt and suspenders warning feature, or when I think I may be driving in traffic for extended periods of time. It's cheap insurance, and fairly accurate... Ran a test on the stove, with a kitchen cooking thermometer and hot oil before I started using it on the car.... I was curios how accurate it was.
It could actually stay on all the time, But when driving around town I typically use a Manely temp gauge dipstick, as a secondary way to check oil temp. I'm always concerned the engine could run hot .... And I like to know the temp the engine is running at... I have been experimenting with different oils this summer,
... Had a great driving season this year... Dip stick never got above 200deg... Spent most summer between 185-195deg.
...cheap insurance...
Luis: do you have any interesting results from your oil test?
Is it hooked up to a gauge or light?
I have one. I have been looking at it after I get back from a drive. I look at it like a clock. It starts out with the wire about 180 degrees from the contact and after the drive the hottest it has been is slightly less than 90 degrees from the contact. What that tells me is it has a way to go til the oil gets to 235 so my cooler seems to work OK.
In my car it is connected to a gauge warning light.
on My VS, with the stock wiring set up, it shared the warning gauge light with the oil pressure sensor. This worked great... No custom wiring required... Just instal the dip stick sensor and connect to your oil pressure sender per the instructions. 2 minute install job.
Useful little tool - if a gauge red light start to flicker/ turn on while driving... Stop and check oil level and temperature.
Eventually I did wire up a parallel warning light on the combi gage to also light up... ( both one of the the lights on the rpm gauge and one of the unused combi gauge red lights would light up for alternator and oil temp.). More lights= easier to see... And I installed LED bulbs... Much much brighter and asker to see on bright sunny days.
Winter 2015/2016 I installed original gauges, which only have two warning lights ( in lieu of 4) on the combi gauge. I did the same thing, and set up to use one of the two warning lights on the combi gauge for the temperature warning, The other is for oil pressure. I run alternator and brights off the rpm gauge.
it makes me feel better to have warning lights for these type of things... I do have the mild stock VS 1915 engine, but do drive it almost daily when I'm home in Seattle.... Most every day in commuter traffic.
I did notice some curious things using different weight oils in Seattle, and for my type of driving... I tested 30w, 40w, 10w30, and 10w40 this season, all Brad Penn... Tested over 6000 miles... But my notes are back home. I did decide my car ran best with 30w...
with a little luck I should be back next week... I can post my findings then if anyone is interested. Nothing shocking.... Mostly to do with morning start ups and warm up time, sitting in traffic temps, freeway temps, and start ups between stops when engine was still warm.
off to the airport now... Spending the weekend in Ibiza with some family/friends...
cheers
"Oil temperature dipstick for all Type I sedan; and bus to 1971.
This does NOT work with a gauge."
This is pasted from GB's page. Does this mean all Type I's regardless of year and buses to 1971. I have a super beetle '73 engine will this work?
Yes.
thanks
I had one on Bridget. Thumbs up. It's dead simple and accurate, and because it's rigged to the oil light (instead of a gauge) it does not demand your attention until your attention is required--circa 225-230f.
The only downside: harder to read the oil level on the stick. I scribed a groove in mine at "full" but apparently not deep enough. So I kept the stock dipstick under the seat to double check.
Same here. I had a cooling problem on mine so this was a must for me. This would start my oil light flickering at about 220-225 and I would have to pull over. It is supposed to make the oil light come on solid at 230 and above. Very good tool, money well spent.
Was the light coming on just on the highway or at other times as well?
In Southern California there is a well known grade called the Grapevine. It's a long and steep uphill climb. It was on this hill that my lights would flicker.
When I bought my car four years ago it had some serious cooling problems and I rarely drove it in the summer months. I have made some serious cooling improvements since then and can now go over this hill without any trouble at all. I mean I haven't gone through Death Valley with it but I have a house in Bakersfield and have driven there over this last summer in 100 plus degree heat without issue. Its so nice to be able to drive when I want to rather than wait for cool weather!
Probably the most important thing to do first is determine the exact temp. of your oil in some really hot environments......then...only then....start making improvements in the oil cooling system....Same holds true for the engine cooling system. Peace-of-mind will follow and so will enjoyment of driving these cars.........Bruce
I really appreciate all the testing and reporting you've done! Valuable resource to save.