Hey guys,

Still shaking out some of the last bugs in my car and I'd like to run a few things by you guys.

After the car has FULLY warmed up and idles / runs normally:

1 - The temperature gauge will more or less "sit" on the cool side of the 1/2 mark. Basically from what I can tell, the car warms up (takes about 6-8 minutes to fully warm up when it's just idling), and it will SLOWLY build temperature until it gets to the 1/2 mark. Then the radiator fan comes on (drivers side) and the temperature drops a little. Then the fan turns off and the car will sit at the 1/3rd mark and then work it's way back up to the 1/2 and the fan goes on. It doesn't appear to me that anything's wrong, but I just wanted to make sure. I know every car is different. My V6 Fiero sits at the 1/4 mark after being fully warmed up and doesn't move.

2 - The oil pressure gauge sits at the "BAR 8" mark until it's warmed up. After it's really warmed up (been idling for like 10-15 minutes) it drops to right between BAR 4 and 5 and doesn't move unless I blip the throttle. This SEEMS good to me, but I don't know what to compare it to. What is that in PSI?
Anyway, does that seem "normal" or good for an ~80k 1984 / 944?


Thanks guys!

 

You have an oil-pressure gauge that goes to 8 BAR?

1 BAR is just under 15psi, which means 4 BAR is about 60psi and 8 BAR is about 120.

 

You've got an early...this seems to be behavior that I see as well.

As for oil, mine's a little lower (between 2 and 3) but it depends what weight oil you have in the car.

 

Your fiero might not budge because it has a motor driven fan. My toyota pickup is the same way. Motor driven fan that is constantly turning, and turns faster depending on the temp of the engine.

My truck never gets to the half way mark, normally sits at 1/3 or lower. The S2 is a different story. It fluctuates a lot.

 

Actually, I just looked and it actually goes to 10 BAR.

Mine is an 84, but... well, the previous owner spray painted the entire interior with flat black spray paint (guess he didn't like the dark brown color). The PO was really dumb.

You can look here if you want to see my whole story:

http://www.pontiacperformance.net/

And then go to Current Cars and go to 1984 / 944.


Anyway, since all the gauge faces were damaged with paint (to which the PO used a brillo pad to get the paint off), I ended up needing to get all new gauges. I wasn't a huge fan of the "Safety Dance" style bright yellow 80s gauges, so I went with the more conservative / traditional gauges. I basically bought a bunch of gauges from various places overseas.

I ended up with this: (note the 6k red tach with the MPG gauge and upshift light, and the 160 degree spedo with the accent lines and the KPH stuff on it too). It all hooked up perfectly. I didn't have to do any re-wiring. Except, I did add an indicator light in the EGR sensor / lambda hole.





And these (note the oil pressure gage goes to 10 bar):






When I'm at full idle, the gauge sits at the 1/2 mark (4-5 BAR).

 

Well, I think it's the coolant capacity. The motor is a transversally mounted motor that's mid-mounted (behind the seats but in front of the trunk) like the Porsche 914. There is a 2-core radiator in the very front of the car sitting at a 60 degree angle. There are MASSIVE coolant tubes that run under the rocker panels of each side of the car. So I guess maybe it's because there's just such a massive coolant capacity and that's why it never runs hot. It has an electric fan on the back of the radiator (a single one) which is a 2-speed fan.

 

Based on position of the needle on the gauge, I think you're right on.

 

the reason those gauges hooked up so well is because they're from a 924S...lol.

at idle my car sits around 4BAR for oil and pegs at 5 (mine goes to 5) when i step on it.

 

Thanks! That's what I was hoping to hear, so everything looks "OK" then!


Yeah, it's really kind of a hodge podge of different stuff. One gauge came from a 924S from a European car (maybe the tach?), and then the Oil Pressure and Clock came from an older 924 (1981 and older).

Basically... whatever I could find on eBay!

hahah...

I actually ended up buying a 6,500 tach without an MPG gauge too, but I think it's in the attic now.

 

That oil pressure gauge is from a 924, and the oil pressure sender you have is from a 944, which is why the oil pressure reading seems "off"

The pressure sender is meant for a 5 bar guage, so basically your gauge reads twice as high.

 

So "technically" my gauge would normally be reading about 3? (which would be about 40psi?)

 

You should see between 2-3 bar of oil pressure at idle when fully warmed up, and 4-5 bar when first starting and subsequently driving around