Water temp and sending unit

[Jtoben]

We are considering replacing the engine raw water temp cold/hot gauge with one that has the actual temperature readout. If we buy a new gauge would we also need a new sending unit? The engine is the Volvo MD17C. I know a few of you are pretty amazing engine guys, can you advise?

 

[Mark Maulden]

see my post in the engine forum. I would not spend the bucks until you solve your problem. And then only if you're actually interersted in the numbers. With a infra unit, you can "calibrate" your current one assuming it's working.....

 

[Alan Gomes]

I bought one of these and am very happy with it: http://www.cruzpro.com/t60.html

It works with a variety of sensors so it may be that it would be compatible with what you've got. There are some built-in calibration curves for the main brands of sensors or you can calibrate it manually. I manually calibrated mine (a Stewart-Warner sensor) by removing my sensor and immersing the sensor's probe in a pan of water and compared the readings of the gauge to the water temp as measured by a digital thermometer.

One very important feature is that it also has an overheat alarm with its own built-in buzzer. You can set the temperature at which the buzzer goes off. My Yanmar also has an overheat alarm buzzer, which I still have installed in the engine. So, I have the CruzPro alarm to go off at a lower temperature than the Yanmar overheat buzzer, but still at a higher temperature than one at which the engine would normally run. This gives me a kind of "pre-warning" so I can pay attention to what's going on with the engine before it actually gets into an overheating condition.

I also found the company to be responsive to a few e-mail queries I had.