Forester Engine Temp Warning Light/Alarm...???

SKT

SKT

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Aug 16, 2008
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Brissy
I have had a radiator go on me recently and it occured to me that I didnt notice the Temp guage until there was steam spewing from under my bonnet.

Infact.... I dont think I ever look at my temp guage at all.... ever.

So.... I am need of some sort of High Temp Alarm of some sort...

Whether it be a un-ignorable flashing light or my prefered option gentle but also unignorable audible alarm. Getting hold of a Jaycar kit wont be a prob but getting to go off at say 75% of max gauge temp is another thing. I'm guessing the temp guage works on a voltage of some sort so if that can be sourced and used to trigger some sort of relay then maybe it can be done. And it would also need a reset switch of some sort.....

I have a basic idea but wonder if anyone knows of a sure fire way to get this done...

Cheers
 
hmmm, dunno, it is pretty silly that cars dont have one tho. They let you know if you have left a door ajar, but not if you're low on oil or about to cook your motor. I guess they want you to buy parts off them
 
I usually keep an eye on temp on my Scanguage. If Scanguage had an alarm it would simplify the task.
 
I dont think a scan gauge here would work, as this is more a case of (sorry i mean this generically) poor driver training. Gauges are there for a reason, spedo temp etc. You just need to get in the habit of glancing at your instrument panel frequently. There is no need to read the panel as your brain alreays knows what the needles mean, and will pick up if one is out of place.

You can get an alarm someplace, it wont be hard to rig up, BUT even an alarm is too late once the gauge starts going up past 7/8, its goes really fast if there is a problem.

nipper
 
Later model commodores have a low coolant warning, this has saved my wifes motor. She doesn't look at the guages, but when the alarm started to sound, she pulled straight over. No damage to the motor, busted radiator.
 
nipper said:
, its goes really fast if there is a problem.

nipper
Click to expand...

Well that's the thing. I was in the car with SKT when this all happened and we'd been driving for only a short while when we noticed the steam and the smell. I warning light or beep at about 3/4 temp would have saved a lot of trouble.
 
The A/C stops working if the engine temp gets too high (I've only noticed this when it is in cooling mode); so maybe you could tap into that signal to turn on an indicator?
 
My dad cooked the motor in his Triton a while back and took it to an auto electrician who installed a very obvious light on the dash as a warning. Not quite sure how it is wired, but seems like it was cheap and easy insurance.

I'm no mechanic, but this is how it was explained to me: apparently the temp gauge will initially flick up to max very quickly, then comes back down to norm as the system tries to cope so the temp gauge looks pretty normal. It's pretty easy to miss this initial quick flick. It's only when the system can't cope anymore that the temp finally starts going up, and the steam starts. Hopefully, a light or alarm would activate at that initial temp flick, rather than wneh the system is no longer coping.
 
Firstly find out the temp that your thermo opens up then go and find an after market fan kit and buy a thermo switch/sensor, but make sure it's the ones that goes inside the radiator hose (some radiators let you put two thermos on them) and connect it up to a light or a buzzer. From memory i believe that the thermo opens at 77deg on the 2L, 2.5L including the trubo models. hope that helps
 
^ (close!) 78-80 turbo; 80-84 NA 2.5L
 
Sorry to hear of your misfortune SKT.
Unfortunately if you just have a repeater of your temperature gauge you may not be warned in time of potential damage. You need to know when the coolant level is low. There are a number of "low coolant alarms" available and one I was looking at at the last 4WD show was about $160 and has a couple of probes that fit under a radiator hose connected to a light and alarm to get your attention. I don't know if Jaycar or someone similar has a cheaper option, but would be interested to find out.
 
For those that dont know.... I had a major rad failure. As a result of the rad failure I have taken some head damage... whether it be just a gasket or actual head damage. The engine got so hot it stalled so I am not ever gonna know what damage may have been done down low. The car is still quite drivable but there is obvious presurising from the block to the coolant system and a CO 2 test proves my suspicions. With a round and safe figure of $1000 for just a gasket and god knows if its head damage and its due for its 100km $1000 service... well... I'm not keen to put that money into an engine that is now an unknown quantity. I certainly would'nt do something like the Canning Stock Route and I am gearing this car up for trips like that and bigger......

So.... after a few phone calls I've decided I'll keep it onroad for the year and at the end of the year I'll put in the Gen3 H6 I've always yakked about......

Watch this space :twisted:
 
SKT,

the 2000 AU Falcon ute I have been driving at work has an audible alarm, and a flashing temp light, when the gauge is rising above the 3/4, 7/8 mark of the gauge. Maybe there is something that can be used.

Having said that, the audible is only loud enough to be heard when the radio is off, or really quiet, and the light is hard to see in bright sunshine on a hot day. After nearly cooking the engine on those 45 deg days, I now watch the temp gauge as much as the speedo.

On a similar line, when I put the driving lights on my L-Series, I changed the thermostat, so that the engine ran cooler, and the sensor for the thermo fans to come on earlier.

Beigewagon
 
Ford are pretty good in this regard. My dad an EF Falcon, and in traffic not far from home I heard an alarm from the dash. I pulled over immediately and figured out the thermo fans had died- car was 6 months old Engine survived. With the AU Falcon, they implemented the limp home mode where if it overheats, it drops cylinders and you can crawl home.

In my WRX, I have a meter which monitors temperatures with a sensor mounted tot he outside of the cylonder head (secured with the same bolt as the distick). It has an alarm which you can set which goes off at whatever temperature you programme in. Everything is adjustable, from the temperature in either "C" or "F", trip time, hysterisis and so on. It can monitor 8 different functions and the alarm can be a light, siren, thermo fan or whatever. A friend of mine built it for me years ago. When a rock pierced the radiator one night, the warning light came on which was very handy.

It does not take long at all for temps to rise and this is a good way of letting you concentrate on driving. In my old car, I hooked up an oil pressure light to a tee junction with the existing gauge in case of sudden oil pressure loss.
 
Either way..... the guy who will do the H6 job mostly does high end turbo jobs and has a few afordable gadgets like simple water level sensors which we'll put in the next install.

I asked him about a Watchdog TM2 monitor and he'd never heard of it. Not saying it doesnt work but I'm taking his advice.... never heard of it.
 
I had been looking around for quite some time at low coolant warning devices that worked off a probe inserted into a radiator hose.
But I ended up getting an Engine Watchdog TM2 because of some benefits I believe it has over the other type. It actually measures engine temperature (not coolant) and has an audio alarm for high temperature (which you set) and it can also be connected to your low oil pressure light for an audio warning.
Fitting was easy as the unit comes pre-wired and I mounted the thermocouple under a bolt holding a bracket onto the cylinder head and connected up the alarm wire to the low oil pressure switch. The display has a very bright LED and I decided to put it out of my direct line of sight in the area just under the auxiliary switch panel. This meant cutting out the central support for the switch panel and bending the mounting bracket on the Engine Watchdog but it ended up a perfect fit after a bit of filing.
 
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