Oil Pressure/Temp Gauge at Turbo Oil Feed Line?

I'm not terribly familiar with the oil plumbing on my ALH. I've seen gauges tapped into the stock pressure switch location using something like this. I don't have much room there because of my bypass filter.

Is there any downside to putting the same sort of adapter into the port on the back of the filter housing where the turbo oil feed line attaches? I have a braided steel line there, so it should fit with no issues as long as the threads are the same (are they?). Will the pressures and temps there be the same ones I should be looking at?

Also, what pressures and temps should I start to get concerned at? What ranges are people using on their gauge faces?

Bump. Anybody?

That adapter may work for the oil *pressure* sender, but an oil temp sender wouldn't work properly because oil doesn't flow through that manifold - and the reading you get could well be lower than the temp of most of the oil. I have a threaded drain plug (from New South Performance) with a temp sender threaded into it.

I've always though another option for sensing temperature would be drilling and tapping the banjo bolt for the turbo oil feed line, but I don't know if this bolt could physically accommodate this.

Oh! Another option you may have: I believe early ALH had a second M10 x 1.0 port below the OE oil pressure switch, plugged from the factory. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.) My BEW had this area cast blank - no port. :-(. This would be a good place for a metric thermocouple.

Also, I've not seen any higher than 210*F (usually closer to 180*F) oil temp. Pressure goes anywhere from 12 PSI (idle - warmed up) to ~85 PSI (stone cold - any RPM)

You know what? I stand corrected. The manifold you mentioned uses a long K-type thermocouple (rather than a VDO-type stubby thermocouple) that would indeed "poke" into the main oil flow within the manifold - so you could indeed get an accurate oil temp with that setup and one of McNally's gauges. (Real trick gauges. Only thing missing is an alarm feature)

Thanks for the comments.

nkgagne said:

That adapter may work for the oil *pressure* sender, but an oil temp sender wouldn't work properly because oil doesn't flow through that manifold

Click to expand...

I'm confused here. Oil definitely flows there (lots of it) because it's where the turbo oil feed line connects.

nkgagne said:

I've always though another option for sensing temperature would be drilling and tapping the banjo bolt for the turbo oil feed line, but I don't know if this bolt could physically accommodate this.

Click to expand...

I'm talking about tapping in using the adapter from McNally between the oil filter housing and the turbo oil feed line, which would do exactly what you're suggesting here without drilling into the banjo bolt.

nkgagne said:

Oh! Another option you may have: I believe early ALH had a second M10 x 1.0 port below the OE oil pressure switch, plugged from the factory.

Click to expand...

I thought about that, but mine is late production, so it doesn't have the plug there.


The oil temp is generally going to follow the coolant temp, but I'm wondering where I need to panic and pull my foot out of it for a little bit. Likewise for pressure (how far outside of the normal range is the reaction point).

I'm also still wondering if the threads are the same for the turbo oil feed line as they are for the stock pressure switch, but I can probably figure that out on my own.

I would just use the manifold as designed, i.e. unthread the OE oil pressure switch, and thread it in its place. This manifold looks like it is designed to accommodate the OE pressure switch, the McNally pressure sender, and the K-type thermocouple that probes into the port and senses oil temp. Neat idea.

nkgagne said:

I would just use the manifold as designed, i.e. unthread the OE oil pressure switch, and thread it in its place.

Click to expand...

I'd use it there if it didn't require removing my bypass filter. Hence the questions about the alternate location.

arne487 said:

I've seen gauges tapped into the stock pressure switch location using something like this. I don't have much room there because of my bypass filter.

Click to expand...

I swear I read! In that case check out my solution: 42 Draft Designs oil pressure relocation manifold. It has a 1 foot hose that lets you install the pressure sensor and the OE sensor at a short distance. As for temperature, New South Performance sells a drilled and tapped (1/8" NPT) drain plug. This is where I have my senders.

For what it's worth, it looks like the stock pressure switch is M10x1.0 whereas the turbo oil feed line port is M12x1.5 so that adapter wouldn't work there anyway.