Low Coolant Alarms

[eksjay]

Many long trips, especially in remote parts and in all weather means that one eyeball is always looking at my temperature gauge. While I have no reason to believe that the 4.0L I6 will raise a sweat over sustained 100km/h speeds for several hours (usually operates around 95 deg c), anything is possible at the weakest point of any cooling system. I worry more about the gauge climbing in city traffic where the engine is running, but the car is not moving.

Has anyone tried installing low coolant alarms and if so, is it worth it? Do you get too many false alarms? Where have you mounted the unit? Has it saved your engine and would you recommend it?

[alexbrown64]

Hey eksjay,

I have the same idea as you. Although i have not fit my unit up yet, i went with the Engine Watchdog. I like the visual display for the engine and transmission. I will connect one lead near the thermostat housing and one lead on the auto transmission. You drive for a few days to see the variations in your temp. Then you set it about 10c above your max temp. That way, you wont have alarms going off when she gets "hot", but you will be alerted if she gets "really hot".

I bought a dash pod, and am installing my Stewart Warner Motor Minder Vacuum gauge, the Engine Watchdog and my new CB radio into it.







Cheers,

[awg]

had a factory engine coolant warning alarm go off in a later model Commodore, when the radiator cracked. All good

Lost a V6 motor on an Holden (Isuzu) Jackaroo, due to a coolant system failure. No alarm

I was climbing a long uphill, and noticed the engine start missing a bit, pulled over within 30secs, but the shutdown heat didnt help much, head gaskets failed

[LuluBelle]

good idea for keeping piece of mind I always drive with one eye on the temp gauge even after everything I have done I still run at around 110 one of the best things I did was a over ride switch for the electric fan found it on youtube when I go slow in the bush or traffic I turn the electric fan on aircon is off fan is normal when aircon is on
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[eksjay]

Great looking console there alexbrown.

Question on your big screen... First, WOW! Did you have to cut into the underside of the dash visor to fit that screen? I have the 95 Sport.

Just a dumb question, where is the low coolant sensor placed? Does it vary on each gadget? Is it the water pump? I think the Redarc one goes into the water pump...

Lulubelle, the only time I have had that temp reading is when I was stuck in a Maccas drive thru for 15 mins because something went wrong with the order of the Ford Ranger driver who bought 10 of everything. The drive thru was a cauldron walled on both sides and the outside temp 50 degrees C, due to the engine heat from all the cars. I shut off the engine but began to roast because the a/c was also switched off. I also had it when I was doing 100km/h in 45 degree outside temps. The rest of the time, and esp in FNQ, the temp stays at 95 degrees.

[alexbrown64]

You can fit a double din head unit to your 95 XJ.
All head units are the same width, but double din units are 100mm high instead of 50mm.
To do this you need a 100mm space.



To do this, you have to make a square hole in the bottom vent so that the lump in the bottom of the middle vent controllers can drop down into. I cut the hole, made a tin drop down box and then used silver foil tape to seal it. So the bottom vent now had a void that would let the middle panel drop down.



The depth has to be sorted as well, as the head unit will not go back far enough. I had to trim the air vent tubes at the back of the dash. This vents blow air up onto the screen.



You then use the foil to tape up the now thinner tubing at the back..
This gives you just enough room to fit a new double din stereo and wiring..



You then end up with the result below. I have tried various chines all in one stereos. I have had the ones with GPS maps, reverse camera, dvd etc.. and all do the job but are still a bit junky. Sound quality suffers, radio reception etc.



I have a new stereo ready to go in. Its a Kenwood. Has all the fruit except maps. I am going to start using my phone mounted in the car for that anyway.



I will be doing the pod and stereo upgrade together.

The sensor on the Watchdog just goes on the block or thermostat housing. If you loose coolant, heat sink will make the steel rise in temp and send the alarm off. Your not just looking for low coolant, but an engine thats getting overheated. Plenty of Youtube vids on it all. Can't wait to get mine all installed. I did blow an engine in Sweden once, when the temp gauge was broken... cost me a fortune..

Cheers,

[awg]

Originally Posted by alexbrown64

The sensor on the Watchdog just goes on the block or thermostat housing. If you loose coolant, heat sink will make the steel rise in temp and send the alarm off. Your not just looking for low coolant, but an engine thats getting overheated. Plenty of Youtube vids on it all. Can't wait to get mine all installed. I did blow an engine in Sweden once, when the temp gauge was broken... cost me a fortune..Cheers,

yep, a coolant gauge is a lousy way to monitor engine temp,
if you blow a hose, they may not even warn you in time, that is what happened to me, an alloy motor running at power can cook in a very short time

An audible alarm based on metal temp, not coolant, is so much better