Can anyone help identify the following engine sensors in the photos?

I assume;

1) Oil Pressure
2) Water temp - left connector is for engine management, right sensor is for temp guage
3) Knock sensor for engine Mngt.
4) Oil Temp


3)

No. 2

No. 3

No. 4

1. crank position sensor
2. water temp
3. don't know
4. oil pressure

Ned I knew you would come to the rescue!

What is the best way to get oil temp then?

Where do I get a connector for the water temp?

on a road engine there was a sensor in the side of the ally fwd sump, though i think that might have been oil level, not sure. We've never run oil temp in the race car as it's pretty much related directly to water temp (we're now running a heat exchanger to the water system as opposed ot an oil cooler anyway.) Someone else can probably suggest a good place, stu16v or skippad have vx 16v engines on the road...

I've not seen a road engine with that sensor by the starter before. That's just below where the standard plenum/ injection would be. at a wild guess, a knock sensor?! that's roughly where no.2 big end would be...

Ned.

I am going to run an oil cooler as the engine already has a thermostatic take off.

If it is okay not to have oil temp, would certainly be alot easier.

The Haynes manual describes it as a knock sensor which is connected to the engine mngt. I think. Still dont know what that does though!

How do you connect the Alternator tension bar if running carbs? Have lost mine somehow so if anyone has a spare one!

i might have a spare somewhere, on holiday next week and would have to have a lok for it anyways..

here is a pic of the trigger wheel on hte crank that the crank position sensor picks up from: (this engine had just blown up which is why it looks a bit messy


I forget what knock is, but i think there's a small dowel on the crank that gives some sort of signal to the sensor..

Ned.

you can see the dowels on the crank i refer to in this pic:

they might just be for balancing, but normally balancing would be a drilling to the lightest.


[Edited on 29/9/04 by ned]

Thanks Ned.

So am I correct in only using oil and water temp as I will be running 45's with 8v dizzy?

well it works on our race car and it's what i'm planning, though others may have different opinions/suggestions to offer..

Ned.

Oil pressure is useful too.. showing a reading on a gauge that is. Better than waiting for the light to come on


Knock sensor is correct. Its all to do self adjustment to fuel type, but if your not using an ECU, it's useless.

Oil temp can be drilled into the oil way, near the pump. But as Ned says it's not really necessary.

Alternator, i think, should be mounted in a different place. I'm gonna mount it exhaust side low down. Wont get in the way there (i think)

3) is indeed a knock sensor. It's purpose is to 'listen' for engine pinking, so the standard ECU could back the ignition timing off if required (using low octane fuel etc) No longer required...


Pic 2) shows the temp sensors. The one on the right is the one that the guage utilises, the one on the left sends temp info to the ECU. This *might* be required, according to you plan to get the engine running...

Dont worry about oil temp. You aint gonna have issues if the motor is relatively standard, and you run it on good oil.

I personally wouldnt have an oil pressure guage in my car (except that it came with the digi dash...!) They are handy to have as a guide to engine wear-little else. My advice would be to get a 'high pressure' oil pressure switch, (standard ones put the light on at around 3-5psi-engine damage probably done by then) and wire it up to a big light right in front of where you are sitting.
Because when I am mid corner on a track day, the last thing I am looking at is the oil pressure guage half way across the dashboard-you will notice a big light immediately...

Thank goodness we have people such as STU16v on here, as he is one of the few who actually know what they are talking about. - I haven't seen a std 2.0XE without a knock sensor! Little dowels on the crank - Ha Ha.

All you'll do with an oil pressure gauge is drive with one eye on it and one on the road. Don't fit one. And what are you going to do if the oil temp goes up and the water doesn't? Stop?

Just a quick note about oil temperature... Ned is right, after a while the oil and water temperatures will reach a sort of equilibrium. I never used to have an oil temp gauge (its actually a mk2 escort, XE powered), but when i was having trouble with oil pressure once, i plumbed a temp gauge in "just to see" what the temp was doing. I was amazed how long it took for the oil to warm up. We found that even when the water temp guage showed the engine was up to temp, the oil gauge had hardly moved from the bottom of the scale.

Now, i suppose thats not entirely surprising, but i really think you should take into account that simply going from the water temp gauge won't give you an accurate indication of when the engine is properly warmed up.

Interestingly, the oil temp gauge i bought was, i think, a "racetech" item - and it just so happened that its exactly the same thread as the sump plug in a RWD manta alloy sump! So its really simple to wire up. Careful it isnt exposed to the ground though (do you have sump guards/skids in locosts?)

Yes thats a knock sensor. The GM ecu uses closed loop knock control - it searches for the very high frequency vibrations caused by detonation, and pulls back the timing in response. (these are very different frequency from the vibrations caused by normal running/combustion which is why they can be "filtered out" by the ecu) SO basically, unless your retaining the GM ecu, or some very trick aftermarket ecu which runs knock control, then just forget about this sensor.

HTH
Tom

Yes, yes and yes i agree with everything said above exept the oil warning light actually comes on at a nice high of 26psi!
(well it does on my engine)

quote:

---

Originally posted by david walker
Thank goodness we have people such as STU16v on here, as he is one of the few who actually know what they are talking about. - I haven't seen a std 2.0XE without a knock sensor! Little dowels on the crank - Ha Ha.

---