Yes. Besides using it for diagnostics and stuff I can use it to help me save fuel. I'm a visual person, the point is it keep the vac up as high as possible. I have a heavy foot.. Lol

 

A voltmeter monitors the entire system - an ammeter only monitors the circuit that passes thru it (typically the battery, less the starter circuit). That's why Ford stopped using an ammeter in '86 & has used a voltmeter ever since.

 

yes, so it monitors the charging system(starter, battery, alternator).

 

I would put a real oil pressure gauge in. The factory gauge is a glorified idiot light with a needle. If you go with a 3 gauge mount, get a real coolant temperature gauge too.

 

GLC, I think I am going to do an oil pressure gauge for my second gauge. My water temp gauge seems ok. thanks. Now to find out how to hook it up. I'm going with an electric.

 

anyone know what thread and whats required to add an oil pressure gauge to my truck? T-fittings, sending units, etc.?

nevermind, i see the point to tap in, its above the oil filter. I'll get the t adapter and the electric sending unit.

Thank you everyone for your help. I really appreciate it.

 

The factory "coolant" temperature gauge actually gets its input from the cylinder head temp sensor. It comes up in a linear fashion from "C" to the middle as it warms up, and then stays right in the middle without moving at all till it's overheating, at which point it pegs out immediately at "H" and trips the idiot light. About 15 seconds later, the alternate cylinder deactivation cuts in and the CEL comes on. I'd like to have a gauge that would be linear all the way up and actually measures the coolant temp.

 

Wow, they really did get cheap putting these junk gauges on. Thanks for that info.

 

NO, it doesn't. It would only monitor the BATTERY in the typical installation. It wouldn't monitor the alternator, and it NEVER monitors the starter. It ONLY monitors ONE circuit - the one that passes thru it. A VOLTmeter monitors the entire system.

This may help clarify it to you:
An ammeter shows Drain & Charge. An alternator can never be a drain, and a starter can never put out a charge. So obviously, half the ammeter's face would be wasted on either of them. And if you ever study physics, you'll learn that a single display can't measure current (Amperes) at 2 or more points simultaneously; only 1.That's not correct. The gauge is true & linear, proportional to the sender (either ECT on older trucks or CHT on newer ones), just the way it should be. But if the PCM detects overheating, it forces the gauge to peg & turns on the warning light. If the temperature continues to rise, FSC strategy kicks in. But the gauge normally works just the way you'd expect one to.

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Note that the switching indicated on those diagrams occurs in the PCM - not in the CHT, which has a linear output.

 

That's not entirely true either. The stock gauge reaches it's "normal", resting position by 160*. It will not move from this position to indicate an overheat until the temperature increased above 235*. I don't know about you but that is not how I expect a gauge to work...especially one that supposedly indicates in a linear fashion.

 

IDK where you guys are getting that from, but it's NOT what Ford says, and it's NOT how any Ford temperature gauge I've ever owned works. Both my CVs (including BOTH setups in the '94) work fully proportionally, as confirmed continuously by a ScanGauge. Both setups in my Bronco also work proportionally - no flat response anywhere in the gauge.

How do you think that could be accomplished, anyway? The sender (which those diagrams show to be proportional) is connected directly to the gauge, and the gauge is just 3 coils. It's not built to have a flat response to a linear signal increase. It would take some kind of processor to hold the gauge while the sender rises, and that's just not present - certainly not in gauges up to ~'04 when they all became stepper motors, but why would Ford waste the effort to add it? The closest thing to what you're describing is the Anti-Slosh module (and its later version called Gauge Check) that retards the fuel level from rapid changes (but DOES allow the change over a few minutes), and it has a discrete digital output for the indicator light. And in '87, the oil pressure gauge became a fully-fake when the sender was deleted and a switch & resistor were substituted.

But there's nothing on the temperature gauge to alter its display from mirroring the sender.

 

That's an easy one to answer...the exact same reason the oil pressure gauge is not real. It works the exact same way. It doesn't fluctuate with a fluctuation is real oil pressure. Why?? Because Ford got smart after installing "real" oil pressure gauges in cars a few years back. After getting droves of people coming in complaining about the needle moving around and thinking there was a problem, Ford installed the idiot light with a needle. Water temp is the exact same thing. Under normal perfect conditions, your water temp can fluctuate plus or minus 10* in some circumstances. Ford doesn't want this reflecting in the needle and people bringing their cars in to get the "problem" fixed.

The temperature conditions I listed in my last post are not my interpretation of how I think the gauge works, nor was it regurgitated info I just picked up on here...I have a real water temp gauge and I'm telling you that's how my needle reacts. Best answer I have for ya.

 

The question you quoted only applies to a HEC - the kind with stepper motors. Your '02 gauges work this way:So the temperature gauge ISN'T a fake, and never has been. People understand that engines run hotter in hot weather & colder in cold weather, so the reasoning behind the oil gauge doesn't apply.

If your temperature gauge has a flat spot, it's defective.

 

Well then it's been defective since day one...along with the other truck I owned and along with the three trucks my dad has owned, and every other Ford truck I've ever been in.

 

My new (used 2002) GMC Savana Has real gauges. My water temp in my E350 or my F150 does not fluctuate like it does in the Savana. Oil pressure is real to. Ford should have taken the time to educate there (dumb) customers and not just thought were all stupid. I like the real gauges in that van. Dont really like the van itself its already broken down on me. Water pump only had it 10 days. I never have had a down day in my E350 in 8 years.