Brad Christy

Guys,

Gaffrig is still not answering their phone. I'm beginning to wonder if they haven't been affected by the storms of the past couple days.

Any guidance on this? Is there any harm in swapping the ignition 12v and the signal lead on the back of the gauge? This is about all I can think of, bad sender aside, that could be causing the gauge to not respond.

Thanks. Brad.

Brad Christy

Guys,

OK.... So finally got ahold of Gaffrig. After our conversation, it's confirmed I've got the gauge wired correctly. Mike at Gaffrig gave me a quick basic function test to run the gauge through, which I have confirmed. Beyond that, he is suggesting I just didn't give it enough time, or maybe need to actually load the engine under power, to get the oil temp to climb into the service range of the gage. So, I have to ask....

I was thinking the oil temp would climb pretty much in sync with the water temp, thinking they are both kinda tied to block temp. Is this not the case? I ran the engine a good ten minutes or so after the water temp gage reached 165°, and verified the filter was warm to the touch. Did I just "panic first, reason later" on this? Is it expectable for the oil temp to lag behind water temp after start up until under a load?

Thanks. Brad.

87MirageIntruder

On the 496s I've worked on the answer is yes, the oil temp lags behind the coolant temp by quite a bit on a cold engine. Then the oil temp after cruising a while will get above the coolant temp but it takes a while.

Brad Christy

87MirageIntruder,

Sweet. I'm liking the sound of that. Because, otherwise, I've got a mystery electrical issue in the gauge wiring. And I HATE electrical gremlins.

Going out tomorrow for a day on the water. Gonna give it the full sea trial, so to speak. News at eleven....

Thanks. Brad.

BBYSTWY

Even on my blower motor...the oil temp stays at zero basically whatever the gauge starts at until I start running then it will start to climb...sounds like the oil cooler is doing it's job

Brad Christy

BBYSTWY,

That's actually exactly why this whole project was started. I'm thinking the oil is getting too warm and causing the water temp to spike unnecessarily and the oil pressure to drop after dropping to an idle after running a while. It was suggested I get a handle on the oil temp and see what it's doing. The oil cooler is the stock Merc unit for the 496, but the engine has a mild ProCharger. It's very possible the oil cooler ISN'T keeping up under load. We'll see. The next stop may very well be plumbing in a second oil cooler, as I don't think I'm up for changing the one that's already under there.

Thanks. Brad.

87MirageIntruder

Another option I do on supercharged 496 builds is to repurpose the stock oil cooler for the power steering, and then put a large engine oil cooler across the back of the engine where the factory power steering cooler was. The cooler for a 600sci fits well there.

You will find under boost the factory 496 oil cooler isn't up to the task. I'm running a Hardin13 plate box cooler to keep mine cool at 8psi.

Brad Christy

Guys,

Perfect day for boating; almost too hot with the water too cold to swim....

I didn't get a chance to do any extended runs, as we were on Caesar Creek, in SW Ohio, with it's whopping 16mi of shoreline, a large bulk of which is up in the sticks where only the fishermen can go, and two large no-wake zones. But we did verify that the gage is functioning, and it likely fairly accurate. The needle will barely climb above the 140° mark just motoring around, but running at WOT for the ~30 seconds or so you can on this lake, it climbed to about 230°, then hovered at about 200° as we idled in to the marina to pick up some company that was joining us for the afternoon. By the time we'd docked, peed, loaded the additional passengers and idled back out, it was down to ~150° for the rest of the day. I'll have to see how it behaves going from Conley to Rowena, or whatever, on Cumberland to get a real sense of how the stock oil cooler is doing.

Also.... And I'm so happy this worked out.... The depth gage works again . We'd been pretty used to it just feeding us gibberish for the last two years, but couldn't figure out what we were doing wrong. We now know how much water we're in. Caesar Creek has some serious shallow water that I was unaware of. I have a few spots I'll no avoid from here on out now.

Thanks. Brad.

Ryanw10

Glad it's working out! 230 seems a little high for a short run, but maybe it will just stay at that 230 for you under long runs.

I have also done my fair share of boating without a depth finder. I have never got completely stuck, but I have definitely had to use more throttle than I would like to get completely floating again...Now I make sure the depth finder is working. I have also discovered that on long runs on lake michigan, a gps is absolutely necessary. And not your cell phone one...

Brad Christy

Guys,

So, while all went well enough on the water, I noticed this:



No, I don't usually leave the dipstick sticking out of the top of the tube like that....

There's a small pool of oil on that upper flange of the dipstick, I've noticed it before, but always blew it off as, maybe I wiped it off the dipstick putting it back in the tube or whatever. But I wiped it clean after the oil change and it's back after running. I've also noticed a fair bit of oil on the air breather for the ProCharger, which is likely due to the end of the vent tube being secured right above it ('m going to remedy that). I've also noticed a small bit of oil loss over time, as well as the recent revelation of oil in the bilge (not a lot; just spots here and there). I have to think I'm getting some crankcase pressure that is manifesting as oil being pushed up the dipstick tube. Is this normal, or do I have an issue somewhere? Compression seemed good when going through the ordeal that ended up being the injectors, so I wouldn't think there's much blow-by.

Thanks. Brad.