Curious if anyone has an opinion on mechanical versus electric gages with sending units. Was looking and changing gages and am not real happy about the oil and fuel lines that have to run from the engine compartment all the was to helm. Any downside of changing to electric with sendinf unit? The two major ones are Fuel pressure and oil pressure.

This winter I upgraded all my guages. I went with mechanical oil and water pressure, but not fuel pressure. I didnt want to have a fuel line run to the helm. The reason I did the water and oil pressure gauges was simply for better accuracy. I have a mechanical oil pressure guage mounted on the engine. The electric guage on the dash ( changed it twice ), never read the same as the mechanical. I just got sick of it. Havent run the boat yet with the new gauges.

I'll always run electric gauges. If you've ever had the unpleasant experience of a thin jet of hot oil spray on your 'area' while driving, you'll not want to repeat it!

I find so long as you get the right sender for your application, if you've got the right gauge, the electric ones are just as accurate if not more so, the mechanical gauges have to contend with several metres (sorry, lots of feet) of line which could kink or stuff up, all of which may alter the reading whereas if your electric gauge is working, you are picking up exactly what the sender is. Easier to install, diagnose and fix too!

Just make sure you've got quality gauges with actual number readings, rather than 'idiot bars' (green, amber, red) and that the senders you install are for the correct temp / pressure range to suit you application (marine senders). I find automotive electric oil and water temp senders aren't sensitive enough to lower temps due to the higher operating temp of cars.

Just my thoughts anyway, I guess it's a personal preference not to burn my junk with scalding oil, but everyone's different!