Oil Temp Gauge and Oil Pressure Gauge

Hey folks. Anybody have any idea if there is a "plug and play" oil temp gauge and oil pressure gauge that can be plugged directly into the dme with gauges small enough that can be velcroed somewhere onto the top of the steering column? I know the durametric can track these things but unfortunately it's tough to read the computer while on the track. Just looking for something that can be set up within eyesight to monitor from time to time while on the track. Thanks guys.

I don't know if it's available for the NA 996 - my Cobb Accessport for the 996 Turbo can read & display oil temp realtime. I also built a little circuit and made a holder for a tiny digital meter on the steering column to read oil temp. The Turbo oil temp sensor is completely different from the NA 996, my calibration curves won't work on the NA car. I don't have an NA car to build new calibration curves. If there is more than passing interest I could investigate how to do this for the NA car. I have never been concerned about oil pressure in the Turbo as it's a non-issue so the factory oil pressure gauge is fine.

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PRF, I remember what you built for the gauge. Quite frankly it's perfect. I was hoping someone had figured something out that was plug and play for us non-engineers. I'll take a look at Cobb. Appreciate the heads up.

I was thinking about using a Oil Filter Sandwich Plate Adapter with a temp and pressure sensor. With the spin on filter it looks to be flush with my 2 quart sump plate.

Can't provide anything of value. I've always wanted to reconfigure the cluster to place oil pressure where the coolant temp is, oil temp where the fuel gauge is, coolant temp where the oil pressure currently is, and fuel gauge where the battery gauge is. In short, localize all temps and pressures in one corner and replace the battery gauge with fuel level

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I like how you are thinking. I would gladly pay for a cluster that adds oil temps. I know it's easier said than done, but there is money to be made if someone can figure out a simple, easy and tasteful way to do it. As a stopgap, I like what PRF did because it's easy to glance at. Ultimately, that may be what I do and just have my indy set up the wiring. I put a call into durametric today to see if they have any solutions that can be used as well. Seems like a logical extension of their software capability. But don't want to track the car with a laptop that I can't look at. I also realize that there are plenty of high end solutions like with AIM, but in my case, I am a technological Neanderthal that any big money spend will end up being wasted. Just a simple gauge is all I need. I bet some enterprising folks are working on a turnkey solution. Just gotta keep searching.

I think it should be fairly straight forward. If the sending units are there for the desired information readouts. Then it's just a matter of redirecting to the specified location on the cluster. Once they are mapped to the desired location you could create a new overlay for the gauge face with the correct information. In the same way people swap out for white or red gauges you could swap in a different face with a different set of values. The only hiccup might be calibration of the needle and getting it to report the information accurately along the sweep.

I have a working prototype of a digital gauge that taps into the signal from the dme. I�m overall happy with it, but still working out some details. You can see here I have it mounted it off the steering column, but I don�t like that location. I�m going to try to recess it in the batwing panel at the base of the console. I don�t see it as something that needs to be monitored constantly. In this current version, the display brightness is not optimal, direct sunlight in through a window at the right angle makes it unreadable , but it�s too bright at night. My next version will automatically dim the display when the lights are on. Some pics:

Coup, nice work! I run my aim solo 2 velcroed to the top of my steering wheel with a Velcro strap around the steering column holdings it down. Fits great and works great. I have to sit in the car to see if I can stick a gauge on the side of the solo and see everything. Don't need to look at the gauge until about halfway thru the session when oil gets hot.

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HB, Thanks for the response. Love to see how you do it if you go that route! It looks like the UIDS may also be machined to plug a sensor into as well providing another option. But then it comes down to what gauge to use and where to put it to make it useable on the track.

Two advantages of a system like mine is that uses the exact same signal that the dme uses. If the display mounted in the box its small and light so with a piece of Velcro tape on the bottom along with another piece taped on top of the steering column is all that’s needed to hold it. A connector on the side means it’s easy to remove and install if not wanted for every day use.

Coop, I think you may have nailed it for someone that just wants to use it on the track to monitor. Any idea if it's doable with a smaller gauge? For those that want to run a more elaborate data collection with a computer, tapping into the oil with a sensor would possibly be the next step.

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Yes the UIDS comes with a 10mmx1.0 threaded boss that is plugged, to be used with the small/accurate AIM oil temp sensor....Will be perfect for an aftermarket temp gauge solution..

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The actual electronics are about 1.75� x 1� x 0.5�. The display screen is 1.2� x .6�, and the digits are 0.36� tall. This is the smallest 4 digit programmable display I�ve found. If I had a 3D printer a smaller case could maybe designed in a more aesthetically pleasing shape. For now I�m limited to off the shelf cases. That�s another reason I�m going to mount mine in the batwing panel so only the display is visible.

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Makes sense. Are you thinking about manufacturing it for sale?

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This is the gauge I�m thinking of using. GlowShift 10 Color Digital Dual Temperature & Pressure Gauge Kit - for Boost, Oil Pressure, Water & Transmission Temp - Includes Electronic Sensors - 2 Multi-Color LED Displays - Tinted Lens - 52mm Amazon Amazon

I really like the idea of adding the sensors on a sandwich plate at the oil filter. That's what Zbomb did and that's the critical point in the engine. I recall we shortened the nipple on the LN Spin on adapter to make the sandwich plate work. I have seen an Autometer 20014 dual gauge pod that attaches to the steering column cover. Perhaps that's a solution.

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if there�s enough interest I could be talked into it.

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Do you have the regular Solo 2 or the DL version? I am wondering if its the DL if you get it to display the temp instead of speedo or tach. Units would be off but at least the digits could be correct. Can you post a picture of what your driver's view looks like with the solo mounted? Thanks

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Ron, it's the Solo 2. I will get a picture tomorrow morning and post. Fits nicely on the steering column.

Here is a picture. Not a great one just taken with a flashlight tonight. Where it's sitting, I can see all the gauges. The simplicity of it is that all I need to do is Velcro the box to the top of my steering column and then I run a Velcro strap the whole way around it to hold it safely in place. It would be very easy to Velcro a small oil temp gauge to the side of the solo as well. The key is to have everything within line of sight for a quick glance on the track.

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its my understanding that on a 996 the oil temp does not run through the canbus and cannot be picked up by the aim solo2dl.

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just looked up the autometer dual gauge pod. Very cool and simple design. I would need to figure out where to put my AIM solo.

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Unfortunately it seems so. Damn shame they don't take the DL a few steps further.

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Thank you this is a good picture. I have been digging around it looks like you've seen Ashai's thread already. I think I figured out how to recreate it for you, but I need a little bit more help please. Is the DME that people are tapping into the one located behind the rear passenger side seat? My car is equipped with Bose. Would the sub need to come out to access it? That's really far away from the dash. Your car has a cage right? I guess it would be harder for you to get to it than me haha Coopduc or theprf, Did you leave all the electronics by the DME so that the only wires running up to the dash are for the display?

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Ron, Not certain where everyone is tapping into. I am severely limited as it pertains to electronics, hence looking for a simple plug and play into the DME using maybe the durametric cable. In answer to your question, yes, I have a roll bar and GT3 seats. Please don't go to the expense of taking your time to figure this out unless it's something you are looking to do for yourself.

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From the pinout, pin 8 was labeled RPM. I remember from people using physical gauges for their sim rigs that this is usually just a 500Hz or so 5V PWM signal. The reason I was asking is because we could do something like Ashai and other did but output the correct PWM signal instead. Then people with Solo 2 DLs would see like "200 RPM" but just know in your head that really its 200F oil temp. Its not slick but if that way works it would be one less extra thing to stick onto the steering column. I think this is really neat. I became an EE because in my E30 days I followed this thread where this guy converted the blank hazard light button to be a gauge. I think George Graves was his name. Anywho. I think I figured it out the elctro bits just not sure what the DME connector looks like and how to make the cable so that this is revertible back to stock. If we were local I'd swing by on a Sunday and help you hook this up.

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Only speaking for my design. No electronics are located at the dme. There is only one wire running forward from the dme, the oil temp signal. Signal processing and conversion to 5v is located at the display, backside of pcb that�s not shown in my pics. Power to run the display comes from the unused phone adapter all cars have behind the console, but could also be any wire carrying 12v when the ignition is on.

Folks, everyone's suggestion are incredibly insightful. What we have seen with Jason's work on his oil stability thread is that you can purchase a robust system from AIM, which can measure and display any data real-time on its programmable gauges, as well as record the data for off track analysis. In addition, for those with the skills, there are single gauge solutions that can be assembled to measure oil temps real-time by either: (1) tapping into the electronics (dme/ecu) or (2) running a sensor from somewhere in the oil system. But it doesn't look like any turnkey kit has been manufactured for sale as of yet that is a simple plug n play gauge that can be placed anywhere of choosing, which easily connects to either oil system or electronic system for dummies. In my case, I would somehow Velcro it to my AIM Solo on the steering column and then remove it after the track day. Others may want it to be permanent in a location that works. You guys are onto something. Appreciate the dialogue and hope the ideas and ultimately a turnkey product emerges.

My system has a little circuit board with a microcontroller back next to the ecu. I am driving little voltmeters I got on Amazon, they are 7/8" long and 7/16" high. They don't dim though so I installed a switch to turn them off when I don't need to use them. I am reading the oil temp sensor at the ECU and the Tiptronic temp sensor at the TCU. My circuit board converts those voltages to the temperatures. Then it outputs voltages proportional to the temperatures. 1.80V = 180 degrees. I ran a 5-wire cable up to the front to power the voltmeters and provide the signal to each voltmeter. Running the wire was pretty hard, getting the carpets pulled up enough to get the wire through was tough. I am working on an updated version that uses a 1.27" TFT LCD to display more values, and uses remote sensors linked by RS485 to make a distributed sensor network. This has been stalled a bit because of the chip shortages.

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Its not so simple. The issure is that porsche didnt put the info into the canbus, they were probably thinking, at the time, it would be much easier to read a standalone external signal. The technology moved the other direction and canbus interpritation became the norm instead of the "new thing, Aim has developed a very nice canbus reader, to allow it to read the external intput is almost moving backward. There more expensive data colection units that can grab the signal at 2-3x the cost. I just got my aim so i have not yet dove deep enough into its capavilities yet to see if there is a back door way of getting the data. There r companies like Dakota Digital that have all kind of conversion boxes for signal collection. I have done a deep dive into gerenerating a canbus signal packet using a rasberry pie. This would be the best way to send the signal to the Aim. My issue is the tech is currently over my head and it would require way too much time for me to learn. Maybe in 10 or so years when i retire.

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If tech is over your head, then I am stuck in an ocean canyon surrounded overhead by 25k feet of water.

There’s no reason why someone with a little knowledge can’t splice into the oil temp wire and run a wire up under the dash, or anywhere you wish, and put a connector on the end. Then just plug into it when you want the gauge, or unplug it when it’s not needed.

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Only because i havent needed to figure it out yet. I understand how it but have yet to dive into making an interface. The info is out there but is gonna require some "will" to get it to work. Yes thats the easy part but it will require the interface to interpret the signal. There r companies out there making this stuff for chevy and ford but our 996 community is too small to get their attention.

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Converting the signal is easy. I�m using an ATtiny micro controller and programmed it with some code to read the signal (output from the temp sensor), convert it to a temperature, and send it to the display. It could also be done with an arduino or raspberry pi, but those are relatively large and in excess of what�s needed for the task.

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HB, where are you thinking about mounting it?