I'm looking for a nice looking and clear oil temperature gauge for the R55 S.

I think BMW made a huge mistake in not including these gauges on a 'high-performance' car. One should always know how the car in running..

I know ALTA has water temp (which is pointless, it's the oil temp. that really counts) and a boost gauge...

Any other alternatives?

Thanks in advance

WB

 

How is measuring water temp. pointless? It raises/lowers in direct correlation to oil/engine temperature temperature?

 

It's not pointless but many people still think they can give their car the beans as soon the water temp is settled to operating temperature.

Which is not true! Your oil is what lubricates the engine!

 

yeah... i always thought oil temperature was a more direct way of measuring operating temperature...

 

QFT!!!

water temp can be at temp well before oil temp is even near optimum operating temp. Id want to get oil temp, oil pressure, and boost.

 

Anyone?

 

How about this:
http://www.sw-performance.com/index....tails&p=114267

Closest match I can find to stock gauge face.

 

My '03 has a factory oil temp gauge, do they not offer it anymore?

 

I've never heard that expression before. What one learns on NAM!

What about that devide that plugs into the cars diagnostic port (Scanguage???) Would it give that kind of info?

 

I just checked and while scangauge offers 12 digital gauges, oil temp is not one.

I have the controversial chrono pack, by the way, which may or may not just be a dressed up idiot light.

 

It is an idiot light. Just like water temp on a regular speedo.


And Scangauge can only show you what the car has sensors for. Oil temp is not one of them.

 

You probably have the Aux Gauge Pack under the switches then, that was a dealer installed option.

All the cars some straight from the factory with ONLY a water temp "gauge", the rest are idiot lights.

 

Not bad, but it's in F°.. we use the metric system here.

Nope, a true shame!

lol

Scangauge is nice but a bit tacky and it doesn't show oil temp.

Chrono pack? Never heard of it

 

I don't know where this idea got started (that the Chrono Pack is just 'an idiot light with needles'), but I just don't see it.

When my car's warming up, the oil and water temp needles climb up from ambient temperature to normal operating temperature - they don't immediately swing into place, and if I shut the engine off but leave the ignition on, I can watch them gradually come back down as the engine cools off. Likewise, the "normal" position of the needles varies depending on how hard I'm driving the car and how hot it is outside, so the needles aren't "locked in place" once the engine's up to operating temperature . I've even intentionally forced the engine to run slightly hot by blocking off a portion of the radiator, and the coolant temperature needle reflected the higher coolant temperature.

The Chrono Pack coolant temperature gauge may be electronic and driven by the same sensor that the scangauge would read, but I'm pretty sure the oil temp gauge is a standard electric gauge with its own sender. Likewise, I know that the oil pressure gauge is a standard electric gauge with its own sender.

 

It's a first-gen option only (so far). It moves the speedometer onto the steering column next to the tachometer, replacing the speedometer with gauges for fuel level, oil pressure, oil temperature and coolant temperature.

Here's a picture from BlimeyCabrio's car:



In the picture, you can see that the car's still warming up (or it's very hot outside) - the coolant temperature gauge is up to about 110 °F, but the oil temperature is still pegged low. Also, even though the car's probably idling, the oil pressure is up at 35 psig, indicating that the oil's still cold.

 

OMG! That's brilliant!

But WHY don't they offer it anymore? :(

 

I don't know if it wasn't a very popular option on the first-gen cars, or if MINI is trying to push more people toward the NAV package (which obviously isn't compatible with the Chrono Pack, since they both occupy the same real estate on the dash.)

 

Try this one, Metric 2-1/16" Oil Temperature, 60-160°C, Electric, Silver Dial.

 

Nice!

It does look very difficult to install..

 

Scott,

Can you tell where the oil temp sensor/sender is for your ChronoPack? Drain plug is a common place (my Volvo, some VW's), but on a Gen2 Mini with low clearance and down-facing drain, not sure that's a good idea.

 

I believe the sender is on the engine block, near the oil filter housing. I'll have to find a picture to narrow it down further. I know that neither the Chrono Pack oil pressure nor oil temp sender are in the drain plug, although if you got the dealer-installed auxiliary gauge kit (the one that went between the downtubes on the dash), that kit *did* use the drain plug for the sender.