the voltemeter guauge is the most useless guage ever

[Old Blue]

...if you are a good driver, you constantly scan the road, your mirrors, you gauges. you dont notice you are doing it, but u are subconciously always checking these things. if you own a classic car, you should always be checking all your gauges.

wow. apparently i am a bad driver. I dont care how often you check your gauges. in less than 3 minutes my oil pump died and my engine blew. If you can honestly tell everyone that you have never in your life driven longer than 2 minutes without checking your oil gauge. then i tip my hat to you.

Fact is i did then, and still now check my gauges regularly. but when you have a 3 minute or less window for complete melt down, the chance for you to notice the oil gauge in time to save your engine is pretty slim, at least in my case. as for changing your distributor and droping your oil pump drive shaft in the pan. well, i can see how the gauge would be usefull there.

in cases of over heats, you have tell tale signs usually to help you notice the problem, steam, coolant smells, and enough time usually to notice your rising gauge or temp light before you start damaging things.

Volt gauge too gives you a fair amount of time to notice it before your car dies as it will run for some time on the battery without an alternator that works.

But with no oil or oil preasure, your car will often run like a dream...right until it grenades.

I have driven in Columbus and youngstown Ohio, and i can tell you the roads there are far safer and calmer than san diego CA. you may have more opportunity and few distractions for more frequent gauge checks, and may have noticed the oil pump failure i had, when i myself missed it. I doubt it though.

I believe in regular gauge checks...

However, i still think that given the window of opportunity to notice a dead oil pump. or the fact that the gauge will show you fantastic oil preasure even when you are almost completely out of oil, i still rate this as one of the least important gauges

 

[ozstang65]

..However, i still think that given the window of opportunity to notice a dead oil pump. or the fact that the gauge will show you fantastic oil preasure even when you are almost completely out of oil, i still rate this as one of the least important gauges

Which is why you MUST have a low oil pressure light also.

A technique sometimes used in the racing fraternity is to set all you analog gauges so that the needle is vertical when all is OK. Looks a bit weird with your gauges all over the place, but a very quick glance will tell you if anything is out of the ordinary.

Digital gauges of any sort are a total waste of time.

 

[6Stang7]

the oil pressure gauge i think is pretty useless. you can be way low on oil and still have pressure

are you kidding me? what if oil pressure drops off while you are driving? wouldnt you like to save your motor?

 

[Max Power]

Every time I have had an alternator or regulator failure, I could tell right away by the rate of the turn signals. A gauge wouldn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

 

[Sicarius428]

At least having a gauge gives you the opportunity to see a potential problem. Its more like a fighting chance. Whether you choose to monitor it or not is up to the person. It can't hurt... There are plenty of people that have saved their cherished vehicles... from disaster so to say that gaueges are useless is a personal issue.
Kevin

 

[Old Blue]

dont missunderstand me. i have never said, "remove the gauge" or "it serves no purpose at all"

my point is, simply, that the instance of you spotting a problem with this gauge in time to save your motor before serious damage occurs is very very slim, unless your eyeballs never leave it. thats not a personal issue. it is an example of how fast your engine can blow if your oil pump dies inbetween gauge checks. thats it

i think as stated above, that having, or adding an oil preassure becon light is key, and FAR supperior to a gauge. a light will get your attention, as opposed to a gauge you must happen to be looking at the moment a problem occurrs.

barring low oil preassure lights, i think the oil preassure gauge is one of the least effective gauges because of the rapid amount of time damage can occur. that is just my personal experience with the oil preassure gauge

 

[69 302/351c]

I've been saved by the voltmeter when my adjustment on the alt. was loose and I noticed that it was not charging. As for the other gages, I have my water temp and oil pressure gages right up on the column in constant line of sight. Also have the customary tach and the Shelby console pod with the voltmeter and the vacuum gage (anybody else have a trans temp gage?). Still have all the stock gages functioning as backup. The water temp gages are plumbed so I can see when the thermostat opens...maybe it's overkill, but to each his own.

 

[6Stang7]

Every time I have had an alternator or regulator failure, I could tell right away by the rate of the turn signals. A gauge wouldn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

what if you have a voltage regulator problem? like for example, i would not know about my current problem. sometimes be volts will bounce back and forth between 13 and 16 and sometimes stay at 16, which can cause things to short out. go hook a DMM up and see what happens. i bet u'll get a constant voltage because the meter will average the two values.

 

[6Stang7]

ok all, let's look at it this way. installing these gauges cost automakers money correct? now let's say that it was $5 to do the volt and oil gauge. only $5 right? now add that up over all the cars they produce and you are deep into the millions, if not billions of dollars. will having them increase sales, or will people not buy cars without them? probably not. in fact, i bet if you asked most people today what the point of a oil and volt gauge is, they couldn't tell you. so maybe they are worthless in that sense, but if you know what they indicate, then yes, they are worth it.

 

[Hack]

useful? how is it useful considering you didn't notice it was at zero until you heard a ticking noise?

I do look at my gages - when I'm driving. I don't usually watch them when I'm riding with someone. For a start, you can't even read them from a normal sitting position on the passenger side of my pickup. When I heard the ticking, I first turned the radio off and then leaned across to read the gage.

I still think it's useful.

 

[snowball]

The whole point of this thread was whether or not a volt gauge was useful or not. In my view the volt guage in very useful. Knowing that you system is not charging will give you quite a lot of time to address the problem before your battery runs flat. This is dependent, of course, on the condition of your battery and what your power usage is at the time. You may be using wipers, headlights and the heater on a winters night, or cruising on a fine day with just the stereo on. If you cut down on power usage, you could run for a couple of hours or even a couple of days before the battery dies. You do, of course, need to look at your gauges regularly and understand what they are telling you.

 

[Max Power]

I've been saved by the voltmeter when my adjustment on the alt. was loose and I noticed that it was not charging. As for the other gages, I have my water temp and oil pressure gages right up on the column in constant line of sight. Also have the customary tach and the Shelby console pod with the voltmeter and the vacuum gage (anybody else have a trans temp gage?). Still have all the stock gages functioning as backup. The water temp gages are plumbed so I can see when the thermostat opens...maybe it's overkill, but to each his own.

Hey, how did you get that shelby pod to fit? It hits the heater controls for me.

 

[gp001]

I think this thread is hilarious.
Let's get rid of fuel gauges too! If the car runs it has gas, if it doesn't run you're out of gas. And what about that pesky water temp gauge? The steam will tell you when you're car is too hot.
Gauges are only as useful as the person reading them. If you think the only readings gauges can give you are the extremes of "on" or "off", then you do not know what you are looking at. Anyone that modifies a "system" (be it engine, electrical, better be adding reliable gauges and learning how to read them.

If you know your vehicle you can tell small changes that are indications of things not being right.
Voltmeter: Under charging, over charging, erratic needle behavior are all voltmeter readings that should be indicative of an issue: Shorts, v reg failure, accessory failures, etc. Say for example, you have an electric fan. You know when you flip it on it your voltmeter takes a dip (fans are power hungry). Say your fan fails. If you know the normal reading of the voltmeter then you can see an issue before your car overheats.
Oil Pressure: First off, if you are using the oil pressure gauge to tell you how much oil you have in the pan, then you should be refered to by the name of the device that is supposed to used to monitor oil levels.
Lower than normal oil pressure can indicate a major engine component failure starting, something blocking the pickup, or something as simple as an intake gasket leak. Strange fluctuations can indicate a pump going south, a cam gear wearing, or (as in my case) a distributor gear going.

Gauges really can be your friends

 

[6Stang7]

very well put gp001

 

[84convertablegt]

once again, i concure totally, this thread is stupid