VDO oil temp Gauge

Post Thu May 13, 2021 9:27 pm

Ive been losing my mind trying to get my oil temp gauge to read.
Its from a audi 80 coupe i believe. part of the standard set of 3 gauges the rest all work fine ( voltage and oil pressure ) however i can not seem to get the oil temp working.

Ive checked my wiring and its all correct, going to the right places ect. Ive even tried setting up a little test bed out of the car with no luck.

The sender is working correctly, high resistance when cold, low resistance when its been sat in hot water. But still no luck when its plugged into the gauge the needle doesn't move from 60. Ive even tried another gauge with no luck, tested both gauges by grounding signal wire to neg poll on battery and needle swings to max so the needle does move.

I'm really lost with this one and cant seem to figure out why its not working.

all parts Ive used have been from the install guide on the zone so I'm sure I've got the right sender for the gauge (049-919-563B)

any help much appreciated.

Post Fri May 14, 2021 12:12 am

Does depend where your sender is situated. If its connected onto the sump, it will take some miles before the gauge registers as the oil is cooled continuously in the sump whereas on the oil filter housing on the engine it will react faster and show a higher temp.

Post Fri May 14, 2021 12:25 pm

Contours wrote: ↑
Fri May 14, 2021 12:12 am
Does depend where your sender is situated. If its connected onto the sump, it will take some miles before the gauge registers as the oil is cooled continuously in the sump whereas on the oil filter housing on the engine it will react faster and show a higher temp.

It still doesn't register when I've got it set up out of the car on the test bed. Send it sat in boiling hot water and still no movement of the needle

Post Fri May 14, 2021 2:26 pm

When i had a mid-eighties Audi with an oil-temp gauge the needle hardly ever moved off its stop- i think the needle was only supposed to move when the oil was overheating.

Post Fri May 14, 2021 5:24 pm

Apologies. I see that your sender isn't corresponding with your gauge. I fitted a Tim electric temperature gauge some years ago to the 316 and the sender is attached to the filter housing. There are three wires going to the gauge, two for the sender and one for earthing the gauge. Not sure if your set up is the same. The gauge shows a reading once the oil warms up.