Replace air temp gauge with oil temp gauge

[gamechngr]

Getting different opinions on replacing air gauge with oil temp gauge.
One school of thought is who cares what the oil temp is. If engine gets hot so will oil temp. Plus one more thing for us to take our eyes off rode.
Others like knowing what there oil temp is at any given moment.

[pigbike]

My opinion is the air temp gauge is useless and whether it's worth changing is another issue. You can't do much about the temp, and it will be whatever it is. I have the temp gauge on the oil stick and know mine runs between 190-220 in hot weather. I don't need to sit there looking at the temp gauge and worrying about everytime it moves.

I would spend your money on Mobil 1 V Twin Syn 20/50(or what ever syn oil you like) to lower your oil temps, and use the oil stick gauge just so you know it's not way over 230 degrees. From what I read you want your oil in the 200-230/240 range.

[Memnoch451]

I love the air temp gauge.. that way I know how much to suffer!

[JohnC]

I already know how hot it is outside of my engine because I can feel it. But I like knowing at a glance how hot it is inside of my engine. Replacing the air temp gauge with an oil temp gauge just made sense to me. IMO, the air temp gauge should go the way of the dinosaur and HD should be installing oil temp gauges as standard equipment.

[rap47]

I use it in conjuction with my Lenale fan. When I get into traffic and I see the oil temp start to rise, I turn on the fan and watch the temp stabilize. Works for me.

[screwball]

Spent the bucks and put them on both trikes. As was said before, go uphill for a long distance in 90*+ heat and your oil temp goes up. Get stuck in traffic, ditto. It is a Harley air cooled engine, it gets hot.

[Memnoch451]

I already know how hot it is outside of my engine because I can feel it. But I like knowing at a glance how hot it is inside of my engine. Replacing the air temp gauge with an oil temp gauge just made sense to me. IMO, the air temp gauge should go the way of the dinosaur and HD should be installing oil temp gauges as standard equipment.

The only problem with this is a Harley is a dinosaur. ( Drum roll please )

[tis]

I replaced mine, it's the way to go....

[eighty80]

Thought about it. How big of a job is it to do??

[Chappy]

I changed out the ambient air temp for the oil temp when changed all my gauges for the whiter set on my '03 Ultra. I found that knowing the temp of oil distracted me almost as much as when the motor went into heat management. I went with the dipstick oil temp and oil level on the new trike. I hope nobody steals it.
chappy

[Lakeman]

Its a PIA to install because of all the crap in the way.

[eagle1]

as we have found thru testing with dennis's wind deflectors ( which work really well)
the normal oil temp is 220* for the tri-glidel) so a-lot of guys just like have a oil temp gage to monitor when goeing thru traffic., but the main reason is when you hear something is wrong with the engine you can glance over & see what your temp is.& in the worse case that you don't have any oil pressure you can shut it off. like the guy who'se oil cooler hose blew off & the engine started starveing for oil. if he has a oil pressure gage he could have noticed that & shut the engine off.
also the temp sensor goes in the plug where you drain the oil.

[eagle1]

guess i mexed oil temp & pressure gages with the posting. the important thing is gages are important. the more you know about whats going on the your 8k engine the better.
you will get use to scanning them with time.

[Lakeman]

My temp sensor is in the aux port in the oil pan, not the drain plug port.

[Phu Cat]

Oil temps will vary due to several factors. Your oil temp won't be as high if you run 50 MPH all day as it would be if you ran 80 all day.

The one thing that doesn't affect oil temp is whether ot not you run synthetic. Just because synthetics have longer chain polymers than dino oil doesn't mean they run cooler. Oil temp is directly related to how much hosepower the engine is making and the ambient air's ability to cool the engine.

Phu Cat

[Dante221]

I already know how hot it is outside of my engine because I can feel it. But I like knowing at a glance how hot it is inside of my engine. Replacing the air temp gauge with an oil temp gauge just made sense to me. IMO, the air temp gauge should go the way of the dinosaur and HD should be installing oil temp gauges as standard equipment.

Hey John
I agree-Had the oil temp gauge installed before I took
delivery
Dante

[msocko3]

Thought about it. How big of a job is it to do??

Its not that terrible, have to remove the outer fairing, if you have fat hands you might have to pull the radio which is what I had to do.

[Lakeman]

Yes if I had removed the radio it would have been easier.

Yes synthetic oil will run a little cooler due to less friction. Heat is from the combustion and friction. Also the synthetic oil will handle the heat better by far.

[Texan]

Its not that terrible, have to remove the outer fairing, if you have fat hands you might have to pull the radio which is what I had to do.

Agree that's it NOT that big a job. I had to pull the radio cause I moved the volt gauge to the air temp hole. Plus I've got big hands. Put the oil temp where the volt gauge was. Had to pig-tail the wiring on both gauges cause the oil temp gauge uses the air temp plug 107 (hidden on the left side of the fork).

o~\o

[427dave]

I replaced my air temp with oil temp. One of the reasons was I could NOT read the air temp gauge if I had a magnifying glass. the 20 degree major markings allow you to read it within +- 10 degrees. I ended up putting a Harley mechanical air temp gauge on the handlebars. It can be read easier but is 5 degrees off.