Hi John

My first Vanagon was an '82 diesel.  The first engine in that van did about
120K miles before it self destructed one night on I-275 near Livonia, MI.
No warning lights came on until the #3 piston went through the block.  I was
at maximum throttle at the time.

John
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Bange" <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: New instrument cluster in '84 Vanagon

On 12/14/05, mark drillock <drillock@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> Actually, it does not work quite the way you say. The dual oil switch
> circuit board never ignores the low pressure switch. It does ignore the
> high pressure switch when the engine is at lower rpms, below 2000 or so.
> Above that rpm it watches both switches and blinks the LED if either has
> a bad reading and also rings the buzzer if it is the high switch with a
> bad reading.

You're right. I was confusing two different things and drawing an erroneous
conclusion. People cut the tach signal to prevent the BUZZER from going off.
The .3bar blinker works always.

As for a gauge being preferred to an idiot light, no way. A
> good supplement perhaps but not a substitute.

Oh indeed, BOTH is better than either alone, particularly when someone else
is driving. An orange needle changing deflection is not anywhere near as
attention-grabbing as a flashing red beacon! I'm a compulsive
gauge-eyeballer though, so I'm fairly certain I would've caught the pressure
hiccups that surely would precede the .3bar sensor grounding. I probably
should have prefaced my opinion with a clear indication that it was my
personal preference.

>Traveling on the freeway one night with my SO driving

When I'm not driving that just means I get to STARE at the gauges! I've even
considered installing a second set of gauges (oil psi, oil temp, water temp)
in the rear where I can watch them while resting in the back on long
drives-- but that's just crazy, right? or is it? Really what I want is a
TRUE dynamic pressure monitor. I have it roughly sketched out as part of my
trip computer/engine systems monitor project. I'm thinking a system that'll
watch RPM, and maybe oil temperature, and calculate
good/adequate/bad/dangerous pressure thresholds based on a predetermined
curve. The various levels would result in: nothing (good), yellow light with
perhaps a single audible "ping"  (adequate), red light and continuous squeal
(bad), and flashing red plus buzzer (dangerous). Probably overkill, but
since the inputs and indicators will be there anyway for other design
purposes it's all just a little additional software. All I need is 6 months
free time...

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"