VDO Gauge wiring issue

Siggymanx33 · Post by **Siggymanx33** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:03 am

Guy's, I have a question. I had my buggy wired by a mechanic and when it was done my oil temp gauge had some dirt in it. No problem, I brought it back to him and he tried another gauge that he had and it seemed bad. I took the car back. I just ordered a new gauge and tried it tonight. While following his wiring, something didn't add up. It appeared as if he had the + and the sender wire switched. I came to this concusion from wire color and the sender wire should be solo and the positive is ganged with another two wires for other gauges. I switched them. The gauge is now pinned when it gets power? I thought that the original VDO gauge that worked looked a little different then the one he claimed didn't work. Could be my imagination, but I could swear. Here is the question, Do you think I had a different gauge and now have incompatible sender/gauge? Did I do something to the gauge when I gave it power with the wires messed up? Could his original wiring be correct and I have two bad gauges? Does VDO make a gauge that goes higher than 300 degrees? I thought the original did? I know this is vauge but any pointers or hints will be appreciated. Dave

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:57 pm

http://www.egauges.com/pdf/vdo/0-515-012-123.pdf Here it is from the horses mouth!

Siggymanx33 · Post by **Siggymanx33** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:39 pm

Thanks Matt, I actually got a call back from VDO customer service. The guy was great. HE was a bit stumped after the test that I did and I don't think the problem is going to be fixed until I recieve the new sender. It is either a shorted wire or bad sender. I jumped the wire and was getting different results than the original wire but the gauge still isn't working. That pretty much leaves the sender.

Siggymanx33 · Post by **Siggymanx33** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:09 am

I just thought I would update this thread and ask another question. The problem with my oil temp gauge was the sender wire came in contact with an exaust stud causing a short. One other question, as I was testing the car in the driveway I had it running for a half hour, when I shut it down, my cylinder head temp gauge stayed at 240 degrees and it has been slowly going back to zero. I thought it usually zero'ed out when power was cut? Is it my imagination or does it slowly zero out as the car cools? Dave