FWIW, I relocated the voltmeter and installed the oil temp gauge in its place so it is above the oil pressure gauge. The voltmeter went into the slot for the air temp gauge. It's a very easy swap since the voltmeter gauge only uses one orange wire and the black ground (which can be picked up at the air temp gauge). I simply spliced in about a 10" wire and ran it from the voltmeter orange wire from the harnessacross the fairing and spliced it into the same three socket AMP connector that was on the voltmeter initially. The black ground wire in the AMP socket was simply spliced to the air temp ground. Reuse the air temp bulb in the voltmeter gauge and you're done with the relocation.

Much easier for me to check oil pressure and temperature with the gauges together.

 

Anyone else have a problem with the HD oil temp gage "sticking" on zero? That is, about 80% of the time after the bike has sit for a few hours and I turn the ignition on, the oil temp gage will not move at all, until I peck pretty hard on the gage with my finger, then it springs right up. After it has started up the first time, it will normally come right back up on restarts (stop for refueling, etc.) as long as it hasn't been off for too long.

My question, is, will this get better with age, like other things?

 

I think that's correct, as someone with an earlier model reported that his required the 1/4" adapter.

I believe this is what you're seeing with yours, but I'm not sure why that would be. The oil in the pan is constantly circulating, and although in theory the oil at the bottom would be cooler (cool oil falls to the bottom and the air is cooling the bottom of the pan), but it is constantly mixing. The two temperature readings, dipstick vs. fairing gauges, should be very similar once the bike is running. I've seen reports from some others that their two gauges read about the same. OTOH, the dipstick is reading in a location that may be restricted from the flow, right at the filler neck. Perhaps the oil in that location gets trapped and because of the hot filler neck so close to it the temps are actually higher. Just a thought, but I wouldn't think they'd be much higher.

The oil temp is slow to rise because an air-cooled engine is very inefficient in its ability to stabilize its temperatures. When cold, it is being cooled in the same way as when it is hot, unlike a water-cooled engine that is regulated with a thermostat. This is why our fuel mileage is so lousy on these bikes, because the EFI is so long in cold mode. This is also why our oil takes forever to warm up, particularly in cold weather. On this SG, it takes 30 miles to attain normal operating temp (180°) in cool weather--maybe 15 miles now that daytime temps are near 90°. I'm not sure why one gauge would respond more quickly unless the dipstick model is showing lower temps than the 110° minimum on the fairing gauge. I had a dipstick gauge on my old RK and I recall it reading any temperature, even ambient.

Also, oil temps fluctuate based on wind direction. With a headwind temps are lower, higher with a tailwind. In these 85-90° days, mine settles at about 180-190° while moving, but increases in traffic up to about 210°. When I get moving again it goes down once air is flowing over the cylinders and oil cooler, but never goes back to the original running temp I saw before, usually settling somewhere around 205°. These are good temps, but it's interesting watching the fluctuations. My car's oil temp is much more stable, although it will fluctuate a bit in traffic.

I don't think it really matters where the sender is located. What you're looking for is normalcy and abnormalcy. I've had oil-temp gauges in every car and MC I've owned (except a '95 Dyna, none available) in the past 25 years, and in every case the sender was located in the pan. Pan temps are lower than oil returning from the engine, obviously, so I just figure another 20° or so for max. The important thing about having this or any other guage is that I now know how my oil temp should read in various conditions, and when it goes beyond those norms I know it. That's more important than being able to discern 202° or 224° on the guage.

These gauges have irrational graduations anyway. Mine (HD) shows 180°, then 230°, divided by six graduations in between. If you do the math, that means you have a range of 50° separated by six grad

 

In da pan

 

GI

 

I'm the first to admit that I'm not too bright. I just purchased the oil temp gauge for my 07 Ultra, will remove the useless air temp gauge.

I've been reading about installing the sending unit in the oil pan using an easy-to-find adapter instead of using the Harley adapter kit for extra $$.

Now that I have the unit and looked at the parts, I have to ask, why not install the little elbow fitting in the oil cooler hose? My 07 has an oil cooler with two lines, one hot and one cooled (I assume). The hose diameter looks right. How could this be different than installing it in the hose down by the right side of the motor?

Is it for looks? I would actually like to know what the temp is either going into the cooler or coming out of it. In fact, I'll bet there is a way, by using two sending units and a simple switch, to be able to switch from hot side of cooler to cold side of cooler and see the effectiveness of the cooler.

Like I said, I'm not too smart, convince me why I should not install the elbow in the oil cooler oil line?

Greg
Wichita

 

No technical reason not to - temp sensor will work anywhere.&nbsp\\;However, I would think the temp lower off the oil cooler.&nbsp\\;Putting the sensor in the extra hole in the oil pan is more out of the place - would think putting on the oil cooler would look a bit ugly.

 

Not a dumb question. I spoke with Jagg a few months ago about another subject and the knowledgeable tech I spoke with said the oil in the pan was fresh from the engine and a good place to locate the sender on a TC. Another reason is that adding more hardware to the filter area makes it just that much more cluttered, and it is a minor challenge to remove the filter anyway with the added hoses. Mounting the sender in the pan doesn't get in the way of any operation, not even oil changes.

Some have complained that mounted near the filter causes delayed readings since oil flow is regulated by the thermostat, thus you may not get a reading on the gauge 'til it starts flowing at 185°.

 

Okay..&nbsp\\;&nbsp\\; Installed in oil pan.&nbsp\\; No problems encountered.

Before I sealed the sending unit in the reduction fitting, I dropped it into a thermos of freshly boiled water, with a kitchen thermometer as "control."&nbsp\\; The kitchen thermometer was still reading 190 by this time, and the Harley gauge was reading 180.&nbsp\\; So ten degrees cooler.&nbsp\\; Fair enough.

Finished the install and went for a long ride, &gt\\;90 degrees, &gt\\;90 miles.

Gauge never got over 190-200 (hard to read between 180-230).&nbsp\\; Harley dipstick gauge reading 235.&nbsp\\; Best case, a difference of 35 degrees.&nbsp\\; Worst case difference of 45 degrees.

Figure the gauge is cooler by ten degrees, so that makes it 25 degrees off the dipstic gauge.&nbsp\\; So I boiled another pan of water, and put the end of the digital Harley dipstic gague in.&nbsp\\; At boil, the gauge read about 210, but it kept climbing, so I left it in the boil.

It went all the way to 235 before it leveled off.&nbsp\\; So if it's reading 235 at boil (212) it's reading 23 degrees too hot.

Gauge and dipstic reconciled so I just have to add ten to the dash, or subtract 25 from the dipstic, works for me.&nbsp\\; At cruise today I was running about 210 in 90 degree heat.

I have an 07 with an HD premium oil cooler and no lowers installed.

Greg

 

I had the dealer install the guage.&nbsp\\;

I have the premium oil cooler and the guage stays @ 110 till the bike is left idling for 15 minutes.&nbsp\\; I have taken it to the dealer three times now and they indicated that this is the first time they have noticed this issue, now they are wondering if other owners have the same issue but have not said anything.

They have made calls to Moco and said they will get back to me when they hear something from them.

I asked them about installing the sending unit in the oil pan and they indicated they can only do it as Harley recommends.&nbsp\\; Looks like I wil have to do some tinkering in the future because this is rediculuos at having a guage that will only work 5% of the time.
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