Oil Temperature Warning Dipstick, 235F Calibrated Alert, 1972-79 Type 4 Engines (Does NOT fit Vanagon Engine) is an easy and inexpensive way to be alerted by overheated oil temperatures! At 225F the light will flicker, and at 235F the light goes on steady! There are several ways to wire this. The most common and easiest usage is to wire parallel with the stock oil pressure warning light (Green light on the dash). The kit comes with the wires and connectors to do this. If you want a nicer installation, you have to run a wire from the dash to the engine, and you can then use this wire to give you a visual (warning light), audio (warning buzzer), or both!This unit fits into the stock dipstick tube, replacing the stock dipstick. If you want an easy to install oil temperature gauge, this is it!
This version fits Type 4 engines, which include the 1972-79 Bus with the Type 4 Engines in North America. If you have an Upright Type 1 Engine, we have a different unit for those, and "Shorty" versions which are 1/8 NPT, typically custom install locations, or for installation at the Type 3 Oil Filler Block Off location on Universal Cases.
This device was first created by Harold Brown in the late 1960's and remains virtually unchanged since the first ones were developed over 40 years ago. Thousands of them have been sold around the world!
By simply replacing your original dipstick with this Hot Oil Sensor, and attaching an 18" wire (included with the kit) to the oil pressure switch, you can begin to monitor your engine's oil temperature for overheating. Now you finally know when your engine is running too hot!
From then on the light at the bottom of your odometer serves two functions. It will continue to monitor your oil pressure with the same warning light as before, but now it also provides an alert from your Hot Oil Sensor too! When your engine oil reaches 225 degrees F the light will begin to flicker, indicating that you are approaching an oil temperature where the oil begins to break down, and lubrication properties degrade quickly. So simply slow down a little bit until the oil light stops flickering, which shows that your oil temperature has dropped to a safe operating temperature.
If your oil temperature continues to rise to 235 degrees F the light will remain on, solid. This is the temperature at which we recommend pulling over at the first safe opportunity in order to investigate the issue. You could have something stuck in the fan, have a broken fan belt, or it could simply be really hot out!
Even a "VW Idiot" can install this in under five minutes. Removal is even faster, guys who drive their Show Cars don't want this cluttering up the "Clean Look" of their engine, but they use this because it can save their bacon when they drive it!
The beauty of this product is that it requires no additional gauges to mount on your dashboard, and no additional time and effort spent which gauges require. The simplicity of this gauge is modeled after the simplicity and genius of the VW Beetle, which is what the VW Bug is known for the World over. This product honors the concept of the VW Beetle in the same way that the car did.
After the installation of this inexpensive part you'll have an early warning device. Nothing more, nothing less. Simple, clean and reliable. Just like your Volkswagen.