Two new things Im looking to do 73 eldo

[kkkaiser]

got the vapor lock thing figured out... stupid me,, had a dyslexic moment, mis wrote the miles, and had actually driving the thing flat out of gas.. all 28 gallons!! what  a dum a--!

Now,, as i have mentioned before, this car had the engine replaced with a re man.... about 3 years ago,, and I'm not so sure about all the wiring.
While i have no reason to be concerned at this point, i do wonder about engine heat and if the little plug with the wire actually works.  I noticed in the manual, if you open the door, your supposed to have the engine light go one, and the buzzer go off.. well, i dont have a buzzer, no idea where it went or what happened to it.  The engine light only turns on once the engine starts, runs about 2-3 second and goes off. 

so, should I assume this it working, or does it simply mean the light on the dash works...??  I have found that little plug in the back of the engine with the little wire that runs out of it.. I am 90% sure its the engine temp wire.  but it disappears in to the maze of wires that i wrapped and then it disappears into the fire wall,,, so,, i have no idea.   

So i was thinking of one of those more temp specific gauges,, with degree readings...i am not a fan of excess gauges that shouldn't be there, but it seems maybe a good idea,  if hidden somewhere,, i know its not a hot rod, i just want to make sure we dont get too hot..summer is coming!! 

is this a good idea,, bad idea. and the degree of difficulty.  could i used the plug hole that is already there ?  I haven't totally researched the installation methods,,,


Secondly,, those rubber biscuit looking things under the frame,, that seem to act like disc in our backs,, like cushions between metal components.  they are pretty worn and near collapse.  would replacing these give a quieter ride, less occasional squeaks,,  and again, degree of difficulty...i dont have a lift or access to one so is this a home repair or not, or, is it even advised to change.

oh,, and i joined the cadillac club,, so if anyone is up near yellowstone in the summer, give me a holler,, i am in the gardiner, bozeman area

[Scot Minesinger]

Gauges on your dash, it can be done.  The picture of the 1972 Eldorado is an example.  The dash had been hit by audio people so it is a little off on one side, but the gauges came out fairly well.  Then the 1970 Cadillac gauges are removable for shows.  There is also a rectangular thin gauge cluster that looks good too.

Those rubber sections between body and frame if replaced with quality body to frame bushings will result in a quieter ride with no squeaks or rattles.  That is quite a job.  Have done four Cadillacs and wrote an article on how to do it.  PM with e-mail and will send it to you.

[Jeff Rosansky CLC #28373]

I know some of the things I do are odd, but I take a picture of the odometer everytime I fill up. This way no problems with trying to remember or writing it down wrong.
Harbor Freight has one of those temp guns for about $25. You can use that to see how things are doing under the hood.

Do you have the key left in the ignition buzzer? I don't know how it is wired on yours but some were combined with the temp buzzer and disconnected because they were anoying. Look for a relay on the firewall behind the parking brake for a disconnected relay. Again, it may be different for your year so check the book.
And don't forget-- have fun with it!!
Jeff

[TJ Hopland]

The temp light coming on with the door open is just a side effect of they way they did things that year.   The same buzzer runs the seat belts, key in, and engine temp so under some conditions you get some cross talk in the signals. 

I will be getting my 73 out this weekend and will get a pic of what I did for gauges. 

[bcroe]

In my opinion every engine needs a temp gauge.  I prefer the ones with
a thermal gas bulb that works even when the car is off.  The 1.5" gauges
are easiest to fit in, and with a 270 deg scale still are quite readable. 
Bruce Roe

[bcroe]

I bought some Sunpro 1-1/2" Mechanical Mini Triple Gauge Set CP8090 currently on
Eb+y under $30.  I only use the volt and temp gauges.  The oil pressure uses a pipe
which if broken could lose all your oil and make a terrible mess, so I would only use
an electric gauge for this with sender at the engine.  Same for the fuel pressure since
I have EFI, a little bigger. 

Also Equus 1-1/2" Mini Triple Mechanical Gauge Set Water Temp, Oil & Amp 6075

Mostly I sneak the small gauges in somewhere and throw away the 3 gauge panel. 

Bruce Roe

[kkkaiser]

back to the engine temp gauge,, the one that is measured by the engine light on the dash panel.  In the installation, would i use the hole were the current plug or sensor is?

I believe i have found that sensor/plug,, it is on the back of the engine on the driver side, has an wire running out.. Is that the correct location to put the new gauge sensor, in...?  or is there another location for this,  Pretty sure my reading the fsm points it out as there,

Sincerely

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

The water temp sender unit should be placed in the position of the original one which is directly under the AC compressor, directly behind the water pump.   It is difficult to get to, but this is where the factory puts it.

The one at the rear of the Left Cylinder head is the block temperature sender, that simply threads into a blank hole, and operated the Engine Temp Stop light when the engine has gone way past boiling point, and about to seize.

If you aren't running the Pollution Controls, then you could place the sender in that hole.   Front right.

Bruce.

[TJ Hopland]

Personally I would keep the existing light senders hooked up and working.  If something goes wrong having the light come on may get your attention just a second sooner than the gauge and save you some hassle. 

Like someone else mentioned there is at least one more coolant port.   Factory had a thermal vacuum valve in there that rarely still works at this age so most people just bypass them.   

The light port is under the AC compressor (if its still there) and the vacuum port is kinda under the distributor.    Both are in the same coolant passage so will give the same reading.     The oil pressure port is in the back of the block where the distributor would be in a Chev motor.   For pressure you can simply use a hardware store T fitting to install your gauge sender with the factory light sender.   Using T's for coolant isn't ideal because it usually removed the sensor from the main flow.

[TJ Hopland]

I just remembered I have my 73 in the garage now so I can take a pic of the gauge system I have.



It wasn't especially cheap, $200 but I really like it.    It fits nicely on the lower dash.  I used existing dash mounting screws and ran the wire through the gap around the ash tray.   It doesn't have any sort of connector in the harness but you could easily wire one in fi you wanted to make it easily removed for shows. 

Engine isn't on here so you don't see the multi colors but its really well thought out.  Green is normal then there is yellow and red which helps get your attention if something isn't normal.  IF something is slowly changing it tends to blink back and fourth between two bars so if that is on a color change it really gets your attention because of the alternating colors. 

It comes with a oil pressure sender that can easily be threaded into a T with the factory sender.   The temp sender isn't a coolant type, its a metal temp that you put under a thermostat / water outlet housing bolt.    It is actually pretty accurate compared to my EFI temp sending unit and an IR gun.  Nice part about this design is you don't have to mess with what ever is in the existing coolant ports and it will work if there isn't any coolant.   Regular coolant sensors only work if they are surrounded by coolant so if the coolant disappears they don't read correctly. 

http://www.digi-panel.com/index.html

From what I can tell this company is a old school one man show so be sure to ask how long it will take to ship and be ready for it to be a couple weeks which works out because he seems to prefer personal checks for payment so there is time for your check to get to him.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Lovely pictures TJ.   Explains it beautifully.

I like the compactness of the gauge panel, as I thought about installing the '50's style round gauges and chrome panel mount, but I was reluctant because of the closeness of them to my right leg.

Bruce.

[kkkaiser]

thanks for the info and pictures,

so to be clear,,,the engine light that lights up,,does it measure block temp?   and is that what the added temp gauge will measure?  or, is the coolant temp a more important gauge to be monitoring as opposed to the block temp.?

the gauges i have looked at have a volts, oil/water temp and oil pressure gauges,,can the oil water temp measure either the coolant temp and oil temp,,depending on where it hooks up,  ?

sincerely
Kim

[TJ Hopland]

On the 73 factory setup the 'water' light is an on/off coolant sensor mounted under the AC compressor.   It trips somewhere around 240*F range.   The 'engine temp' light that is also tied to the same buzzer for the key and seat belts is an on/off metal temp sensor mounted on the left rear corner of the left head.   I believe it trips in the 280*F?  range. 

Typical aftermarket stuff for engine temp is a coolant sensor that ideally is inserted into the coolant flow somewhere.   They can be mechanical using a capillary tube filled with an expanding fluid that then operates the gauge or electrical which then use a sender to send a variable signal to the gauge.   The mechanical ones can be harder to install because you can not detach the sensor from the gauge or alter its length.   The gauge system I have doesn't use a coolant sensor it uses a metal temp sensor that is under a bolt in the t stat housing.   It reads pretty close to what my EFI coolant sensor reads or an IR gun pointed at various points in the general area.  This makes install a little easier because you don't need to mess with existing sensors.   It also gives you a reading if there wasn't coolant since most other cars don't have a metal sensor like Cadillac did.   My gauge was originally designed for RV's so maybe coolant loss was a bigger problem for them. 

Oil pressure is basically the same options,  electric or mechanical with a hose.   Like Bruce mentioned if the hose got damaged its literally a hose connected to you oil pump so it could get pretty messy pretty fast. 

Engine and or transmission oil temp are more common on heavier duty applications like the RV's that my gauge was designed for.  Those can be like coolant sensors plumbed into the cooler lines or can be inserted into the pans.   They can also be metal temps attached to the pans or coolers.   You generally don't worry about such things in cars unless you are towing.   

I am going to go do some work on my 73 today so I will try and get some better pics of how my gauge looks when seated. 

[TJ Hopland]

For the light sender I have been using Napa TS-6742.   According to the book it goes at 210.   Based on readings with the gauge and IR gun it seems to start to glow the light around 220 so under normal conditions it stays off.   When you start to get warm it starts to glow to give you a clue that things are warming up.

Here is another shot of how the gauge setup looks from a normal driving position.