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How do you to tell how hot the MJ is?


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Change of plans for me, I thought I was getting my MJ with the gauges... Well I decided it would be better to buy my mom's 1988 pioneer because she wants to sell some vehicles, and its a long bed, ZERO rust, newer create motor etc.... But their is a problem... its a 5 speed with the dummy gauges. I have no problem shifting it, just telling how hot it is. Last time I drove it to town, it was running pretty warm and had to let it cool down for a bit..

 

When I get this new MJ, I'm getting afew aftermarket gauges including a Tach, volt, oil pressure, and "coolant or oil temp gauge".

 

Which is more accurate on telling the temp of the engine? coolant or oil temp?

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Easiest way to get the gauges and such is to swap to a gauge cluster with all the gauges. Volts, water temp, oil pressure, fuel gauge, speedo and tach.

 

Look for an 87-90 XJ Laredo in the boneyard and pull the gauge cluster.

You also could put a want ad in the classifieds on here.

You will also have to replace the pressure switches with sending units for oil pressure and coolant temperature.

 

That's what I did in my 1992 and it worked well.

There are write ups on here on how to do it.

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Change of plans for me, I thought I was getting my MJ with the gauges... Well I decided it would be better to buy my mom's 1988 pioneer because she wants to sell some vehicles, and its a long bed, ZERO rust, newer create motor etc.... But their is a problem... its a 5 speed with the dummy gauges.

Something's wrong here, because gauges (but not the tachometer) were standard equipment on the Pioneer trim level.

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I added aftermarket water oil and volt gauges onder the dash on my truck. I used a thermostat housing from a 4.0 HO. It has a port for a sensor and I am reading my water temp from this port. I still have all of the dummy lights hooked up and the gauges under the dash. This way if I am a dummy and not watching the gauges the lights will still work and get my atention.

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Change of plans for me, I thought I was getting my MJ with the gauges... Well I decided it would be better to buy my mom's 1988 pioneer because she wants to sell some vehicles, and its a long bed, ZERO rust, newer create motor etc.... But their is a problem... its a 5 speed with the dummy gauges.

Something's wrong here, because gauges (but not the tachometer) were standard equipment on the Pioneer trim level.

 

 

 

My Pioneer also cam with lights, not gauges.

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Change of plans for me, I thought I was getting my MJ with the gauges... Well I decided it would be better to buy my mom's 1988 pioneer because she wants to sell some vehicles, and its a long bed, ZERO rust, newer create motor etc.... But their is a problem... its a 5 speed with the dummy gauges.

Something's wrong here, because gauges (but not the tachometer) were standard equipment on the Pioneer trim level

It may depend on the year but gauges were definitely not standard on a '91 Pioneer. 

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I havent seen it in over a year, I just remember no tach, and I think lights not gauges.

Did the pioneer come with bucket seats and no tach?

My first Mj back in Highschool, was a pioneer and had the same gauge cluster and a bench seat...

The Pioneer came with a bench seat, and full gauges but no tachometer. The tachometer was available as an option in the Pioneer, the other gauges were standard.

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Well, I won't stop you from doing it, if you want gauges that will stick out like sore thumbs cause they don't match anything else.

 

Sorry... I'm a little anal retentive about things like that. If you want to do it, go for it. Just be aware that factory parts exist to do what you want to do, and they'll be much easier to get working, provided you get the right ones. Personally I like cramming as much useful info into the dash as possible, so I don't have to check a whole bunch of different spots at once.

 

 

Geez... I sound like a grumpy old man. :roll:  :yes:

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I have an 88 Pioneer, came with full gauge cluster, bench seats. But you want gauges, and to KEEP the enormous gas gauge...??

 

Anyhoo, the easiest way to do this is to buy the two (oil pressure, temp senders) and swap in a gauge cluster, with a tach (thus eliminating the ginormous mutant gas gauge.  The tach is much more important than the gas gauge in that you only need to glance at the gas gauge every 10-15 minutes, you'll be getting much better information from the tach. 

 

Pasting a bunch of aftermarket gauges in your cab will, in my opinion, will look stupid, out of place and frankly like a hack job.  So, if it were me it'd be off to the junkyard to upgrade the funky (IMHO) giant gas gauge, no tach, idiot light cluster to a full gauge cluster.  It'll cost you less than ONE aftermarket gauge

 

 

and conker...no, it does not work like that, when it reaches a certain point the switch/sender activates the dummy light...it's either on or off.

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Well, I won't stop you from doing it, if you want gauges that will stick out like sore thumbs cause they don't match anything else.

 

Sorry... I'm a little anal retentive about things like that. If you want to do it, go for it. Just be aware that factory parts exist to do what you want to do, and they'll be much easier to get working, provided you get the right ones. Personally I like cramming as much useful info into the dash as possible, so I don't have to check a whole bunch of different spots at once.

 

 

Geez... I sound like a grumpy old man. :roll:  :yes:

 

Going to agree with this. MJ gauges are actually useful (unlike the oil pressure gauges on Fords, which just sit in the middle all the time) and will literally plug right in. Cleaner look with much less work than wiring in seperate gauges. Not to be rude, but why would you hack your truck up if you don't have to?

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My MJ had a blank panel to the right on the instrument cluster. I installed two mechanical mini gauges there: oil pressure and water temperature. I think it turned out pretty spiffy; blends it pretty well with the rest of the gauges and LOT more reliable than sending units.

 

I can post a picture of the install if anyone is interested.

 

BTW, yes, water temperature is what you want to monitor. And, contrary to popular belief, cooler is not better. 200 degrees is optimal temperature for good fuel economy, performance, minimal cylinder wear and preventing rust and sludge. A gasoline engine running too cold will use more fuel, develop rust and sludge and wear out faster. So, a 195 degree thermostat should be optimal, although I know some people panic if they see their engine over 150 degrees.

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Going to agree with this. MJ gauges are actually useful (unlike the oil pressure gauges on Fords, which just sit in the middle all the time) and will literally plug right in. Cleaner look with much less work than wiring in seperate gauges. Not to be rude, but why would you hack your truck up if you don't have to?

 

 

I also had the luxury of my MJ coming equipped with the full gauge set. My buddy's XJ didn't. The first time I drove it I had a bit of a WTFHDYS moment.

 

Conker, I doubt the lights would work that way. It's possible the lights would just stay on and get brighter or dimmer with proper senders behind dummy lights, but it's unlikely the difference would be noticeable, or noticeable enough to be useful. I don't know if the gauges run off the same voltage range as the lights might.

Incidentally, if you get your coolant hot enough, at least on an HO, it will throw a CEL because the sensor eventually goes out of the expected range and the computer thinks it's malfunctioning... but if you were actually running with coolant, you likely would have noticed the clouds of steam and ethylene glycol mist all over the everything before it got to that point.

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