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MG MG Y Type - Temperatue Gauge Sender Unit

I am contemplating installing a temperature gauge to my YA. Can anyone help with the best location for installing the sender unit. I was considering a direct conncetion into the underside of the radiator header tank. I have also wandered if it would be more acceptable to buy a water outlet from a TF which appears to have a threaded hole to accept the water temperature sender unit.
Andrew Edwards

Just to add my joint interest in this subject having just purchased a new mechanical temperature gauge (degrees F)... I was considering drilling & tapping in to the side of the elbow piece between the head and the thermostat housing as the original one had been modified in this way (though it may have been for heater take off reasons). Sadly the thread had been badly stripped so I've blanked it off for now and obtained another elbow to work on.

Hope to hear from someone!

Kindest regards,

Ken
Ken Jones

Unless I am mistaken, (and I am sure Neil will advise if I am) the hottest part of an in-line engine is at the back. The best place to get a reading therefore is the back plate (opposite end of the head there is a brass plate (like at the front)). I was suggested a while back to put one through there. The only draw back is that to get at it you have to haul the engine out.

In the end I opted for the easier route - I didn't fit one!

The next best place would be as high on the radiator as you can get where it will be immersed in water when the water is both cold and hot. Bear in mind that when the water heats up it will expand and therefore be higher than when cold. Too high and you will only catch a temperature reading when it is already on its way past the point of no return possibly.

Neil? What do you think? Come on, don't hold back as I only have a simple knowledge of these things!

Paul
Paul Barrow

Andrew:

My YA, was fitted with a temp lead from the radiator tank, in similar fashion to the T Types. Looks very much like a T set-up, with a mongrel temp gauge plowed into the dash. Done by someone sometime in the past. So far so good, but when I fit the new dash panel, I will be a bit more considerate of appearances.

Safety Fast

Paul
Paul

The cooling flow enters the XPAG at the rear of the cylinder head, so this is not the best place to fit a sensor. The Wolseley 4/44 uses the same engine, ( SC/2) and its temperature sensor is in the header tank on the radiator, BUT this has a serious draw back- when the water level drops it reads the air temperature, and as water gets BOILED away you think the engine is at a normal temperature. The best place to fit a sensor would be in the casting that has the thermostat in it, on the UNDERSIDE of the thermostat. That will give an accurate reading. How ever, the majority of guages sold are NOT accurate, and have only a part of the scale on the dial, ( ie 60 to 100 degree 'C',) and owners panic over a slight fluctuation.
Remember that the XPAG only has a water pump ASSISTED flow, not a fully pumped flow as on modern cars, so running slow on cold days the water temperature will read lower than belting down a motorway, then having to stop in a traffic jam- where the temperature may well go off the guage for a minute or two as the hot water rises to the top. The 'Y' does not have a pressurised cooling system, so it may boil at this point. even though there is no fault.

Fitting a temperature guage will tell you a lot, and often worry you needlessly.

Neil.
Neil Cairns

Slightly off beam but my Y (16th May 1947 'On Parade')is fitted with a period after market item, namely a Wimot Breedon Calormeter which is mounted through the radiator cap and the 'sensor' is 5cm into the header tank. These might be thought quite nice items and give some sort of guide on water temperature, as Neil says it needs a wet fluid to measure; but then the needle is right there between you and the car that's holding you up. Slater Reynolds
Slater reynolds

This thread was discussed between 24/02/2003 and 11/03/2003

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