Was wondering if anyone has thought of a way to get an alarm to sound or light to light before the factory light turns on, possibly before the engine overheats and warps the heads and causes major engine damage?

 

What are you doing to your car that you need this for?

If your oil level is fine, just watch the temp gauge as you drive like a normal person does. If it starts climbing, pull over and check what's going on before it gets to the point of no return.

 

Temp gauge. Stock oil lights will usually go off when it is too late.

 

I think his point is he doesn't want to have to pay attention and have a pre-idiot light, idiot light (or buzzer) for engine temp.

It's possible, but it's pointless.... Find a temp switch (like for electric fans) with a temp setting higher than what the second fan comes on at, put it in a hose or drill/tap a hole somewhere in the engine where it will be in the coolant flow. Then wire it to a light or buzzer in the cab and there is your new-found pre-idiot light light/buzzer.

 

I had a driver call me today asking why his truck shut down on him with both CEL's and a shut down engine light.

I asked him if he checked all the fluid levels, they were fine, I asked if all his gauges were reading normal or if it made any weird sounds.

He says, "Oh, now that you mention it, the temp gauge is pegged out in the hot..... What should I do now?"

I give up on people.......

 

lol common sense doesn't seem to be very common...

 

If you want to make professionally, get an Haltech Platinum Pro ECU and you can set up any safety precautions you want.

 

You have a gauge that indicates the coolant temperature. Why would you need a light to tell you to look at the gauge? I remember when people complained because all the car manufacturers provided were idiot lights. They wanted gauges. Now you are wanting the opposite.

 

 

Or they don't understand anything about how engines/gauges work and Nissan gets tired of telling them the oil pressure gauge is supposed to move with RPM. So then they switched to oil temp gauges which I'm glad I don't have.

I wonder if I can get a light to tell me when I'm getting low on fuel before I actually run out.

 

The gauge never moves so one tends not to look at it. I've seen my temp go from 190 to 204.8 degrees (using an obd2 reader) with no change in the needle. At what temp will the needle start to move? And will it be too late if you're not staring at it like some geniuses on this forum? My cousin had his fx35 overheat and he had intermittent overheating issues after that caused him to go crazy and eventually get rid of the car he loved so much. Im just trying to be proactive..

 

That's why I wish they used a marked, numbered gauge instead of just a hot and cold mark. I also don't like how Ford puts normal across the span, but at least it gives you a reference point for the needle.

The needle probably moved but with no marks on the gauge you didn't notice it.

 

Just a get a digi gauges and be done. In the older motor IE: SR & 2J world they are a must as it will be too late before the gauge lets you know.

 

I've used my Ecoroute HD cable (~$80) connected to my garmin to look at numberical #'s for the radiator temp.

 

youre correct OP, they dont move much..

so... if it moves at all, somethings up.. most likely its air in the system.. its up to you to watch that.