Particularly the oil and temp lights. The gen light though important would not cause engine damage.
I run a gauge just for oil pressure only but I nearly left it stock..
I'm just curious what everyone is doing. I've heard they were bogus before and I've heard others say they were good enough protection. I was debating whether to add a temp gauge.
Had those lights in my '65 4 door, but bought a complete dash assembly from John Piccola,('65 SS) and now have all gauges. I still have my light setup if I go back to original. Gauges are the only way to go.
I had them in my chevelle 300 deluxe. I was really in tune with everything about that car though. I had turned pretty much every nut and bolt on the engine and replaced the sensors with new. I also checked all my fluids regularly before I drove it. It got warm once going over the mountains on the way back from LA. The temp light came on, i pulled over and let it cool down. Got back on the road and made it home. Ended up replacing the radiator with a 3 core. The original was just shot. I guess I never had a problem with them.
Gauges will warn you of a problem in it's early stages where lights will warn you at their default setting, most average folks don't understand how to read gauges so lights are simpler.
On a stock to mild engine I have used then with zero worries. The senders are cheap so put new ones in to be safe. Its pretty simple system and all the lights should come on at key on engine off so if a light is out you will know.
I dont like gauges in my drivers unless they are in the dash but even then I prefer the simple look of the stock cluster.
There is nothing worse than a late email. I run gauges for just about everything. I have oil, gas, temperature, volts, vacuum, rpm and I will be installing soon a tranny temp gauge. It is very important to know just how she is doing. It also looks good.
I guess the general consensus is that gauges are important! I will put a T and run both gauges and lights for the oil. I replaced the temp sender so hopefully I can trust that warning light.
My uneducated guess would be yes and no! It all depends on what conditions the light is supposed to illuminate. If your light tells you that you have ZERO oil pressure, its pretty useless! Not set up properly. If your temp light comes on and says, "hey, your at 270*!!!" congratulations for the waste!
If they are set up to light up in time to give you decent warning then they MAY be acceptable. BUT!! I would never run JUST a light. I would run all gauges, and the lights would be solely to direct my attention to a trouble system, in the off chance I am not monitoring my gauges like a hawk, like if my attention is directed elsewhere. The idiot lights should only be just another fail safe ADDITION to your gauge cluster, which you should be monitoring at all times anyway.
Driving rigs, I got into the habbit of checking the gauges every minute or more. Just a quick glance is all you need once you are very familiar with your set up.
Toyota is building cars with ONLY idiot lights now...My 00 Tacoma is a 5 speed and doesnt even have a tach!!! Only temp WTH is that crap?!?!?
While I like to monitor water temp and oil pressure with mechanical gauges, neither is foolproof. If your oil pressure gauge suddenly drops from 70psi to zero in the middle of a 7000+ rpm pass, you're screwed. You can't get it shut down fast enough. Don't ask how I know.
A story.
My old prof had a dune buggy. One of the kids toasted the engine. Yes they checked the oil, no there never was a light yada yada and no they don't know how the hole got in the oil pan.
His fix. Hooked all the "idiot" lights up to a single light. An old round brake light stuck right next to the speedometer. When he turned the key on at night it lit up the car, the yard etc. No more toasted engines. They were too blind to keep driving.
My wifes 2002 chrysler had the oil light come on at idle any time it was down 1/2 a quart. We don't have it any more......
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