EGT gauge loom

[Wetty]

Hi All.
Just fitted a couple of VDO gauges and was wondering if l can trim the excess wire from the EGT sender..........5 metres of cable is overkill.
Cheers
Wetty

[Maxhead]

I didn't think you can mate as it will effect your readings but someone with a bit more knowledge should help out shortly

[teno45]

No!

From my very limited experience, a mate who installed his. Dont trim it! The gauges are calibrated to the set length/resistance of the harness. the probe produces millivolts. any small change can throw off the reading.

My mate trimmed his the first time, and got very strange readings. put a new harness on, perfect!

[Yendor]

No, Don't trim the wire for the EGT sensor.

Just tie it up behind the dash.

[AB]

They certainly give you more then enough cable thats for sure...lol...Just coil it up mate and zip tie the excess somewhere.

[Wetty]

All coiled up, thanks All.......be nice if VDO referenced that in their installation document

[the evil twin]

Yes you can shorten or lengthen (within reason) most VDO EGT setups but you have to use the correct extension wire and connectors or you balls up the cold junction compensation. The gear is available from any good industrial instrumentation supplier BUT it is usually much easier to neatly stow the excess as you have done.

There are a couple of manuf around that do rely on the "supplied" thermocouple so again, if you aren't an instrument or process control techy or familiar with the various thermocouples best to try and stick with what is out of the box.

Another handy thing to remember is that most thermocouples for automotive apps will be wired red and white and the red is usually -ve in thermocouples.

[Wetty]

Yes you can shorten or lengthen (within reason) most VDO EGT setups but you have to use the correct extension wire and connectors or you balls up the cold junction compensation. The gear is available from any good industrial instrumentation supplier BUT it is usually much easier to neatly stow the excess as you have done.

There are a couple of manuf around that do rely on the "supplied" thermocouple so again, if you aren't an instrument or process control techy or familiar with the various thermocouples best to try and stick with what is out of the box.


Another handy thing to remember is that most thermocouples for automotive apps will be wired red and white and the red is usually -ve in thermocouples.

Yeah it had the destructions that told me what color goes to what terminal (yellow and red on the thermo and red and brown on the cable) just had no reference to trimming the cable that attaches to the thermocouple, it works that is the main thing and the VDO gauges are much nicer to look at than the cheap ass SAAS boost gauge I had before!

[teno45]

Just doing a bit of research for some gauges for my rig, and came across this in the VDO catalogue. Interesting note I thought!