I am needing some help with an oil temp. gauge on myFLH. I have been through 3 sending units, and still only had a signal from the first one, lasting about 5 weeks, till it quit. Do these sending units go bad? I'm not sure. Help .....

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Sorry I have not had a problem with mine. Just curious, where is your installed, the supply hose or the oil tank?

FBL

 

Never have seen that many failures on that part - are you sure you may not have a wiring issue that looks like a sender problem? The sender is an encapsulated thermistor - no moving parts - potted in epoxy - where do you have it installed - oil line or oil pan?

 

I have an 07 Ultra and had the Dealer install the oil gauge in the fairing, I also have an oil cooler. They have tried 3 times to make the gauge go over 110 degrees. The gauge has power, they have tried installing before the oil cooler and after the oil cooler.
This is one of the larger Dealer in Houston!

 

try this again, other post got lost. what gauge unit do you have? where is the sending unit mounted?

 

Call Rodger - He is the guy would made the guage and I am sure he can help

Rodger McEwan at 760-242-0208

 

That's where they messed up. it should never go in the oil cooler lines. The oil cooler adapter has a T'stat that only opens when the temp goes up. Best place to mount is in the bung plug in the oil tank next to the drain plug. do not use teflon tape or pipe dope. the sender needs a good ground.

By the way, find another dealer. Obviuosly this one doesn't know chit!

 

Is this the McEwan (Wally's) gauge or the HD part? Have you eliminated the gauge as the problem? If the SIG (sender) connector on the gauge isn't getting continuity to ground it won't move. First, connect the 12v (POS) and ground wires to the gauge, then turn on the ignition without starting the bike. You should see little or no movement of the needle. Now, without touching anything else, short SIG to ground, in which case the needle should peg to max. If it passes these tests the gauge wouldn't be my #1 suspect.

Now, ride the bike and let it warm up a bit. With the sender wires connected to the sender, not the gauge, put an ohmmeter on the sender and ground wire going to the sender. As the bike cools you can watch the meter increase in resistance literally every few seconds. If it does this, the sender may be okay. The problem is that HD doesn't provide diagnostic info on the correct values for the sender, so even if it's moving it would be hard to tell whether the values you're seeing are correct.

If you have the McEwan kit, the sender is grounded at the oil pan. Thus, if you used Teflon tape or other sealant it may not be making proper ground, which would make the gauge no respond. The HD sender has its own ground wire, which makes this irrelevant.

 

I think Sleepneagle is right. I installed my sender in the pan. If installed where HD tells you, on the cooler intake line, you won't get an accurate reading until the thermostat opens, which would be 180°, or at least that's my take on it. If installed in the pan you have a gradual increase that relates to the oil's temp in the pan, which is cooler than the oil circulating in the head. I usually figure 20-30° more as the hottest oil temp in the motor, which is just a guess. I've oil-temp gauges in my last five cars and last HD (dipstick model), and I'm accustomed to the reading I get from that source.

 

Thank you all for your reply's. The sending unit is in the pan, no teflon tape, and is a McEwan gauge. Roger sent me a new complete set-up to try. Nothing working on the second gauge and 3rd sender. I am sure the wiring is correct, as it worked the first time for me, wired up a second time on the new gauge the same way as the first.