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[110tHunDer]

 
I wasn't sure where to post this ..... it's not really electronic, but it is a "gadget," I guess.  Anyway, been doing a few mods to the SEUC and ran across these while doing some internet surfing a few days ago.  Didn't see anything here talking about them, so thought I'd give one a try.  It's an analog oil temp gauge and dipstick from JES Custom Accents (http://jescustomaccents.com/).  From the reviews I read on a few other forums, folks have had good luck with them and find them to be accurate.  You can find a link on his website to a Thunder Press review where they checked it against an IR thermometer and found the two to match.  He has some other cool stuff on his website, too.

They come in black and white faces for Dynas and Electra Glides (that's according to his website, but the "FL" model should work on a Road Glide, too, I would think).  I thought the black would be a better match against the granite motor and the surrounding parts, so I went with that.  You can also choose between air or oil-filled, oil filled to prevent fogging.  I got an oil-filled one.

There are two plastic pieces, a base that threads in where the factory dipstick otherwise would and then a "wedge" that goes into that.  The dipstick/gauge goes into the wedge and is retained with a pin that fits into a slot to lock the gauge in place.



The wedge is held in place with two set screws threaded into the base.



The slot where the pin from the dipstick goes needs to be positioned at the bottom.  There are witness marks on both the wedge and the gauge (visible on the side of the gauge in the first pic) that, when aligned, will allow the gauge to be removed to check the oil level.  When you do an oil change, you would remove the base and the wedge as a unit, similar to unscrewing the factory dipstick, providing full access to the filler neck.



Installed:



From a little further back:



I just got it and installed it a couple nights ago and haven't put any miles on the bike yet, but thought I'd go ahead and post these pics, anyway.  Sitting on the bike in the garage, it seems like a fairly easy glance down between the tank and your right leg to catch a quick reading.  Indexing the gauge so that, say, 250* is at the "top" or some other readily identifiable location, should make it even easier to steal a glimpse of it while riding.  At a stoplight, which is when the heat would really be on, getting a look at it would be even easier.  And the nice thing is there are no buttons to push, first.

I think if/when the bike is ever at the dealer, I would take the 2 minutes and re-install the stock dipstick.  If you're not familiar with the operation of this piece, I think you could easily F it up.

It was $140 delivered and seems like a well-made piece.  Sounds like the guy, Joseph E. Stewart, and company have been around for awhile and has a George Anderson-like reputation for made in the USA products and similar customer service.  Harley doesn't make a titanium dash gauge yet and I've already had my share of bad luck with the Harley LCD temp dipsticks, so figured this would at least be a conversation piece from time-to-time and, at best, be able to keep tabs on what the big, bad, hot 110 is running for temps.

[digga25]

Pretty cool piece i like it.But Harley now makes a titanium guage for oil temp.Saw one at the dealer yesterday 139.00 but I wouldnt trust it.

[dayne66]

Pretty cool piece i like it.But Harley now makes a titanium guage for oil temp.Saw one at the dealer yesterday 139.00 but I wouldnt trust it.

No room on a 2012 SG....so one of these might be lightening my wallet soon.

[murphy]

Nice, way better than the HD one, let us know how it pans out!

[110tHunDer]

Pretty cool piece i like it.But Harley now makes a titanium guage for oil temp.Saw one at the dealer yesterday 139.00 but I wouldnt trust it.

Well, by golly, you're right.  Must be a pretty recent add.  Wasn't around a couple months ago when I got the bike.  Part number is 70900176 for the Fahrenheit gauge.  They even make a Celsius one (70900193).

This one's easier to install, though.

[Midnight Rider]

Nice looking piece, Brian.  If my LCD takes a dump, that one will definitely get a look see.  Being oil filled, it should last forever.

[grc]

    Much better than the cheap Chinese electronic dipstick from H-D IMHO, both from an ease of use standpoint as well as likely reliability.  No bending over and pushing any button, just glance down and get a quick indication, and unless you just want something to replace the air temp gauge I would think this would be better than messing with wiring up an in dash gauge.  Simpler is often better. 


Jerry

[charles05663]

   Much better than the cheap Chinese electronic dipstick from H-D IMHO, both from an ease of use standpoint as well as likely reliability.  No bending over and pushing any button, just glance down and get a quick indication, and unless you just want something to replace the air temp gauge I would think this would be better than messing with wiring up an in dash gauge.  Simpler is often better. 


Jerry

They must of changed suppliers.  I was surprised to find mine was made in Germany.   

[grc]

They must of changed suppliers.  I was surprised to find mine was made in Germany.   

Assembled in Germany perhaps.  Take it apart and check the little circuit board; German companies have been buying a lot of crap from China too, it's not just the USA that's been overrun with the stuff.

The point of my earlier comment was that the Harley part has a pretty poor reliability record, going back many years.  This analog thermometer is likely to be much more reliable than the H-D part, regardless of where it is assembled.  It's also a good bet that the manual dipstick will be more accurate for checking actual oil levels as well. 


Jerry

[110tHunDer]

 
So, I got a couple hundred miles in with this jobbie today and I like it!  It was interesting to see the temp rises pretty quickly from a stone cold motor.  By the time I merged onto the interstate less than 3 miles from my house this morning, the thing was already reading 150+.  90mph or 60mph, one-up, or two-up, didn't seem to matter, it would settle in at 240.  Slower cruising (30-40mph) for the last few miles of our two-up ride saw the temp climb to just under 260, a little warmer than I thought it would get in 80 degree ambient temps.

As I was thinking about this, I was recalling that on my '04 SEEG, which had the Harley in-dash oil temp gauge, I rarely saw anything over 200.  That's pretty suspect to me, since you wouldn't even be burning off condensation inside the motor at that temp.  So, this certainly seems more accurate than that, so far.

[mjb765]

Nice looking gauge...when my LCD unit dies this will replace it.

[Midnight Rider]

So, I got a couple hundred miles in with this jobbie today and I like it!  It was interesting to see the temp rises pretty quickly from a stone cold motor.  By the time I merged onto the interstate less than 3 miles from my house this morning, the thing was already reading 150+.  90mph or 60mph, one-up, or two-up, didn't seem to matter, it would settle in at 240.  Slower cruising (30-40mph) for the last few miles of our two-up ride saw the temp climb to just under 260, a little warmer than I thought it would get in 80 degree ambient temps.

As I was thinking about this, I was recalling that on my '04 SEEG, which had the Harley in-dash oil temp gauge, I rarely saw anything over 200.  That's pretty suspect to me, since you wouldn't even be burning off condensation inside the motor at that temp.  So, this certainly seems more accurate than that, so far.

Definitely on my list, Brian.  I used a Taylor temp gauge like this for many years in HVAC work...carried it in my pocket, and you could stick it in ice water to calibrate it, but it was rarely off more than 1-2 degrees.  Different range, but still...I could calibrate control systems with it and feel confident in it's accuracy.  In this case, I assume it is measureing temps at basically their hottest point...and that's the most important information.

[charles05663]

As I was thinking about this, I was recalling that on my '04 SEEG, which had the Harley in-dash oil temp gauge, I rarely saw anything over 200.  That's pretty suspect to me, since you wouldn't even be burning off condensation inside the motor at that temp.  So, this certainly seems more accurate than that, so far.

I installed the in dash temp gauge last year and have the digital dip stick.  I was surprised or should I say disappointed that there was a 30+ difference between the two temp gauges.  The digital dip stick was 30 higher then the in dash gauge.  I tend to believe the digital dip stick and don't trust the in dash gauge.   

[naitram]

dipstick is reading in a pool of oil. dash gauge is reading from the return line. i would expect to see a difference.

[LovemyCVOgirl]

Is this available for my FLHXSE 

[grc]

The two products measure the oil temperature at different locations, so it's not terribly surprising if you see a relatively small difference in readings.  And of course nothing put out by H-D is necessarily very accurate.  Case in point, check out the variability of the other gauges on the bikes like fuel, volt, air temp, etc.  When they spend about $5.00 on the full set of gauges, you can't expect too much.

The sending unit for the dash mounted gauge is installed where the oil is being returned to the engine after running through the baffles that force it into contact with the metal surfaces that draw some of the heat out of the oil.  The dipstick on the other hand tends to read oil that has just been returned to the tank from the engine.  Would that account for a 30°F difference in readings?  Maybe, maybe not.  But in the overall scheme of things, it really doesn't matter.  What you should be monitoring isn't an absolute number, but any significant changes from what you normally see.  If your gauge usually reads between 210 and 240 for instance, and suddenly you start seeing readings of 280 to 320 on that same gauge, it's an alert for you to investigate to see if something has changed. Oil temperature on an air cooled Harley will never be as consistent as it is on many other kinds of vehicles, unless you install some sophisticated external coolers with thermostatically controlled fans.  As long as you use a good synthetic, I don't see any need to get overly anal about oil temps.

btw, it's not terribly difficult to check the relative readings between the dash mounted gauge and the dipstick.  Get a pan of boiling water and dip both the sending unit for the dash gauge and the dipstick into the same water bath.  That will tell you exactly how much of any difference is due to the different gauges.


Jerry

[110tHunDer]

dipstick is reading in a pool of oil. dash gauge is reading from the return line. i would expect to see a difference.

My sending unit was in the front of the pan.

[moscooter]

 
Looks like a neat unit and gee,  they had the sense to "knurl" the cap area so it doesn't slip out of your hand when you extract it.   Unlike the digital button pushing H.D. unit which is smoooooooooooooooth chrome along the edge of the cap which can cause one to sometimes pull it out to check the oil level and then (due to a little oil in the area),  drop the SOB cause it's slippery and put a dent in your exhaust pipe chrome heat shield

Don't ask me how I know that

[D-N-D]

Sweet I need one.

[grc]

My sending unit was in the front of the pan.

Yup, even Harley now uses the machining plug location in the oil pan for the sending unit, unlike older style gauges that were plumbed into the external oil return line (those external lines no longer exist).  That hole is the one where the oil exits the oil pan on it's way to the oil pump.  And it makes perfect sense that a reading taken there would be different from where the oil enters the pan after returning from the engine.


Jerry

[110tHunDer]

Is this available for my FLHXSE 

Sure is.  Check the website in my original post and select from white or black, air or oil-filled, F or C.  If you want one like the one I got, it's item number: "Blk Face Oil Gauge 07-P"

[hard10]

My sending unit was in the front of the pan.

Any dead cats?





You knew I just had to! 

[spydglide]

Any dead cats?





You knew I just had to! 

Welcome back.. ....we were missing these posts.  har.  spyder

[porthole]

If my LCD takes a dump,

Must be my bike, I am on my 3rd LCD stick, and it has been dead for well over a year.