Temperature Strips - Check your guage accuracy

[Sando]

I have been unsure of my oil temp for some time as my guage is reading way higher than it should be. So I looked for some of these self adhesive strips to stick on the sump / Rad / Laminova to see what was actually happening. Turned out the Oil only reaches around 100 deg C Max, so now I'm much happier....
They're for one off use, showing the max temp of whatever they are stuck to and are advertised as accurate to within 1%. (so a bit better than a Smiths or veglia oil temp guage ;) ) They come in strips of 10 stickers and in multiple ranges.

The best value I found for them in the UK was Burton Power on 0208 554 4828 http://www.burtonpower.com (http://burtonpower.com)
71-110 degC - RTTS2 £9.95 for 10
116-154 degC - RTTS3 £9.95 for 10

Frost Auto restoration also do some for similar price, but in an assortment covering a full range of temps, but going a bit higher than I needed.

Cheers
Rob :cool:

[Alan D]

Hi Rob, that's very interesting stuff.
I too am concerned about the "indicated" temps from my gauges and want to discover the truth.
Presumably these strips give the surface temperatures - how do you convert that to the actual temp of the oil inside ?

Alan.

[Sando]

Hi Alan
I'm just going on Alloy being a good conductor of heat and expecting it to be thereabouts the same.....
Bobster

[chris.richard]

Wrap some insulation over the strip if you can - Would work for oil filter or oil cooler hoses.