New Isspro gages and Windshield mount

[SVenable]

I ordered the new style Isspro gages and a windshield mount from Geno's.



Overall I am impressed with the quality of the gages and Geno's provides great service. The install was a bit more than I bargained for.



The gages are so deep that they do not fit in the wndshield mount without the use of my trusty Dremel tool to cut holes for the boost connection and the gage "keepers" that bolt to the back of each gage.



I installed the EGT, Auto Temp and Boost. The transmission sender leads are too short to reach anywhere. I have it currently installed in the rear test port but will move it the the Mass Diesel cooler line as soon as it arrives. The middle test port will not allow the sender to go far enough in to start the threads, seems there is some type of "lip" that will not allow the sender to slide in. Isspro tech support is responsive. I asked if I could extend the leads from the transmission temp sender and they responded promptly and I added about 6 feet of lead.



The interface boxes Isspro uses make the windshield mount problemmatic as the gage lead is only about 36 inches. I put the interface boxes in the headliner so I would not have to splice longer gage leads in. This seems to work okay.



I want to thank everyone on this forum for all the gage install help. The Pyro installaton went okay, I did break a tap off, but that was recovered well enough, I thought I was going to get to remove the exhaust manifold as a new training exercise. Geno's intake manifold banjo bolt was great and made the boost install easy. The 10 foot boost tubing is just long enough to reach the windshield mount, if you are aft of the air intake.



My current problem is chasing down the light wiring, evidently I have something messed up. I spliced into the dimmer circuit behind the light switch but if I have the gage lights connected the interior lights do not work. I must have something touching the wrong thing.



I have worked on Jeeps for several years and my current Tj is now a trailer Queen. The Truck is used to tow it. What I experienced is fairly normal for a modification, especially with new stuff.



I was not prepared for the type of sensors and gage connections Isspro uses, I was expectng standard single wire sensors and I provide the wire. All in all it was a new learning experience. When I get the lighting staightened out I'll update ya'll.



Steve

 

[Tryingit]

Hello, I know what you mean. I have the Di-Pricol gauges. For the egt guage I opted for the manifold removal. Boy that wasn't to fun. Now I sometimes wish I didn't know about the egt temps. Good luck

 

[SVenable]

I chased down the lighting issue. There are two orange w/ brn strip wires at the light switch. I initailly thought it made no difference which one you use. I was wrong. One of the wires from pin 5 is also in the dome light circuit. The orange w/ brn stripe at pin two is the one to attach the gage dimmer lights to.



It looks as everything is working and I am surprised how fast the EGT gauge works, it is quite active while drivig. I have only used EGT's while flying and on marine diesels and the power is not changing as dynamically, hence the gage does not move as much.



Steve

 

[Lrambo]

Got any pictures available?



____________________

03,brt silver,3500 crew 2wd,drw,linex,48re,dbldeep trans pan,deep pumpkin pan,running boards.

 

[Buzzer]

Got any pictures available?



____________________

03,brt silver,3500 crew 2wd,drw,linex,48re,dbldeep trans pan,deep pumpkin pan,running boards.

I would be interested as well. I hesitate with these gauges because of the attached boxes. I'm not sure I want them buried in the headliner. Must be a tight fit and or rattle? Curious.

 

[Kvic]

They do rattle a little, wrap them in some foam and that should help. I have yet to do this to mine, but in reading the blo by blow I thought that I had posted my experience. Over-all happy with the look and gauges.

 

[SVenable]

I'll take some pictures and figure out how to post them. I also have been working with the MassDiesel cooler line. I used it last weekend towing my Jeep to an event and was not satisfied that the Isspro sender has adequate oil contact. When I took it apart the sender is only touching oil at the very end. The 1/8 tee used is too small to get oil up there. I will try to open it up a bit. transmission temps were erratic and did not register on many occasions. I do not believe my transmission was 100 degrees towing a 7000 lb trailer at 70.



I am back in the transmission port until I get the cooler line figured out.

 

[Mark Craig]

ISSPro and Mounts and Amp Boxes ETC!

SVenable,



Ok some help for you, the "gauge keepers" you mentions are net designed to be used in any of the truck mounts, A pillar dash mount windshield etc etc. The tension of the mount around the gauge keeps it in place. Now we do not sell IssPro, so their diameter could be smaller than most and they might be a little loose. If so you use a couple of rounds of electrical tape to increase their diameter so they are snug in the mount.



Concerning IssPro amp boxes, this has always been their major disadvantage to their gauges, it's just a pain to deal with even on an A pillar mount. What you need to do is extend their wiring long enough so that the amp box is under the dash. Clip and crimp etc.



Hope this helps, we have had a lot of experience with the different brands of gauges and the different mounts etc. We sell the DiPricol and Auto Meter brands and of course these are the ones we are the most intelligent about.

Give us a call at the office if you have any questions etc.



Mark @ DPPI

 

[SVenable]

SVenable,



Ok some help for you, the "gauge keepers" you mentions are net designed to be used in any of the truck mounts, A pillar dash mount windshield etc etc. ... this has always been their major disadvantage to their gauges, it's just a pain to deal with even on an A pillar mount. What you need to do is extend their wiring long enough so that the amp box is under the dash. Clip and crimp etc.



Hope this helps, we have had a lot of experience with the different brands of gauges and the different mounts etc. We sell the DiPricol and Auto Meter brands ... . Mark @ DPPI

Thank you for the information and the offer to help. I was not sure about extending the gauge wiring. I am going to trim the windshield mount so it is flush with the headliner and I may move the amp boxes at that time.



I thought I could probably not use the "gauge keepers" but I am a bit anal retentive on occasion and did anyway. It comes from rock crawling in my Jeep and having the weirdest things break.





Got any ideas on getting better tran. fluid flow through the Mass Diesel sender port in their gauge line?

 

[Lrambo]

I just ordered the windshield mount and DiPricol's from Geno's, and I need pictures of the headliner removal. Does anyone have some to post? Do the instructions make it clear what to do?



____________

03,brt silver,3500 crew dually,2wd,Laramie,linex,48RE,dbl deep trans pan, deep dif pan,running boarda,3M rock guard,side air bags, PacBrake

 

[Gunnernmybike]

I just finished my install of the DiPricol's and the windshield mount. I didn't have any instructions on how to take the headliner apart but its pretty easy. Just carefully pop out the overhead reading lights, which will then expose 2 silver screws. When you unscrew them, the overhead display will come off. Just let it hang by the group of wires. Then there's a plastic plate under that that is held in with 2 small black screws. Take those out and you can slide that plate around a little bit. That's all the further I took my headliner apart. I just tucked the wires up inside the headliner along the windshield.



One thing I found is that the wiring for the pyro wasn't long enough if you run it with the other gauges over to the driver's side and down the driver's A-piller. Instead, I ran it down the passenger's side and it stll barely fit. If the wire's would have been a 1/2 inch shorter, I would have had to splice more wire to make the leads longer, which if I were to do it again, is what I would do because I had to drill a hole on each side of the firewall to get through.



Before you install those DiPricol's, think long and hard about maybe switching to the new Isspros. The lighting at night is as bad as everyone claims. I have them all hooked up correctly and all three of mine look differnet at night. The boost looks great, the pyro is just like everyone claims, and the transmission temp gauge leaks a lot of ligth from the center. At night it looks like I have three different types of gauges. Maybe its just my transmission temp that is out of wack but it really sucks.



Good luck.

 

[Mark Craig]

SVenable,



Your comment "I am going to trim the windshield mount so it is flush with the headliner" is a concern on a few of the trucks. Some of them have the headliner glued closer to the edge headliner, some have it way back. So occassionally you'll have to trim a small part of the mount off to get it to flush up against the headliner. What we have found is that usually only occassionaly occurs on the early 2003 trucks. The Mass diesel line is pretty good from what I know. I haven't used one before but info from folks that have has alwasy been good.



Mark @ DPPI

 

[Mark Craig]

Gunnernmybike,



Double check your bulbs, if you mixed them up as has happened before you'll get some wierd lighting looks! How you will figure which ones goes where is beyond me, you'll just have to mve them around. The pyro is only able to be installed one place but the boost and transmission can accidentally be swapped around. It will get you some difference in the light levels. As far as the pyro, you have to make sure you got the polarity of the LED correct or it will be very dim and also if you hooked the LED up to the dimmer circuit it will not be working at all if you don't have the dimmer on full bright. It's the nature of LED's!

Check them out odds are you'll find that the boost and trans will even out and the pryo will be a notch dimmer but overall good. I have had 5 sets of these in my own trucks and never had any lighting difference with the exception of the pyro being just a tad less bright.



Mark @ DPPI

 

[MMathewson]

Thank you for the information and the offer to help. I was not sure about extending the gauge wiring. I am going to trim the windshield mount so it is flush with the headliner and I may move the amp boxes at that time.



I thought I could probably not use the "gauge keepers" but I am a bit anal retentive on occasion and did anyway. It comes from rock crawling in my Jeep and having the weirdest things break.





Got any ideas on getting better tran. fluid flow through the Mass Diesel sender port in their gauge line?

I plan to swap my DiPricol trans gage for the Isopro new trans gage. I wanted more sweep. Exactly where did you put your "power box" for the transmission Isopro gage? Which wires did you extend on the trans gage -- the ones to the sensor, or the ones to the meter (from the amp)?



I have had problems with the Mass Diesel port too. I don't think there is any oil. What I did is buy a new TEE that is a female-male-female. The male part goes right into the Mass Diesel port, then the sender goes into one of the female ports, a plug goes into the other port on the TEE. The sensor is now only 1/2 from the Mass Diesel port and you can see the sensor looking in the male end of the TEE. Haven't put it together yet -- I still have the original configuration and it doesn't work.

 

[bmallen]

I had the same problem with the Mass Diesel sender unit. What I figured out was that it wasn't getting a good enough ground. I fixed that by taking a hose clamp and clamping the stripped end of some 14ga wire to the nut end of the sensor. And then, if you look directly behind the transmission cooler on the firewall you will see a ground stud. Just connect the other end of the wire to it and you're done. My gauge works perfectly now.

 

[MMathewson]

I actually found that my wasn't grounded either, so I did exactly what you did and grounded it. It still didn't work. Just to be sure all of the electronics were working correctly, I held a small lighter underneath the brass T and sure enough, the gage worked. But driving around doesn't budge it. I felt the transmission tubing and it was hot to the touch (120 degrees), but the gage still showed less than 100.

 

[MMead]

Did anyone ever figure out what to do about the Massdiesel cooler line not giving proper readings? It sounds like there are two problems - one problem with the grounding and the second problem being the lack of contact between the probe and the fluid. I just ordered my transmission temp gauge and was going to order this line, but now it sounds like I'd be better off using one of the test ports.

 

[MMathewson]

I got my Massdiesel cooler line and gage working (finally). The Massdiesel cooler line that I received had a short nipple into a Tee on one end (Female-Female-Female), and then on the far end of the Tee was where the temp sensor screwed in. The top of the Tee had a plug. I had to ground the sensor, but that didn't help. I found out that the DiProcol temp sensor basically hit the bottom of the tee and only the tip of the probe was wet with oil. That explains why I couldn't get it to work. Combination of not wet with oil, too far from the main line cooler tube, and not grounded.



I replaced everything with the Isopro gage, which takes 2 wires to the probe and thus doesn't need grounding. I also removed the old brass fittings and redid them this way. Screwed a TEE directly into the port. The TEE I got was a Female-Male-Female. Screwed the Male portion of the TEE directly into the port. Plugged one end of the Female portion of the TEE. Screwed in the ISOpro sensor in the other Female portion of the TEE. The result was that the probe was wet with oil, and was about 1/2" at most from the main line. Gage works great.



If you can't follow my description of the TEEs, let me know and I can take some pictures.

 

[MMead]

I wonder if that was a problem that is unique to the DiProcol temp sensors? Or are all temp sensors the same lenght?

 

[MMathewson]

MMead:

I compared the ISOPRO and the DiProcol temp sensors. The sensing end diameter/length was identical. I think the key was how I plumbed the sensor with the replacement TEE. The original setup seemed to have the temp probe sealing the other end of the TEE thus stopping the flow of oil around the sensor. With the redo on the plumbing, I can clearly see that the sensor is bathed in the oil (plus a lot closer to the main Mass Diesel line.