Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Which fuel pressure guage?

[CCiatteo]

I just bought a Prime-Loc relocation kit for my truck and saw there are ports available for a fuel sender. So I figured I would take advantage of this and monitor the lift pump, but what range should the guage be 0-15, 0-30 or 0-100. I would like to stay with my autometer z-series to match my pyro and boost gauges?



I bought a "snubber" from Diesel performance to absorb the spikes from the injection pump, is this necessary? Autometer pointed me to them after I spoke with one of their tech guys. That came about after seeing on Summit that the z-series guage is specifically not to be used with a Dodge diesel?? Why is this?

 

[Joe G.]

You want to monitor the output from the filter to the injection pump. That will tell you if there are any problems including a plugged up filter. I use a Westach 40 PSI gauge. 30 is too low. 100 is way too high. Sometimes I peg the 40 PSI gauge, but I am more interested in low pressure rather than high pressure.

 

[CumminsPower98]

I'm running one of Autometer's early 0-100 electric ultra-lites with the control box and it works fine other then its a little out of calibration and reads a bit low. I would like to upgrade to the new one some time that does away with the box then have my current one converted and sell it. I wish they made a 0-50 unit. I would not run without a fuel pressure gauge as it is awesome at telling me what my fuel system is doing. I run my filters (aux. tank in bed with filter) a lot longer this way too. I recently had to change filters on the side of the road as the pressure was dropping pretty fast. I think the system was being cleaned by the ULSD as the filter came out black and had only 18k miles on it. I have run WAY more miles than this with no pressure drop to speak of. I drilled and tapped the banjo bolt of the feed line on the side of the injection pump for my sender, which I remotely mounted to keep it away from the engine vibrations.



I personally use a nearly shut brass needle valve to dampen the pump pulses. I can adjust it or shut it clear off should I have a leak, which I did once with an older style sender. The reason you need a snubber on a 12 valve is that the lift pump is a piston pump so it creates big pressure spikes which will make the gauge hard to read and also kill it and or the sender over time.

 

[cluckmaster]

I'm about to get one as well, and I run DiPricol Optix gauges but they only make a 30 and 100 psi gauge. Soooo... I'm thinking the black faced Isspro which is a 60 psi- matches close enough I guess plus it'll be somewhere other than the a-pillar 'cause all of the holes are filled already. Any ideas on good mounting spots? -Josh

 

[TEasley]

Gauge manufacturers recommend sizing a mechanical gauge to operate at 1/2 the gauges max pressure rating. A 100 psi gauge will operate most accurately at or near 50 psi and still be acceptably accurate at 20 to 80 psi. Repeated pegging of a mechanical gauge will soon cause it to become inaccurate or inoperative, and if severely overpressured, blow out the bourdon tube. I don't know much about electrically actuated gauges, but would guess that pegging one wouldn't necessarily hurt it. Wouldn't think it would hurt the sender either.



I run a 100 psi mechanical gauge. I will switch to an electrical gauge in the future. I want to use the Geno's steering column gauge mount, and it won't work with hard tubing on a tilt column.



IMO, if you use a mechanical gauge, go with the 100 psi. If you use an electrical gauge, I don't know.



Tom

 

[CCiatteo]

I'm about to get one as well, and I run DiPricol Optix gauges but they only make a 30 and 100 psi gauge. Soooo... I'm thinking the black faced Isspro which is a 60 psi- matches close enough I guess plus it'll be somewhere other than the a-pillar 'cause all of the holes are filled already. Any ideas on good mounting spots? -Josh

Once I figure out which guage, I am putting mine in that useless square hole to the left of the slideout cup holder. Geno's and others sell/give you a piece of black lexan that you can use as a mounting plate. I like the idea of the Isspro 60psi guage and like you mentioned its pretty close in looks to my z-series and the range is about perfect I would think... .