To anyone who is not aware of it,there is a great product available from one of our members, Steve Klonsky.

He sells a kit he calls RealGauge. What it does, is what should have been done from the factory,it makes our temperature gauge actually read the engine temperature.

I installed the kit in my 2002 XK8 yesterday, and tested it out on the road today. The installation instructions are very good, but they do need to be followed.

There is some careful disassembly involved and some wires that need to be accessed. But everything you need is in the kit,including tie wraps,alcohol swabs,and temperature stickers. The small circuit board fits on top of the gauge cluster and is completely out of sight when the dash is reassembled.
It includes a audible alarm signal if an overtemp is experienced. It has a self test feature that is easy to access too.

I found the accuracy to be as close as you could possibly get when comparing a digital readout (from my scanner) to an analog gauge. It was within a couple degrees over the whole scale. So, as summer approaches I can drive my car and not wonder if it is going to overheat without me knowing it.

Probably the best money I have spent on the car so far.

Thank you Steve, for a great product .

 

Try some of his other products, also. The remote top operation is impressive.

 

Thanks Lanny and Stevepaa for the thoughtful endorsement !

For those new to the forum my website is www.thejagwrangler.com

Steve

 

I would love to do that Stevepaa, but then my top latch would have to work. I think my next task will be to chase down my "asc not available" problem.

 

I have the RealGauge! Now that I also have a $22,000 investment under my hood (engine swapped to a newer 4.2 instead of a 4.0, plus AVos' twin screw supercharger, plus professional installation) I would be INSANE to not have the RealGauge.

It gives accurate readings that will allow me to see if I'm starting to get into trouble with my new 600+ horsepower engine in my 2000 XKR.

RealGauge is RealNecessary!

 

No arguements from anyone here on Steve's products ( any of them )

They basically just do what it says on the tin.....

Nice one Steve

 

They take a little getting used to as my first response "was cool they are working" then OMG what is happening to my oil pressure and then why is my car getting so warm!?! But once you get used to them it is nice to have gauges that actually are more than idiot lights pretending they are gauges. I had a mechanic install this, I did his nav to gauge swap myself but am color blind and had to have my wife couch me through the installation. Not something I wanted to repeat. Mechanic, who knows Jags, had no issues and they have been great ever since.

 

I installed the Real Gauge kit (temp and oil) last year, brilliant and I agree with everything said on this thread

Bob

 

I just place my order (temp) !!!

Now please make the mode to fold / unfold the mirrors remotely without that silly joystick

 

Are you sure that it isn't "http://www.thejagwrangler.com"?

 

Thanks! Corrected.

 

Anyone in the U.K. bought one of these and fitted it themselves, did you calibrate it or just fit it?

 

Did you see this https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...erience-83325/
Canada is almost like the UK isn't it?

 

Thank you Norri, very interesting reading.

 

I'm in UK and was lucky enough to win a full RealGauge kit in the recent Draw on this Forum. My experience of fitting it is here

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...riences-81761/

No calibration required! No mention of any need for the XK8! Is the XJ kit different?

I can't speak highly enough of the quality of the kit and the value of knowing it's fitted and I've got a RealGauge!!

 

The short answer on calibration is that I recommend a one-time calibration procedure on '96-'99 XK8/R RealGauge installations. I provide a calbiration cable, calibration instructions and a PC or Bluetooth based ELM-327 OBDII reader with the kit for these model years (for owners that do not have an OBDII scanner already).

If your -'96-'99 model has teardrop shaped tick marks, calibration is a MUST or the readings will definitely be incorrect.

If your -'96-'99 model has rectangular shaped tick marks, calibration is RECOMMENDED because the readings MIGHT be off (the worst I have seen was about 10 Degrees C).

On '00-'06 models I recommend checking accuracy with an OBDII reader if one is available and notifying me if a problem is found and I will provide a free calibration kit. (I have only ever found one out of many, many later models instrument clusters that required calibration).

The only difference between US and UK models is the positioning of the RealGauge module on the instrument cluster and the cable lengths.


So why is all this necessary?
Jaguar redesigned the instrument cluster in 2000 and apparently tightened up the tolerances...that is why the later models normally do not need calibration.

From '96-'99 they flip flopped back and forth between tick marks with different spacings. Additionally there were issues with the accruacy of the electronics and the physical alignment of the label overlay with the gauge cluster on the early units.

The calibration feature was added to RealGauge to overcome these differences.

 

I've been waiting for this since I got the admin E-mail announcement- saw the drawing threads for the other models on here. Did I somehow miss this?

Congrats, though- I'll get this one way or the other soon!

 

That draw was last year. I'm sure Steve can help!