Just finished another project....Realgauge conversion on the 2002 XKR coupe.

I had the old nav system as you can see here. I'd updated it to the latest disc but it really wasn't up to what is available on a phone.



I have a road trip planned in a week too so wanted this as a safety net. Here's the project:

1. ordered up some 3 gauge trim off ebay ($90)
2. Managed to get a set of gauges locally ($65)
3. Ordered the full RealGauge + nav conversion with oil pressure option

Shipping was all good - everything arrived within a week. I was a bit worried that the trim would not match up but it was a good match!

I followed the instructions to the letter. Kept the phone open to I could read them all as I went. Being color blind, wiring is my kryptonite but the instructions show you the pin numbers so it's doable. I'm usually a solder-it-all-in guy but I tried out the protaps. I think they'll work fine.

Here it is mid-install...



...and then the trouble began:

-Found that the bail holding the left side connector in was broken.

Luckily I had a spare from the radio install last month.

-When I switched everything on for the big test it went NUTS...all error messages and the fuel gauge was dead.

Turns out that while I had the connector disassembled I'd reversed it into the bail. This is easy to do if you're color blind and have to sort all the wires individually.

Steve (jagwrangler) was really helpful in getting this solved. Emailed me back right away, helpful suggestions and ideas. Really appreciated that in this era of made-in-china with no tech support.

-Bleeding the oil sender sprayed more than expected. It went into the rad tray and was a bugger to clean.

Easy fix - I could have put a garbage bag over the sender to keep oil dripping down. Whoops.

-The gauges I bought didn't work initially. Turned out to be a bad connection inside the unit itself. Bit of solder and job done.

Lessons learned:

1. If a bail breaks - you're screwed. Find a spare if you can.
2. Get a color-vision person to help!
3. The wrenching points for the senders are tight - use a universal adapter.
4. Check the damn gauges first...
5. Budget enough time. This took me about 8 hours...but I had to trouble shoot some bad gauges and a couple of screwups.

...overall result:

-Looks better than the old nav-box.
-I now know that the jag heats up to about 215* (3/4 of the way up the gauge) and fluctuates about 10* degrees
-Hot idle oil pressure is livable...8 psi. I'll up the oil wt a bit to get that cleaned up.
-There is now a working clock!



Hope that helps a few of you deciding to tackle this one.

 

Very nice wood match! Much better than I would have expected.

 

Thanks! I was quite worried about it. In the before pic you can see I have a perfect mirror image cut of wood....so was reluctant to lose that.

Before I bought on ebay I put the pic on my laptop and held it up to the other wood. Not a perfect solution but it helped make the decision easier.

Up close and in person it looks just like the old wood...no nicks cracks, or scratches. This trim also had the better clips so its easier to remove/install.

 

Thanks for the write up this project is on my winter to do list. Enjoy your road trip.

 

Man you got lucky on the wood match, very nice. The triple gauge looks sooooo much better than the Nav.

 

Great work, I'd done the same conversion early last year, Nav was useless. You might take a look at Adamesh, they have some alum ring inserts reasonably priced, they would be a good match with the shift plate on yours.

 

How hard is this conversion? I have done the valley hose and octopus hose jobs, pulled the intake/TB-Elbow off and put in new gaskets there, done WP and t-stat.
Can I do this one? I know VERY VERY LITTLE about electrical stuff.

 

If you've done that work I'd say this is well within your reach.

I hate wiring (I'm color-blind) but got through in about 8 hours (spread out over 2 days).

Getting good wood trim is really the worst part but I have a trick for you if buying off ebay - hold the laptop screen up to the wood trim in your car. It'll help you pick out a reasonable match.

...hope that helps!

 

I don't have nav, won't the new gauges fit into the existing panel?

 

If you have the 3-gauge setup, the RealGauge uses the ones you already have.

Add a small electrical panel behind the speedo/tach pod and run some wiring to both sets of gauges. Check out the Jag Wrangler website for details.

Pretty easy install and comes with great instructions. Heck, even I managed to do it. Well worth the time and expense IMHO.

 

Hi all.


The Real Gauge is an extraordinary and well designed modification, both the temperature and the oil pressure gauges. I have had mine for a couple of years and it works flawlessly.


Now for some numbers:
The original oil pressure switch operates 0,15-0,41 bar (2,2-5,9 psi).
The relief valve operates at 4,5 bar (65,25 psi)
Oil pressure at 3000 rpm hot 3,8 bar (55,1 psi).
Oil pressure idle hot 0,7bar (10,15 psi).
I myself have an oil pressure idle hot at 12,0 - 12,5 psi using 5W30 oil.


Coolant temperature is more difficult to establish causing a lot of discussion, but again some numbers:
Thermostat opens at 80C (176F) to 84C (183F).
Fully open at 96C (205F).
Cooling fans run at different speeds according to temperature and airconditioning pressure. See attached table.

 

Counterpoint is that keeping the nav unit allows one to install a backup camera which shows on nav screen. I find that very handy.

 

Clint thank you for posting. Your conversion looks great!

Let me reiterate that these are two separate modifications, because this is a common point of confusion:
1. Conversion from navigation to the 3-gauge cluster (oil pressure, clock and battery)
2. RealGauge upgrade of the 'placebo' coolant and oil pressure gauges to true operation. This involves using the existing gauges, but adding some new electronics to drive the gauges.

In my FAQ I say that if you are comfortable assemble IKEA furniture and swapping out a detective light switch in your home, you would be comfortable and capable to do these upgrades. This analogy has proven accurate over the years, and at least 99% of those who take it on are successful. Some need a little support, and I always try to be there for them.

I encourage those considering the upgrade to read the instructions first. They are posted on my website. You will see they are very detailed, and really require no special knowledge or skills....just some basic tools and the desire and ability to carefully follow the directions.

Steve

 

any soldering??? I don't know how to do that? taking off that cluster thing would be nice, I have some blow cluster bulbs.

 

No soldering required, some connections are plug-in, and some connections use very reliable 'Posi-Taps' supplied in the kit. (see Posi-Tap- No Crimp Tap)

 

so with this conversion you have to put in a new oil pressure sender and run the stuff for it to the gauges in the car?

 

That is pretty much it in a nutshell. An adapter is included, so the old oil pressure switch still remains to signal the oil pressure fault light.

Also, the real coolant temperature data is present on a wire at the instrument cluster, so RealGauge picks that up and uses it for the coolant gauge.

 

Ok on the oil. So you are telling me on a 70k + car the real coolant temp is there at the wire near the gauge and they don't use it and opt for a **** gauge readout. Amazing.

 

It is worse than that. The gauge is controlled by a computer in the instrument cluster. The computer has the correct temperature informaton but is intentionally programmed to 'filter' out the movement of the gauge from 185 to about 230 degrees F.

Many car companies do this, because the thinking is we can't understand when fluctuations are not a problem.

 

Indeed - the OBDII reading spit out oil press and temp perfectly. The fact that those did NOT line up with my gauge is part of why I switched.

The gauges were transformed into 'idiot lights'...total buffoonery. 2 things that are certain to have happened the day this decision was made at Jaguar:

1. Somewhere a jackass in management or 'product enhancement' reccomended this
2. Somewhere a truly skilled engineer performed a facepalm while silently dying inside