Alpina Vent Gauge incoming-need some help!!

[reelizmpro]

That thing is awesome. I really want that for my convertible but they are so damn expensive. I looked into VDO senders and I believe they come in 2 different resistance ranges so you do have to match them to the gauge. Luckily, they are fairly inexpensive.

[structured]

Found this. I think that it's the reproduction which others mentioned.

http://s14power.com/docs/guage.htm

Looks like they have some of the wiring info. Time to break out the translator.

[Court M3]

John is also on s14.net. Try his there as well

[txtorquemade]

I am gonna bet the stock E30M3 (S14) sensor is fine for oil temp...hell, I bet most any VDO sending unit ever made is alright for oil pressure or temperature. It only makes sense for a manufacturer to remain consistent with their sensor values.

hinterachsgetriebe means "differential" so I am assuming that would be diffy temp. Do you know if this holy grail of instrumentation has diffy temp? I can't recall ever seeing the diffy on an E30 (M3 or not) have enough harness, I assume it would have to be added.

The thing has no need for memory power, thus switched ignition (I would use IGN2 myself, no sense having this on while cranking), illumination and ground are all that is needed.

If you tied that to power windows, you are golden.

Are VDO sensors hard to find? All I am seeing is oil temp and oil pressure and diffy temp, and of course the manifold pressure...but it has a MAP in it obviously.

I would not hesitate to wire that thing in.

Luke

Yeah, but your kind of like a freakin mad genius that would probably somehow make this work, where us mere mortals would fry the damn thing and cry!!!

[Adrian_Visser]

George... Re-produce this PLEASE.

[flyboyx]

I've finally sourced my white unicorn of the E30 parts. The problem is that their is no wiring harness-only the gauge and controller with connector. Is there anyone out there that can make a connector? Any idea on part numbers of the sensors needed? Does this use regular VDO sensors? Info on this unit is not too easy to come across. I've found the following diagram.


I've translated the following:
Pin 12: Oil Temp Sensor
Pin 11: Final drive oil temp sensor
Pin 10: Oil Pressure Sensor
Pin 1 and 4, Power
Pin 5: Ignition Plus ?
Pin 15: Lighting
The circle is the manifold pressure tube

Can I use existing sensors (Oil Temp)? What sensor is needed for final drive oil temp? Is there a spot for that sensor or does it need to be tapped? Does the manifold pressure tube just run to the manifold or is there a sensor? Unit powers up with just the power activated so it works, but no harness or sensors.

Ill pay for anyone able to help with the plug creation. Wiring is not my specialty and with this stuff NLA, dont want to ofry controller :)

Here is a pic of the unit:




Thanks for the help with this project!!

i realize this thread is almost 6 months old, but i recently found myself in a position to help you out with this.

ok....first off, not all the terminal pins have a wire connected to them but here is what i have come up with by tracing through my wiring harness:

1) brown(large) ground-connects to the under dash ground terminal by the steering wheel
2) brown oil temp ground
3) brown differential temp ground
4) brown oil pressure ground
5) green(large) power in goes to switched ignition power
6) blank
7) blank
8) blank
9) blank
10) yellow to oil pressure
11) black to differential tempurature
12) red to oil temperature
13) blank
14) blank
15) grey to illumination dimmer(i believe)

2,3, and 4 are grounds that go to the three sensors. by looking at the harness in its sheathing, it is impossible to tell which is which. i had to get out the fluke. in all honesty, i don't think they make any difference. a ground should be a ground.

bmw generally uses grey with a red stripe for illumination, so it is not a stretch for the grey #15 wire to have this function. by process of elimination, that is all that left anyway.

if you look in my pix i posted above, you can see the three temp sensors on the right side of the shot. the factory alpina sensor has three terminals and states it's range is from 0 to 5 bar. the third terminal is for the oil pressure idiot light. you can get an oil pressure sensor with two terminals and it will work. you just wont have the idiot light function.

the diff sensor(the larger all brass one) has a stamp that says 180 degrees c. from 6-24 volts

the oil temp sensor has the same info as the diff sensor but the unit is smaller.

hope this helps. i had a few small questions about installation and this thread answered them for me. that link someone posted above about the sending units was really helpful. so here ya go....passing it forward(or backward as the case may be)

[rav320uk]

Are these being reproduced????
Interested

[flyboyx]

Are these being reproduced????
Interested

there was a guy who posted under the screen name of "john" on s14 who was selling a reproduction vent gauge about 5 or 6 years ago. he is no longer active on the forum and has not posted there in several years. to satisfy your curiosity, you can do a search for it but don't get your hopes up. the price was around 900 euro which is a hell of a lot. however, that is less than half what the original usually sells for on the very rare occasion one might happen to come up on ebay.de. the last complete one i watched sell there went for over 1800 euro!!! in fact, i have only seen two in over 3 years of watching.

our best bet would be george graves in this department. seems like he is crazy busy with a new job these days. :sad:

if i had some sort of insurance on my copy, i would consider lending it out for reproduction.

[fporro]

all about the sensors here ... http://s14power.com/docs/guage.htm

[fporro]

@ flyboyx, my connector wires as follow ...

# 02 brown, paired to # 10 yellow, oil pressure.
# 04 brown, paired to # 12 red, oil temperature.

are your oil temp and pressure mixed up ?

cheers,
Frank