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Brabus Tempamatic

See post #17 the MB oil temp sensor on the 2.5 16v is located on the oil filter housing.

Yes, I understand this, the oil filter housing on the 16v is forged with a threaded hole for the sensor. You can't just go and drill a hole in the M119 oil filter housing and try to thread aluminum, you will tear it up.

The aftermarket sensors are almost always mounted in the sump and/or in lieu of the drain plug. Mounting a oil temp sensor at the filter housing or near the pump will give you skewed readings, as it really does not give you a reading of the oil that is actually lubricating the engine. The sensor not only picks up readings of the oil in this area but heat from the oil pump and housing.

The more I look at the senosr with the kit, the more I am thinking it was designed to replace the oil drain plug. As already mentioned, I am of the opinion that this is not a good place to install a sensor, too much risk of the sensor getting damaged or leaking because of the constant in/out for oil changes.
 
Looks as if your best option is to drill insert and tap a fresh hole in the sump somewhere else then I guess.:dk:
 
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Oh, I did send a inquiry to Brabus asking about the availability of a installation manual for this item, but given my past experience with them, I am not holding my breath for a positive outcome.
 
Made some progress with the oil temp sensor, somewhat haha :wallbash:

Basically this sensor is fitted to the oil pan drain plug (see picture). The oil drain plug is drilled out and the sensor is fitted and sealed with lead solder (on the inside) and silicone/plastic (on the outside).

To make matters worse, the plug is a M14x1.5 (for a 6 cyl) so now I either need to locate another suitable sensor or remove this one from the drain plug and then mount it into a correct M119 drain plug (M12x.1.5). Not sure about locating a suitable sensor either, its a three wire sensor, not a common item, most are single wire or dual wire.

You can see by the pictures I posted the difference between the 6 cyl and 8 cyl drain plug.

I will use some of the previous information posted and see if I can track down the VDO or BMW sensor that was mentioned.
 

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You can see by the pictures I posted the difference between the 6 cyl and 8 cyl drain plug.


That's a very different sensor to the one i fitted on Jay's silver 500E....very different !


talbir
 
Is the rectangle thing on my car a sensor? I assumed it was just a connector plug that should have an attachment to it.
 
Is the rectangle thing on my car a sensor? I assumed it was just a connector plug that should have an attachment to it.


It was full of oil when i got it....so assumed it was....but you could be right. I'm a nerd sometimes !

Rik - does your oil temp sensor have any connector mid loom ? Any pics ?

If it is a connector, then the item i got was missing that sensor.

talbir
 
It was full of oil when i got it....so assumed it was....but you could be right. I'm a nerd sometimes !

Rik - does your oil temp sensor have any connector mid loom ? Any pics ?

If it is a connector, then the item i got was missing that sensor.

talbir

It's possible that your sensor was correct for a V8, or that Brabus used different types in their kit, maybe whatever was available at the time or as the design progressed, they upgraded the components, its just a guess at this point.

The end of this sensor has a 1/4" three contact phono plug, something similar to what you would use in pro audio. The actual wire harness has a female phone plug on it. I guessed this was so you could unplug the sensor and remove it using a open end wrench. (or Vice-Grips, which is evident in the case of mine)

I did take all of the componets apart and they are professionally done, does not appear to be a "end user" modification. Joints are sealed and heat shrink covers the two components when connected. Definately don't get the three wire sensor though, a two wire sensor is only necessary to provide a signal to a warning light or gauge, don't know why or what the extra wire on this sensor would be used for. That makes finding another very difficult.

Prevous posts suggested a BMW or VDO sensor as a replacement, but there are no hits from the listed part numbers. Visiting the BMW forums has not turned up any three wire sensors either.
 

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That's very different to the one i fitted on Jay's car.....that is really old skool no ? ! Like a professional DJ put that conenction together ! :eek:




cheers
talbri
 
Made some progress today (see pictures)

First, the buttons on the switch assembly wouldn't lock into place, noticed that there is a plastic slide piece that moves back/forth when you push the buttons in, this plastic piece needed some sort of small spring to hold it in place, yet allow it to move as you press the different buttons. Not sure what was originally on it to perform that duty as whatever was broken was missing. So, I removed one of the ckt board screws and modified a small spring and attached it, then used the screw I removed as a brace for the spring so it does not pop out of place (hard to explain, look at the pictures :crazy:)

Anyway, with that problem fixed, I went ahead and grinded off the old drain pan bolt and started drilling a hole into the M119 drain pan bolt, not quite finished with that part, probably will need to spend another 2-3 hours on that part of the project :wallbash:

Also just realized that the display is in celaaius, anyone know if this can be switched to fahrenheit? There are two small screws on the back of the display that are accessible via two small holes in the rear of the metal casing, but I don't think those are what I am looking for.
 

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First concerning the 3 wire sensor, if you look at the circuit diagram at the square/block connector you will see that the oil temp lead has 3 wires-- signal[+] going to pin one--- [neg] to pin 2 and earth to pin 4.----- the outside temperature lead on the other hand is signal [+] to pin3 and [ neg ] to pin 2 (shared with the negative of the oil temp lead)
I'm not sure how essential that oil sensor earth lead is [ the temperature lead doesn't need it presumably because it is a true core and earth screen lead] You could probably get away with any 2 connector screened lead NTC sensor with the right negative temperature coefficient curve. The entire unit might still benefitfrom/require an earth attachment at pin 4 however :dk:
ps since the unit originates in Germany I would doubt that it can display fahrenheit and the small screws at the back of the unit may for display calibration ( sensitivity and span) so I would not touch them if you want to retain accurate readings
 
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The Mercedes stock temp display in the instrument cluster was not switchable between Celsius / Fahrenheit either - MB offered them as two different units with different part numbers.

Rik - nice work on fixing the buttons, i do marvel at your patience and skill to do things right.

cheers
talbir
 
First concerning the 3 wire sensor, if you look at the circuit diagram at the square/block connector you will see that the oil temp lead has 3 wires-- signal[+] going to pin one--- [neg] to pin 2 and earth to pin 4.----- the outside temperature lead on the other hand is signal [+] to pin3 and [ neg ] to pin 2 (shared with the negative of the oil temp lead)
I'm not sure how essential that oil sensor earth lead is [ the temperature lead doesn't need it presumably because it is a true core and earth screen lead] You could probably get away with any 2 connector screened lead NTC sensor with the right negative temperature coefficient curve. The entire unit might still benefitfrom/require an earth attachment at pin 4 however :dk:
ps since the unit originates in Germany I would doubt that it can display fahrenheit and the small screws at the back of the unit may for display calibration ( sensitivity and span) so I would not touch them if you want to retain accurate readings

Thanks for the info, good to know if I end up needing to purchase another oil temp sensor. At this point, I am going to see if I can fit it to the M119 drain plug, its smaller in diamater than the M103 drain plug, so I will be drilling a pilot hole then I will ream it out using a Dremel

I didn't make any changes to the screws, but I did take the display apart to see if there were any jumpers and of course there were none. Casing is held together using lead, really old school, haha.
 
The Mercedes stock temp display in the instrument cluster was not switchable between Celsius / Fahrenheit either - MB offered them as two different units with different part numbers.

Rik - nice work on fixing the buttons, i do marvel at your patience and skill to do things right.

cheers
talbir

Good to know! Will just have to live with Celsius :crazy:

I spent the better part of my holiday working on that button assembly and the oil sensor, but its worth it, can move forward and start the installation now.

Thanks for the comments and help!
 
Finished up the interior installation today, have about 12 hours in just this portion. I needed to cut a section of the lower knee bolster (and dash) to fit the new Brabus light trim panel. So had to remove that item, the cluster and steering wheel. I did not run a new temp sensor, as there was no logic in that, so I grabbed the signal and ground wires for my temp sensor from the cluster harness (also used the illumination and switched 12volt from this location).

Since my trim panel already had a hole drilled for a alarm LED (like Talbirs), my choice was to leave it as is, put a plug in it or use it for something else. My Basslink T has a remote volume adjuster, so I mounted it in the LED opening, it was almost a perfect fit :)

The oil level sender wire was routed through a large gromit accessible from the cluster area (not finished with the sender modification yet).

Everything is back together and working as it should, although my light range adjuster does not fit this new Brabus panel, if anyone knows the part number for the short, fat, light range adjuster that would help me. I posted a seperate thread on this topic and included part numbers.

I don't have all my pictures processed yet nor are they on my site yet either, so I will post a couple here, more to follow.
 

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