Engine saver (water) alarm kit.

Totally agree with Jeff.

Do I have one fitted? No. Why not? Too lazy I suppose. Or, I'll get around to it one day. Weak excuses I know. .

About 10 year ago, I had a driver take a Toyota Commuter (mini bus) to Charters Towers. Along the way he managed to get a stick in the radiator and lost all the water. He just kept driving until there was that much smoke in the cabin he thought he should pull over and investigate. Rang me on the mobile and said the vehicle's got no power. He'd cooked the engine without even knowing it. He also cooked his job.

As a side note the insurance company actually covered the claim to rebuild the diesel engine.

Malcolm
Townsville

Jeff - can you please post a link so I can read more about these gizmos?

Having had two Toyota's suffer total coolant loss, the first a HJ47 when the bung fell out of the bottom of the radiator and the second a 1HZ powered Coaster when the radiator split.
You get absolutely NO indication from the temp gauge/sender/warning light as Toyota senders need coolant around them to indicate the temp.
No coolant, no temp indication.
Both times it was the smoke and lack of power that indicated there was a problem.
The engine saver is a good idea and yes I have one fitted to the Humvee. Lots of vehicles do have a similar thing fitted as standard.
The other thing that can be fitted is an TM2 Engine Watchdog.
Again Aussie made and probably easier to fit for most people as it only needs to be bolted to the part that you wish to monitor.
It can be used to read the temp of anything, engine, radiator, transmission, transfer case, diffs, the list is endless.
website is herehttp://www.sig.itel.net/

Hi Jeff, Ive got into a habit of eyeing my gauges every couple of minutes.

Got caught out once, all appeared ok but had that warm smell in the cab. Stopped to check and found a bypass hose perished under the hose clip.
Thankfully the radiator had only lost half its coolant, no damage done.

Theres a myriad of gadgets and gissmos out there some just gimmicks, but Im not going anywhere till I get one of these.

Cheers.....Lionel.

Have them fitted to my Landys'....good investment in time and mony.

Most people say "I watch the gauges all the time, why do I need a water level alarm?" but what they don't realize is that once the water level has dropped below the temperature sensor in the engine the sensor will stop working and sometimes the gauge just sits on "Normal" while in fact the engine is starting to boil. This can happen in a few minutes.

Hi Jeff,
I've got to agree with you.

Many years ago I cost GMH a brand new V6 engine in a 6 month old Commodore.

I was heading north west on the New England Highway at the regular 100km/h when all the dash lights came on and the fire went out.

Coasted to the side of the road and lifted the bonnet to find one of the heater hoses had popped off the block.

Rang the NRMA and he wandered out with a tow truck. After giving the engine a crank, at this stage it had cooled enough to just turn over he pronounced it dead.

Apparently when the local GMH dealer took the alloy heads off they were purple and shaped like banana's!

To this day that temperature gauge hasn't moved in any direction. The mechanic later mentioned as Peter I think said above the gauge can actually go down when the coolant disappears!

Yesterday afternoon the crew I work with and I had lunch in one of the cafe's overlooking Newcastle Beach when a rather sickly Commodore pulled up out the front.

Next came the NRMA ute. The NRMA bloke put I reckon the best part of 10 litres of water from what looked like 2 x 5litre containers.

Then came the NRMA flatbed. Can you sing "Another one bites the Dust" ??

Having said all that the driver has to know what the alarm means for it to be useful!

My mates fathers mate (We'll call him Fred) had one of those front engined V8 water cooled Porsche.

Being a German car they are very thorough in their engineering and had included a low coolant alarm.

So the Porsche was wandering along the road one day with Fred at the wheel when the "Check Coolant" light comes on.

So Fred being as mechanically challenged as what he is thinks for a second or two then turns the air conditoning on and keeps driving!

He never ever has or will tell us how much that exercise cost!

Geoff

HI All,
I'm another "fan & Promoter".
I cooked a motor in a Pajaro years ago coming down the New England Hwy at around 2am. ALl seemed normal until the oil pressure dropped. I pull over to find the motor dead dry and crackling like a old campfire.

The Engine Saver gives me great piece of mind and David's service is excellent.

Wishing you all a great Christmas & brilliant New Year.
Cheers
Alex B

I have one ( good Value)
But have you heard this one . Work has quite a number of vehicles with a similar unit installed. A couple of years ago a certain person was coming home from a mine site,rang the workshop mechanic saying the engine stopped, yes cost an engine. He was asked did the beeper sound? His answer "yes but it gave him the bleep s so he plugged the beeper with an ear plug!!!!!!!!!!!!" what can I say?
Ian