Oil Temp Sensor....
 

so I am looking at getting
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku
that for a oil temp gauge but my question is do I have to double tap my oil pan (once for the return line and once for this) or does it go where the oil pressure unit is already?

I believe that autometer makes an oil drain plug sender unit. If not, another option is to get a oil filter relocation kit with a temp sender port. I believe that Thompson Automotive makes one.

Go buy a new drain plug from a Mazda dealer, drill and tap it. Install the sender, I used JB weld to make sure it wouldn't work its way out. I didn't drill all the way through the plug so there should be little chance of it leaking. Works well and was cheap.

Oh thats sweet but I cant seem to find them I found one at Egauges.com cept when I click add to cart it goes all error like and seems like they dont sell it anymore... and Sumit Racing doesnt have any... know of any other shops that have em?

Sorry, I think I last saw them at Summit Racing. Maybe it's not made anymore? If not, the next best thing is just to drill and tap the stock drain plug so you can do it out of the car and won't hit anything like the oil pickup tube.

Autometer does make one, you can get the part number off autometer's website. I tried it about 1 month ago, it leaks. The threads are correct, but the sealing surfaces are incompatible. Plus the autometer sensor ends up 1/4" still inside the adapter. I figured the sensor should be at least flush or protruding a little into the oil.

I ended up drilling, boreing and tapping my factory drain plug to get the sensor probe protruding 1/4 INTO the oil. Response time is still sssssllllloooowwww, but faster than with the autometer adapter/plug. Now it 'only' takes me about 15 minutes of highway driving to start reading temp on my autometer 140-300 degree gauge, as opposed to 25 mins before.

oh jeez 15 min to get readings? Is there any other oil temp gauges out there that work better?

You've got to remember that the temp sender has to go from ambient to 140* (my gauge starts at 140) before you'll see it register. Once it is up to temp it reacts pretty quickly.

You could try this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OIL-F...QQcmdZViewItem

You would simply put the sender into one of the three ports and leave the other two capped off. Added benefit is that it makes adding an oil cooler later much easier.

How long does it take yours to heat up? I was shocked to see it took that long for oil in the pan to warm up. Of course, my $40 autometer gauge/sensor could be junk. This is in the summer too, with 85+ degree ambient temps.

ok, this is a little more involved, but definitely better:

add a tee to the oil pressure sender tap and install the oil tenp sender on the other side of the tee.

will involve removing the intake manifold, but anything worth doing, is worth doing right.

I would say it take 10 minutes of in city driving before I see the needle move. I would expect if you were going 60mpg in 5th it would take along time to show up. Gets to about 180 while during city driving boosting here and there, but not driving like a idiot. Drops down to about 150-160 if just cruising easy on the highway. Temp goes above 180 if I've been idling in traffic a long time. The oil pan obviously helps cool the engine oil quite a bit, as noted by the high temp at idle and dropping 20-30 by cruising.

Maybe putting it in the pan is less accurate than elsewhere, but like I said once it get's up to operating temperature you can see the changes quite easily. So to me it's worthwhile.

OK cool, same here basically, except my temps get around 220 while on a Mob run (local unofficial Miata club), 190 on the highway in the summer.

Would you need flow around the sensor port for it to be the most accurate? Would you get flow with this "T"?