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Thread: An interesting and useful find on using 0-90ohm sending units on Subaru clusters

  1. #1
    Senior Member SixStar's Avatar
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    An interesting and useful find on using 0-90ohm sending units on Subaru clusters

    These are NOT my words, just found this and thought someone else might find it useful, and hopefully not redundant.

    Now as anyone knows that owns a fuel cell, the sending units are usually 0-90 ohm units, whereas the stock unit is a 0.5-50.5 or... a 0-50 ohm unit. Now as far as I know most Subaru vehicles come with 2 fuel sending units wired in series. So basically the subaru gauge reads roughly 0-100 ohm then (or more specifically 1-5 to 100-104), and we need to run a 0-90 ohm sensor instead of 2 bulky stock sensors. With this modification you'll be able to run the 90 ohm sensor and keep very near stock levels of function.

    Stock ohms vs Modified

    Stock Full - 1-5 ohm
    Modded Full - 7.5 ohm (reads just slightly below full)

    Stock Empty - 100-104 ohm
    Modded Empty - 97.5 ohm (Reads near stock)




    What you'll need
    -Soldering Iron and solder
    -Properly sized shrink tubing
    -Liquid insulation (not required)
    -1x 7.5 ohm resistor
    -1x 90 ohm Fuel sending unit similar to the stock one (with a floater



    What you need to do
    *** IMPORTANT - Make these changes to the wiring before going into the fuel cell, this way the sending unit has proper clearance at all times and you don't run the risk of blowing yourself up ***

    1. Wire the 7.5 ohm resistor into one of the wires going into your new sending unit in series.
    2. Flip your Fuel sending unit 180 degrees and extend wiring as needed (where the shrink tubing and liquid insulation comes in handy)
    3. Test your sending unit outside the cell with another person around or yourself, when all the way up the fuel gauge should read close to or at full, at all the way down it should read empty.




    Hope someone can find this helpful!

    PS: You can also use a 10 ohm resistor to get closer to what you should see at stock levels for empty and it will be off by more when full.
    Owner/builder - AEM Intakes 818R #85

  2. #2
    Senior Member wleehendrick's Avatar
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    The Boyd tank comes with a 0-90 Ohm sending unit. I know Tom posted that he had to reverse his, but he didn't mention adding a resistor. Without it, according to this info, the stock cluster would read slightly less than full (~90%) when it's actually full. Thanks for the info... my tank shipped from Boyd and I should get it soon!

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    Have you ever discovered the ohms for the water and oil temperature sensors and oil pressure?

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    Senior Member STiPWRD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JB91710 View Post
    Have you ever discovered the ohms for the water and oil temperature sensors and oil pressure?
    The water temperature sensor is a 2.5k ohm (at 25C) thermistor. It's actually a 3 pin sensor that outputs 0-5V instead of a resistance. There is no oil temperature sensor. The oil pressure sensor is actually more of a "switch" that senses if there is more than 2 psi of oil pressure.

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    Quote Originally Posted by STiPWRD View Post
    The water temperature sensor is a 2.5k ohm (at 25C) thermistor. It's actually a 3 pin sensor that outputs 0-5V instead of a resistance. There is no oil temperature sensor. The oil pressure sensor is actually more of a "switch" that senses if there is more than 2 psi of oil pressure.

    Thanks STiPWRD. For oil pressure I would have to replace the switch with a VDO sensor then, right?

    Any idea where I could install an oil temperature sensor?

  6. #6
    Senior Member STiPWRD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JB91710 View Post
    Thanks STiPWRD. For oil pressure I would have to replace the switch with a VDO sensor then, right?

    Any idea where I could install an oil temperature sensor?
    You shouldn't replace the factory oil pressure switch, just keep that so your oil light doesn't come on.

    I'm not familiar with VDO, is that a name brand? I installed a Prosport oil pressure sensor into the oil galley using this kit:
    http://prosportgauges.com/remote-oil...ation-kit.aspx
    And this gauge (comes with sensing unit):
    http://prosportgauges.com/52mm-elect...ure-gauge.aspx

    For the oil temperature, I used this fitting that sandwiches between the oil filter:
    http://prosportgauges.com/oil-filter-adaptor-plate.aspx
    And this gauge (comes with thermistor):
    http://prosportgauges.com/52mm-elect...ure-gauge.aspx

    Keep in mind these sensors and gauges are independent of the factory ECU and wiring.

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