most of my guages stopped working on my truck so its time to upgrade. i am going with autometer guages and was wondering this ...

what would you recommend:

electrical or mechanical and why? thank you.

some electrical can recalibrate on gear change, tire change, ...

I did mechanical on all the guages I bought which had the option(speedo, oil pressure, and water temp) and will do the same for the other's I plan on getting(vacumn and tranny temp) The only guages I have that aren't mechanical are my volt meter, fuel level, and tach... and when I get the fuel/air ratio meter it will be electric also.

The reason I did this was to have less reliance on electrical for my important guages(oil pressure, water and tranny temp) In the event I have an alternator failure(I've had it happen twice on an old vehicle), I can drive THAT much further on the battery :p

The obvious downside is routing through the firewall.

Most autometer elec. are not full sweep. I like full sweep.


Write a list down of the gauges you want. Then go to auto meter and decide.

Some times the gauges you want arnt in a particular series you like, so this can be the deciding item.

Good luck, Dan

I got a mixture of both (electric temp, oil, etc., mech Speedo).

My father in law is an old school bodyshop guy (retired 15 years ago).

He said the stock car (weekend racers) guys used to like the electric over mechanical.

If there was a freak wreck, & the dash got tweaked, would you want HOT pressurized oil shooting onto your lap?

I found this hard to believe, but I'd hate to prove him right...:D

Originally posted by Dan Dibble
Most autometer elec. are not full sweep. I like full sweep.


Write a list down of the gauges you want. Then go to auto meter and decide.

Some times the gauges you want arnt in a particular series you like, so this can be the deciding item.

Good luck, Dan

i have looked through summit and a few other catalogs and have seen the selection in the series i want. i was just looking for input on what the pros and cons of running the respective types are. i like the idea that if indeed my electrical system wigs i still am able to monitor my system, however mocha mike brought up a good point, what happens if the lines do get damaged or tweaked. thanks again for the input

Check out this link and there is also another link in the thread.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54764&highlight=autometer

Done the hot oil in the lap thing - not fun - but easily cured and still prefer mechanical - just route accordingly - ouch!

I went with Autometer Ultra lite gauges. I installed an electric oil pressure, an electric coolant temperature, and a mechanical air pressure (for the OBA). If I did it again I'd probably go with mechanicals because they are full sweep gauges, and just as easy to install. I've also been told they are more accurate, but I don't see how a slight bit more accuracy is going to matter.