Thread: Mechanical vs Electric

Yes, once again the age old question. Which type of gauge is better? What about in a turbo application? Would placing a mechanical oil pressure gauge be a problem with a turbo car? I mean, really, those temps get hot. What is the advantage of electric outside of no lines of fluid? Is that the only advantage? Price wise 9 out of 10 times mechanical gauges are cheaper. Which lasts longer? Is the urban legend about mechanical gauges being more accurate true?

I know this is mostly an opinionated subject, but I think it should be on the forum somewhere. We all know it will come up at some time, and it’s good to get a collection of opinions now.

Mechanical oil pressure gauge, if you don't want oil in your cabin. I have no issues with my mechanical autometer gauge.

they make stainless steel lines for mechanical gauges, which are great

i think mechanical is really only necessary for absolute hardcore racers and high precision tuners. electrical does the job just fine i feel...it'll tell when a pressure is low or high or non-existent. for a regularly driven car, i'm not looking for anything accurate beyond 2-3% deviation.

I'm using mechanical and no problems here. From what I have heard you have to have some nice electric gauges for them to be accurate. I personally prefer mechanical.

the only problem with mechanical gauges is user error
if your dumb and don't know how to run the lines and make sure everything is tight and leak free
then yes you will get leaks in there lol

i disagree. I can never tell jack-shat from the electric gauges in other peoples cars, but I always know exactly what my oil pressure and boost are with my mechanical gauges.

Buying your gauges at walmart? I haven't studied DATA on accuracy of recognized brand electric vs. mechanical gauges, but I'd have to be shown lab comparisons to be convinced one is more accurate than the other. My autometer electric stuff appears to be functioning normally. Reason I use electric is that MANY years ago I had the plastic feed tube fail on an oil press gauge, made for an interesting cleanup problem in the car. On the other hand, at least it was pressure and it was inside the cab - no engine catastrophe, just a mess (but I did notice the pressure drop before I saw the oil, which is the point of the gauge). With a stainless line as mentioned above that issue should cease to exist, but then you've spent a good chunk of bux on the tubing - would mechanical actually be cheaper then? If somebody can step up with some actualy DATA on accuracy of one over the other, then this is worth discussing from an accuracy standpoint, but opinion is, well, just opinion.

i also disagree, electric gauges can have the sending units go bad, and give you in accurate readings, or the electric senfing unit can have a bad ground and that too will give you inaccurate readings..mechanical is far superior to the electric gauges

In some respects, but on the negative side it is also easy to break mechanical units by exceeding their limits (by accident), and mechanical parts usually wear out over time. I think though that the biggest disadvantage to a mechanical gauge is the fact that they are almost always accurate in some regions, but can be inaccurate in others. They are always designed to be accurate in their estimated operating range, but that doesn't mean they are accurate in all cases.