oil temp.

it is actually straight. you know the ones with a round dial, and a straight steel probe coming off the back? i figured i was getting an inaccurate reading, but i dont know if my reading is higher, or lower than what the oil temp actually is. thanks again for any help matt

Hey. Yer screwed. Now don't take that as a Bad Thing. I used a Gene Berg thermo to bake my Thanksgiving turkey. It dried up and about blew away.

Cross-purposes and all that.

The type of digital thermometer that Jan mentioned works quite well. Unfortunately, the probes have a reputation for going bad, frequently. I bought a Pyrex brand digital thermometer at WalMart and after two uses it died. Another popular brand is Taylor. I bought one of those and the probe from it works on the Pyrex meter. You can buy replacement probes for the Taylor brand at chefdepot.com for $8.99 plus s&h. I suspect that this probe will work on any of the digital thermometers of this type that advertise a working temperature range of

i got a berg ordered today, but im curious to know how far off the reading i am getting right now could be. i was having a bad heating problem, but i replaced my engine compartment seals, and it lowered my temp from 255 to 230, or so my thermometer says. i know that if the temp sending unit on a watercooled is in air, and not water, it would read hotter. im hoping this is the case with thermometer im using right now. i do know that before i changed the compartment seals i could barely tough the engine lid after running, but now i can. any help is appreciated matt

You're better off using the touch test on a stock dipstick.

Extremely warm is perfect. Hot but you can still grasp it for a few seconds means you're at the upper limit. If it's too hot to touch for even a second, somethings cooking besides your finger.

that is a very crude test at best.....

I don't know that the probe failure is specific to any particular brand. A search on the Internet seems to indicate that many of the various brands that use the curved probe have a hign failure rate. It looks like the probes fall in to two categories. Those that fail after one or two uses and those that work for a long time. I cut the failed probe from my Pyrex thermometer apart and I didn't see any obvious reason for a problem exept that the thermistor in the probe apparently changed value or characteristics. Nothing open or shorted.