Me, speed gets to be more of a feel and sound thing. I don't believe I watch the speedo that close. Wonder how many people are watching their fuel level gauge these days.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

I keep an eye on gauges in everything I drive, it's just a habit. I had an oil pump fail a few months ago and shut it off immediately when the pressure dropped to 0 at a red light. OTOH, my wife probably wouldn't notice without a light. If her 240D ever loses oil pressure, I will be buying an engine.

My dad used to fly, so we all got the habit of doing a gauge glance at least every 15-30 seconds to make sure we still have OP and weren't overheating. Flying through the air in a Cessna, you really want to know these things... so the habit just sort of got passed on to our cars. Plus, all our equipment is old. Just makes sense.

My mom, on the other hand, could be driving a car that did a "Red Alert" siren from the Enterprise when there was a problem, and still keep right on going until it locked up.

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

LOL.

Maybe I'm checking them and don't even realize it.
Thats one thing I don't like about the 98 Beetle I'm driving, theres no temp gauge. When you start the car there is a blue light indicating the engine is cold, that goes out and then there is nothing to tell you what the temp is.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

Yes, I know. But I still think that the Stainless steel set up that I did is far superior to mercedesbenz hoses. I drive way too far to have MB proprietary hoses to leave me stranded.

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Current Stable:
1994 S500 v140, 210k miles, white with grey.

Former Mercedes in the Stable:
1983 300CD Turbo diesel 515k mi sold (rumor has it, that it has 750k miles on it now)
1984 300CD Turbo Diesel 150 k mi sold
1982 300D Turbo Diesel 225 sold
1987 300D Turbo Diesel 255k mi sold
1988 300 CE AMG Hammer 15k mi sold
1986 "300E" Amg Hammer 88k mi sold (it was really a 200, not even an E (124.020)
1992 500E 156k mi sold
etc.

I have about 200K on my current stock hoses, I'll just replace them again when it's time. They're just another maintenance item.

Sorry, just came across as if you hadn't read that part. Man, I need more coffee or something. I had a similar situation he had, and just replaced them with MB ones. To each his own. Peace.

There's no question that an oil-pressure-loss can be catastrophic and all you have to do is not notice that the gauge has gone to zero.

I looked into the idiot light thing, maybe with a buzzer or flasher attached to get your attention. All you have to do (on cars with mechanical gauges) is to tee into the pressure line and add an oil pressure switch connected to a warning lamp. Maybe a flashing LED would work.

For cars that have electrical oil pressure gauges, there would be a little bit more of a challenge. You would have to design and build a circuit with a transistor or an op-amp to sense the low voltage and trigger a lamp.

Shame that Mercedes didn't add to the meter needle a contact that would light a warning lamp at zero. It might be possible to retrofit such a thing, I suppose.

Jeremy

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Found it.....you mean something like this?
Low oil pressure indicator

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1981 240d - 135k - Arlene

Definately. The MB ones will definately be better than any farmer-boy rigged ones, but I think my stainless ones were cheaper and better than the MB ones in my opinion.

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Current Stable:
1994 S500 v140, 210k miles, white with grey.

Former Mercedes in the Stable:
1983 300CD Turbo diesel 515k mi sold (rumor has it, that it has 750k miles on it now)
1984 300CD Turbo Diesel 150 k mi sold
1982 300D Turbo Diesel 225 sold
1987 300D Turbo Diesel 255k mi sold
1988 300 CE AMG Hammer 15k mi sold
1986 "300E" Amg Hammer 88k mi sold (it was really a 200, not even an E (124.020)
1992 500E 156k mi sold
etc.

I'd say a buzzer is superior to an idiot light because our field of hearing is broader than our field of vision, not to mention that buzzers are far more irritating than idiot lights.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Hobbs makes many different pressure switches. http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-HOBBS-PRESSURE-SWITCH-10-PSI-NORMALLY-CLOSED_W0QQitemZ180223962312QQihZ008QQcategoryZ67006QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I think the thing to do is find a chime you like instead of a buzzer. Although most any car I buy its like one of the first things I pull as I hate noises. It would be nice to not have the circuit triggering the chime when the motor isn't spinning.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

Kerry is on the money here.... I was a pilot and used to have a good crosscheck.. but if you research the situation you will find that the IMPORTANT warnings in an aircraft are now AUDIBLE.... if you had a perfect 30 second crosscheck all the time you could still be 28 seconds late finding out that your oil pressure had gone to ZERO....
Greg

Dont know about warning systems on cars but on marine engines that I am familiar with, the buzzer goes off every time you shut the engine down (low O/P), then you reset it. A red strobe light might be better

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Oh good, another buzzer that I would have to disconnect. No thanks, I like the gauge. If I'm not paying attention to the gauges, I deserve to buy a new engine. I really hate buzzers and idiot lights.