Hello gentlemen, hope everyone is having a good week so far.

My '73 only has a temp warning light and I'd like to know that it is good before I push the car into regular use. I'm clearly struggling trusting the car absent gauges that give me the information I'm used to....

Pull and ground one of the leads?

Thanks!

probably green oil pressure warning light, comes on when you turn the key to on, goes off when you start the car

Hi George!

So, effectively, is the light coming on when ignition is turned on and then off when running all the test I need?

Thanks.

Yes, as long as you stop referring to it as a "temp warning light" ...

oil temperature != oil pressure

Can I call it a flux capacitor?

No

LOL, Oil temperature warning light it is then

It's your engine, just remember, it has 3 settings:

- Light comes on, engine is at operating temp
- Light starts flashing, engine is getting hot
- Horrible noise from the back, you looked at the wrong indicator

OK then!

Think I am going to install a proper gauge soon.

Thanks gentlemen

Just to be clear...

The green light has nothing whatsoever to do with oil temperature.

It is oil pressure. And if it turns on while the car is running, turn the car off ASAP or the car will turn itself off permanently.

Zach

Somebody needs to invent a sarcasm font because my previous post was meant to be somewhat snarky yet funny.

No font required. I got it straight away. Owner's manuals come in handy. Sarcasm.

Thank you Zach, that is actually very helpful.

I missed the sarcasm angle, running around doing 100 things at once and, well, I just missed it.

This kind of brings me back to the original question, which is with a stock car that doesn’t have the appearance package there really isn’t a way to have early warning that the car is thermal profile is unhealthy.

How did you actually *not* read the "it's oil pressure" replies above until Zach posted?

I mean, every single response in this thread was people telling you that it's oil pressure, yet you kept coming back to oil temperature right up until Zach's post.

I don't get it ...

Best answer is I am a moron at times, and I'm mentally hung up on my reference point with the other cars of the same vintage. I don't think I'm lacking separate oil pressure and engine temperature gauges on any of my other vintage stuff.

To be extra clear - my response to Zach was NOT intended to give you or anyone else a hard time. I am very appreciative of the help from you and George and everyone else.

Very possibly because they were built to a price. Also, the Bugs never had them, nor the Buses. To some people, the temp gauge is just one more thing to worry about.

Though I'm a fan of knowing what is going on in the engine, so I like having a gauge...

--DD