Installing an Analog Temperature Gauge on 2011 250r

[bluebr65]

Been wondering about how to do this. Saw the writeup for the digital Daytona gauge, but I wanted something to go along with the analog nature of the 250r's gauge cluster. Is this modification even possible with the way the current factory water temp sensor sends its signal to the idiot light? What would I need to do besides purchasing a gauge? God I'm lost on the what-ifs haha! Any ideas guys and gals?

[dubojr1]

Yep it will work. You just need a gauge and the included sensor. I don't think the dummy light would work anymore though if you put the sensor in the stock sensor location. You would need a hose adapter to put the new sensor inline right after the thermostat for the dummy to continue working.

[bluebr65]

Originally Posted by dubojr1

Yep it will work. You just need a gauge and the included sensor. I don't think the dummy light would work anymore though if you put the sensor in the stock sensor location. You would need a hose adapter to put the new sensor inline right after the thermostat for the dummy to continue working.

That sounds good! Thank you! What about the electric fans on the radiator? Will they still come on when they need to?

[dubojr1]

Originally Posted by bluebr65

That sounds good! Thank you! What about the electric fans on the radiator? Will they still come on when they need to?

hmmm.. Hadn't thought of those. They should work though because I replaced my whole gauge with a KOSO and it has coolant temp. reading. Fans still work even though I swapped the stock sensor with the new one.

[bluebr65]

Lol this could be a hosed out newbie question, but could the fans be connected via to the thermostat instead of running off of the water temp sensor? Now im lost lol

[dubojr1]

Just did some research on this.

The fans are connected to a switch that is after the radiator. The sensor at the thermostat housing is for the stock dummy light. You can change that sensor with a new gauge sensor but the dummy light will no longer work.

[bluebr65]

You seriously saved my ass! Now to figure out what size sensor will fit in the factory location, wonder if certain gauges come with adapters or if you shouldn't use an adapter and make sure to thread in the sensor by itself (using a thread matched sensor of course). Thanks for all your help honestly!

[dubojr1]

Someone on here should know the thread size. I'm thinking it is a pretty standard thing though.

[bluebr65]

Might start a new thread for it lol, should I?

[dubojr1]

I see you posted in another thread where @almost40 had one for sale. Drop him a PM to see if he can tell you the thread size.

[bluebr65]

Sounds good I'll do that now

[bluebr65]

Originally Posted by dubojr1

I see you posted in another thread where @almost40 had one for sale. Drop him a PM to see if he can tell you the thread size.

I sent one out, fingers crossed!

P.S. I MUST get me some woodcraft clip ons around xmas time.

[greg737]

I'd like to see you do this modification, so I'm willing to offer you some help. Read on....

The temperature sensors from the old-gen and new-gen EX-250 are the same size and thread pitch.

I know this because I have a 2005 EX-250 and I bought the thermostat housing for a 2008 EX-250 off of Ebay a while back and it included the temp sensor. So I've had them both in my hands to compare. The only physical difference in the dimensions of the two sensors is that the old-gen sensor is shorter and has a flat end where it meets the coolant while the new-gen sensor is longer and bullet-shaped at the end.

It would be an easy project to retrofit an analog sensor and gauge to the new-gen EX-250.

Step 1. replace the new-gen's idiot-gauge sensor with the old-gen's sensor. This is a simple, straight forward remove-and-replace. They're both the same basic type of sensor, a thermistor with a single wire that grounds itself through the thermostat housing.

Step 2. aquire an old-gen temperature sensor. I don't know where you'd get it... maybe from somebody parting out a bike here on the forum or from Ebay or just buy it new from Ron Ayers or Bike Bandit.

Step 3. aquire an old-gen analog temperature gauge. This is also an easy step because I've got one I don't need so if you want it I'll mail it to you (it's from a complete old-gen instrument panel I got from a friend). I'll send it with the screws, the wires, and the bezel (the "surround") for the guage so you can go for a "factory" look when you build a container for it.

Step 4. build a box for the gauge and figure out where to locate it. this is where things get complicated. When people try to add gauges and clocks and digital readouts to their motorcycles they quite often end up doing really cheap, quick, ugly, non-weatherproof installations. You should really think hard about where you're going to put the gauge. It should be one of two things: it should be either located in a very inconspicuous place or it should look so much like the stock gauges that it blends in perfectly. Unfortunately there's not a lot of room around the new-gen instrument panel, it's all pretty tightly packaged which is why it looks so good to the eye. Adding anything around, over, next to, or on top of it is probably going to detract from it's appearance.

(Here's a thought, don't know if it's possible on a new-gen: I've added a digital clock and a wideband O2 sensor readout gauge to my 2005 EX-250 and to avoid having these aftermarket gauges junking up my instrument panel I mounted them down inside the fairing (screwed onto the backside of the turn signal bolts). On the old-gen bike this is a great place to mount an extra gauge because it is very readable from your normal riding position.)

Step 5. the wiring would be super-simple. The existing wire from the original sensor to the instrument panel can be left in place as the connection from the retrofit sensor to the backside of the analog gauge. The other two wires for the analog gauge are just the standard 12volt power and ground connections that all the instruments need. All you have to do to find sources for these inputs is look at the backside of your bike's instrument panel.

Let me know if you want the gauge.

[bluebr65]

That is honestly very impressive! Thank you so much for the good information! I would be willing to try this absolutely! One question, what does the bezel entail? Is it just the black faceplate or does it provide a mount for the gauge face? Just trying to piece it together in my mind before you go through any hassle my friend

[greg737]

The bezel is just the relatively soft black plastic that outlines all the gauges on an old-gen EX-250 instrument panel.

The old-gen panel is basically a box of hard white plastic with the gauges mounted inside of it (all the hard-mounts for all the guages are screwed in from the back/bottom of the hard white plastic box). Over the top of the gauges is a clear plastic cover that snaps onto the white plastic box. And it has a relatively soft black plastic "outline" that matches up to the faces of the gauges lightly glued onto it's inside surface. That's the bezel.

When I say that the bezel "matches up" to the gauge faces I mean that it comes close but does not touch. The little gap between the bezel and the guage faces allows a space through which the instrument lighting can shine. That way the light can come in from all sides of the round gauges (the speedometer, the tach, and the temp gauge). The instrument lights are mounted in the bottom of the white plastic box.

I was just offering to cut off the part of the bezel that matches up to the face of the temp gauge so that you could possibly use it to create an OEM-looking setup. You can have an instrument light too if you want one.

[almost40]

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showt...ight=faze+temp

look here

[Jinx250]

Another option would be to use the parts Greg mentioned, but see if you can swap the temp gauge and the gas gauge in the stock cluster.

[bluebr65]

Thanks for the great info gents! I want this gauge to be supplementary to the factory cluster, I'm doing a few mockups now for fitting and aesthetics. Will follow up with some pics soon! I think I might just pick up a pregen sensor and a new gauge when I'm ready for the install and sacrifice the idiot light for some analog love