retro engine panel upgrade TMD22-P

blue-max · July 20 2018, 16:48

I have a wish to upgrade the panel with oil and water gauges. I have one and the harness but not sure what engine it came from but is very similar to the one for the D2-55. I will need to fit senders for the gauges but any advice how to upgrade appreciated.

Yngmar · July 20 2018, 21:40

I haven't upgraded the panel, but looked into it, and on my MD22 (non-turbo), the senders do not need changing - they have both open/close contacts for alarms as well as resistance ones for gauges. It's even already on the wiring loom - so you can tap into there right behind your existing panel.

If your gauges are from a different panel, you need to check if they're compatible with your senders though. If they aren't it might be easier/cheaper to sell the fancy Volvo panel and get single gauges matched to your senders instead.

blue-max · July 21 2018, 06:28

thanks for the reply - how do I check for compatibility of gauges? (they are standard 12 volt VP) Do I understand that if they are compatible all I would have to do is to join the gauge wires with the appropriate alarm/light wires and not have to fix anything to the engine?

Yngmar · July 21 2018, 11:29

Yes, you just wire them up. You can check by looking up the senders. None of them are made by Volvo, and the ones of mine I looked at had VDO or Bosch numbers on them (forgot which) that should lead you to the spec sheets.

Salty · July 21 2018, 20:22

As far as I'm aware, there are two types of instruments, the old fashioned ones which indiviual senders wired directly to their own display unit and the modern ones that use a Can-bus system where the senders and display units are all wired into the same circuit rather like, for example, the depth, speed, wind and autopilot on a Raymarine Seatalk system. The old and new type instruments are not compatible and will not work together on the same circuitry. I know because I have a great set of new Can-bus instruments bought with good intention but which will not work with my MD2020 D individually wired engine sensors.

Yngmar · July 22 2018, 08:38

The trusty MD22 and its analog senders predate CANbus by several decades

blue-max · July 31 2018, 19:27

At least one of the big VP UK agents replied to me with part numbers for senders. Water is cheap but oil very much ott. Maybe I should source from Perkings? Did the Maestro/Montego have oil pressure gauge on the dash? I assume the senders for the gauges need to be wired to alarm senders on the engine? I am also wondering how compatible my panel is as I don't know which engine it was originally mated with.