Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior Gauges: Mechanical vs Electrical

Ok so i need to know the difference, i think this may have been posted before but i can seem to find that thread so could someone just tell me the difference between the two and how they work and then which is more efficient, thanks!

mechanical usualy use a vacum line to get their reading, which is sometimes not always correct

electrical just splice into an electrical line & are more accurate 'cuz they use electricity, instead of a mechanical device, such as a vacum line.

do the electrical ones require sensors or what? or do most elec gauges come with that?

That's sort of the right answer. Yes mechanical gauges use a vacuum line of some sort for their readings. But most electrical gauges (depending on what it is your "gauging") also use a vacuum line. The vacuum line just runs to an electrical sender which in turn runs to the gauge instead of just a vacuum line to a gauge. The reason most people would rather use electrical gauges for most things is that it keeps a vacuum line out of the interior of your car. Say you've got an oil pressure gauge; most people would rather have the vacuum line full out hot oil stay in there engine bay and just run to an electrical sender rather than mess around with a line full of hot oil running inside their car.