Oil Pressure Sender Unit

[steady5]

New owner of Caterham 1600 K series for 4 weeks. On start up oil pressure reads as normal, 2 to 3 bar, once car gets warm oil pressure goes into red. Noticed looking through service history that previous owners have replaced the oil sender unit. Could this be a general problem with the unit for 2 to be replaced within 18 months? As it is situated in a very vulnerable position at the bottom of the sump and therefore open to the elements. Has anyone had this experience? Any advice please.

[DCL]

Yes, they can fail quite quickly and vibration is often the cause so many owners fit a remote sensor kit or mechanical gauge. Having said that, your symptoms could be caused by other problems so it's best to keep an open mind as to the cause.

[Tango7]

steady5 said:

On start up oil pressure reads as normal, 2 to 3 bar, once car gets warm oil pressure goes into red. Noticed looking through service history that previous owners have replaced the oil sender unit. Could this be a general problem with the unit for 2 to be replaced within 18 months? As it is situated in a very vulnerable position at the bottom of the sump and therefore open to the elements. Has anyone had this experience? Any advice please.

Hi,

Do you mean it goes into the red when hot and ticking over? Your start up pressure is a little low when cold I think. They usually read around 4 bar (vertical) and then drop to the top of the red when hot and ticking over. As soon as you blip the throttle they will go back up to 4 bar. I expect your sender is playing up and a new one would sort the problem. They are fairly pricey though at around £35-40 from memory. It is very typical problem and a replacement can last anything from a year to 5 years+.

They can be made much longer lasting by putting a light smear of silicone around the point where the connector enter the main body and also by using a braided hose to allow the sender to fitted remote to the oil filter housing and somewhere less prone to road debris and the elements! Also consider fitting a mechanical oil pressure gauge and the problem goes away completely. Think Auto can sell all the bits you need and they have been fitted to plenty of K series Caterhams.

HTH

T

[BertBert]

I used to go through loads of senders until I fitted the remote (Caterham) kit.
Bert

[Agent Orange]

I have similar problem with a 1.6 K. Gauge is reading nothing. Looks like a common problem and was looking at the Think Auto solution.
http://www.perkins.org.uk/caterham/oil_pressure_ga...

BertBert do you have a link for the Caterham remote as cannot find it on their site?

[BertBert]

Doesn't appear to be on the spares site. You'd have to phone them. Bound to be out of stock anyway!
Bert

[Incorrigible]

Think automotive [o some good ones

[HustleRussell]

Ben, do they sell a better electric pressure sender to work with the Caerbont gauges or are you talking about going mechanical?

[Incorrigible]

Mechanical

[HustleRussell]

Aha cool, I am in the middle of doing that myself. I've turned up a boss on a lathe out of 11/16ths hex bar which will screw into the block and give me 1/8"NPT and 1/8"BSP threads for a mechanical gauge take-off and a low pressure warning light switch

[CharlesElliott]

I'm not a fan of bringing oil through the bulkhead, esp in a racecar. I have a electric sender and gauge that works perfectly, although it is a Spa one and remotely mounted.