Oil Pressure Gauge

[Kinky]

I 'assume' this is OK, from my limited understanding .....

I think I've got the numpty oil pressure gauge - whereby it simply shows Low/High pressure.

As soon as I start the engine it sits on just over half way - on a scale of 1-100 from low to high, I'd guess it's on about 70ish.

But it never moves - wether I'm sat idling, or giving it a bit of welly, it stays fixed on the one point.

Is it worth investing in a proper gauge? But again, I assume it won't do anything different - so do I also need to wire up a sender or something?

K

[speedychrissie]

i would ask on mx5oc to see what more experienced people say, but a number of buyers guides say that all the oli pressure guages can be quite innacurate so it might be ok. having said that, mine shows a massive variation in pressure when idling and flooring it.

[thegreatsoprendo]

Sounds like you have the numpty version - mine definitely varies according to whether the engine is hot or cold and whether cruising or idling. What year is your car?

[Wigeon Incognito]

I have a 'dumb' gauge on my '98 Mk1 1.8iS. From what I've been told and gathered from the oc forum theres no problem as long as theres a reading.

[chockymonster]

For some reason Mazda changed the oil pressure sender to be a have pressure/no pressure sender.
You can change to a compatible sender, I seem to remember Moss did a kit to sort this out.

Otherwise you can get a replacement sender and gauge.
Sender is www.mx5parts.co.uk/product_info.php/products_id/853
Gauge I'm not sure on.

[missdiane]

mine used to flicker between the pins quite erratically when there was a problem or when sat in traffic, although used to just stay in the middle the rest of the time.

[roadrunner440]

I believe they changed the guage due to customer worries. Our car shows 90psi on start up that soon drops to 60ish however a good blat will see the pressure drop of to 26-8 at idle, perfectly normal but some folk thought they had killed the car !