2286 Rover oil pressure

[100SRV]

Hi,
I have a 2286 Rover engine were the oil pressure light flashes quite a bit. I have replaced the oil pump gears, relief spring, ball and big end bearings. The main bearings are OK. Oil is 20/50 and the filter is good. Is it possible that I have a poor-quality oil pressure switch? I'm going to put a capillary pressure gauge on it to check later in the week.

Anything I've overlooked?

100SRV

[Pigeon]

Flashes? Do you mean it comes on a lot under particular conditions or that it comes on randomly at any time?

If the latter it's most likely the switch. For some reason oil pressure switches tend to be really st and like to disintegrate without apparent cause.

[100SRV]

Hi Pigeon,
I don't use the truck much but when I started it yesterday morning the light was on most of the time, even with the choke pulled out. It also sounded a bit rough. My Dad (whose truck it is) says that the light usually comes on when cornering or on the overrun, but not when crusing. When I last used it the light didn't come on much and the engine sounded smooth and pulled well - no signs of being tight.

I did wonder whether the pressure switch was for too high a pressure but the other 2286 engines I've had never showed these symptoms. I won a combined pressure / temperature gauge (capillary type) on ebay, I intend to install it and see what the oil pressure is like at 2000rpm - Rover reckon about 40 to 60 PSI from memory.

100SRV

[Pigeon]

Engine fault then.

At which point given the details you provide in your first post I think we need someone who's familiar with the details of these engines to give useful comment.

[100SRV]

Engine fault cured - some duffer in the Land Rover's past has put the wrong dipstick in resulting in the engine being shy of some 3 litres of oil. I found this when I decided to have another look at the oil pump and found all to be as intended after I had rebuilt it last year, a giveaway was that only 3 litres of oil came out when I drained the sump instead of the near gallon I had expected. I thought about the dipstick length and got the impression that the "H" mark seemed to be below or near the top of the pick-up gauze. I decided to fill the sump with the 6 litres specified in the manual and found my suspicions confirmed - the "H" mark is about an inch too low.

The engine now has a healthy 50PSI oil pressure at 2000 rpm and is nice and smooth. It could all have ended so differently...

Now the fuel level gauge has packed up.

Edited by 100SRV on Sunday 26th April 17:43

[Pigeon]

Glad it turned out to be something simple.

Fuel gauges start by taking the wire off the sender and touching it to a good earth, if the gauge reads it's the sender, if it doesn't it's the gauge or dash wiring... but you probably already know that