Oil Pressure!

[DHilly]

Allways been around 60 ish when cold dropping to 30 when warm. Fitted new valley gasket couple of months ago and not been a le to use much since. Today oil pressure started off at 60 but noticed when warm it had risen to 85! Stopped an re-started of and it seems to be flucktuating between 40 - 60 at tickover when warm.
Anybody any ideas?

[haircutmike]

Dodgy sender unit, unlikely anything else.

[anonymous-user]

+1

[Ron McC]

DHilly said:

Allways been around 60 ish when cold dropping to 30 when warm. Fitted new valley gasket couple of months ago and not been a le to use much since. Today oil pressure started off at 60 but noticed when warm it had risen to 85! Stopped an re-started of and it seems to be flucktuating between 40 - 60 at tickover when warm.
Anybody any ideas?

Hi mate, I had a similiar problem, My Chimaera was idling at 90 PSI then dropping down to 30 PSI or less when I was driving, I changed the sender unit and still had the same problem. Turned out to be the gauge.

Cheers Bud.

Ron McC

[hiltonig]

Deffo,sender , change it before anything else

[Ribol]

When my OPS packed up reading high a bit of a clue was that with the ignition on without the engine running the needle did not go fully back to where it used to when working properly.

[DHilly]

Thanks for all your ideas, will fit a new sender unit first and take it from there.

[DHilly]

Thanks for all your ideas, will fit a new sender unit first and take it from there.

[Bassfiend]

Ribol said:

When my OPS packed up reading high a bit of a clue was that with the ignition on without the engine running the needle did not go fully back to where it used to when working properly.

Mine always reads 15psi with the ignition on but no engine running - I've always assumed it was just the sender.

Phil

[DHilly]

Next question, where do I get the correct sender from?

[TJC46]

DHilly said:

Next question, where do I get the correct sender from?

You can buy one from the usual TVR parts suppliers for about£40 plus the usual rip off £8+ p and p or from Pistonheads classifieds for about £28 plus p and p. Or do what most of us have now and thats buy this one from ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OIL-PRESSURE-Sender-Sens...

You need to fit a wire to run to earth[which is a better set up than the original] but the sender is far more accurate. Mine reads 60psi at cold and even when hot and driven hard never lower than 45psi.
Must add i run Mobil 1 10w 60 extended life fully synthetic and cannot recommend this oil highly enough.

[Bassfiend]

TJC46 said:

You can buy one from the usual TVR parts suppliers for about£40 plus the usual rip off £8+ p and p or from Pistonheads classifieds for about £28 plus p and p. Or do what most of us have now and thats buy this one from ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OIL-PRESSURE-Sender-Sens...

Do these work with all versions of the Chimaera gauges though? There's the early "ETB" gauges (that I think someone found out weren't actually made by ETB) and the later Caerbont gauges - do they use the same senders?

Phil

[ChimpofDarkness]

Here's my post on the subject that conclusively proved the cheapo EBay sender does the trick on the later Caerbont gauge cars.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=984...

A year later and it's still working perfectly.

However, I do believe the earlier gauges need a sender with a different resistance rating.

I think its like this.

• Early ETB gauge sender: 10-180 Ohms

• Later off white Caerbont gauge sender: 33 - 240 Ohms

[Bassfiend]

So something like this one for the ETB gauges?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Oil-Pressure-Sender-Gaug...

Phil

[ChimpofDarkness]

Bassfiend said:

So something like this one for the ETB gauges?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Oil-Pressure-Sender-Gaug...

Phil

Looks like it Phil

[Bassfiend]

ChimpofDarkness said:

Looks like it Phil

Well at this "Buy It Now" price I do wonder whether they'd be any good.

£7.29!!! :O

Phil

[ChimpofDarkness]

Bassfiend said:

ChimpofDarkness said:

Looks like it Phil

Well at this "Buy It Now" price I do wonder whether they'd be any good.

£7.29!!! :O

Phil

Take a punt, I did and it paid off.

At £7.29 it's cheaper than mine, go on take a chance you only live once

[Bassfiend]

ChimpofDarkness said:

Take a punt, I did and it paid off.

At £7.29 it's cheaper than mine, go on take a chance you only live once

Already have - when it arrives it'll go into the "bits box" for fitting when I get round to it...

Cheers!

Phil