Need an oil pressure sender
Discussion
I need to replace my leaky serpentine type oil pressure sender but I'm finding it difficult to justify TVR Parts £60+p&p option. There's loads on ebay but it's difficult to identify a good one among all the Chinese copies. Is there a reasonably priced sender out there for the serpentine engine gauge type?
N7GTX said:
Bought one of these from Racetech Dec 2013. Works fine, no issues.JWzed said:
N7GTX said:
Bought one of these from Racetech Dec 2013. Works fine, no issues.Hi,
Long thread about alternative and apparently more accurate senders below:-
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
All the best
Dick
Long thread about alternative and apparently more accurate senders below:-
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
All the best
Dick
It's pretty much 5 years to the day that I started this post:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
And 5 years on I'm still running that £15 EBay sender, the only difference I've found between my cheapo Ebay sender and the overpriced offering from the TVR parts specialists is my £15 one responds faster and gives a more accurate reading.
It's what you might call a "No-Brainer!"
Have a look at the following post too, on page four Mr Supercharged reveals his testing of the different oil pressure senders available:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
The tests clearly prove my cheapo £15.00 EBay sender is the most accurate of the lot, which comes as no surprise to me TBH. Basically the cheapo EBay sender shows the correct pressure whereas the expensive one from the TVR specialists typically shows 25lbs less than the true oil pressure.
The tests results conclusively prove the original senders are highly inaccurate (badly matched to the gauge).
The key thing to understand here is when these cars were supplied new the oil pressure figures of 25-35psi were actually about 50% lower than the true figure, if you choose to replace like for like by fitting an expensive sender from a TVR specialist you will just get the same incorrect readings.
To see the correct reading & match the later magnolia faced TVR Caerbont gauge you need a 1/8 x 27 NPT thread sender ideally rated at 33-240 Ohms (0 - 100 PSI). Mostly what you'll find on EBay will listed as 6 bar or 10 bar, just choose a 6 bar sender with a 1/8 x 27 NPT thread and you'll be fine.
To be honest it doesn't matter if you pay £60 or £15 what you are buying is a very old fashioned sender design, if you open any of them up you'll find the same thing inside (a rubber diaphragm). Over time the hot engine oil will attack this rubber diaphragm, the first thing you'll notice is the unit will weep oil, this may start after just weeks of fitting but the sender will continue working acceptably for years like that. Fast forward a few years and you'll start seeing wayward readings on the gauge, very soon after this the sender will fail completely.
So the truth is they all have a relatively short life and they will weep oil fairly early on after fitting. People should accept this type of old fashioned diaphragm sender is consumable part that will likely need replacing every 5 years or so.
With all this in mind I personally wouldn't pay any more than £20 for one.
Of course a far better solution would be to move on from these prehistoric diaphragm type senders completely, what we really need is a proper modern transducer type sender like this.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silvery-Color-Pressure-T...
Unfortunately the spec doesn't show the Ohm range so it would need someone to test it with their TVR oil pressure gauge to see what figures they get.
The way I see it there's nothing special about the TVR gauge, it works within a very standard range of resistance which is more or less the same as all other common oil pressure gauges, and my bet is these cheap after market transducer senders are designed to be a plug & play match for existing gauges.
I've been meaning to try one for ages, while my cheap diaphragm sender does weep a tiny mist of oil (as they all do) it simply refuses to die, so I just haven't got around to trying a transducer sender yet.
Who will be the first to try my idea and fit a far superior & way more reliable transducer sender?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
And 5 years on I'm still running that £15 EBay sender, the only difference I've found between my cheapo Ebay sender and the overpriced offering from the TVR parts specialists is my £15 one responds faster and gives a more accurate reading.
It's what you might call a "No-Brainer!"
Have a look at the following post too, on page four Mr Supercharged reveals his testing of the different oil pressure senders available:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
The tests clearly prove my cheapo £15.00 EBay sender is the most accurate of the lot, which comes as no surprise to me TBH. Basically the cheapo EBay sender shows the correct pressure whereas the expensive one from the TVR specialists typically shows 25lbs less than the true oil pressure.
The tests results conclusively prove the original senders are highly inaccurate (badly matched to the gauge).
The key thing to understand here is when these cars were supplied new the oil pressure figures of 25-35psi were actually about 50% lower than the true figure, if you choose to replace like for like by fitting an expensive sender from a TVR specialist you will just get the same incorrect readings.
To see the correct reading & match the later magnolia faced TVR Caerbont gauge you need a 1/8 x 27 NPT thread sender ideally rated at 33-240 Ohms (0 - 100 PSI). Mostly what you'll find on EBay will listed as 6 bar or 10 bar, just choose a 6 bar sender with a 1/8 x 27 NPT thread and you'll be fine.
To be honest it doesn't matter if you pay £60 or £15 what you are buying is a very old fashioned sender design, if you open any of them up you'll find the same thing inside (a rubber diaphragm). Over time the hot engine oil will attack this rubber diaphragm, the first thing you'll notice is the unit will weep oil, this may start after just weeks of fitting but the sender will continue working acceptably for years like that. Fast forward a few years and you'll start seeing wayward readings on the gauge, very soon after this the sender will fail completely.
So the truth is they all have a relatively short life and they will weep oil fairly early on after fitting. People should accept this type of old fashioned diaphragm sender is consumable part that will likely need replacing every 5 years or so.
With all this in mind I personally wouldn't pay any more than £20 for one.
Of course a far better solution would be to move on from these prehistoric diaphragm type senders completely, what we really need is a proper modern transducer type sender like this.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silvery-Color-Pressure-T...
Unfortunately the spec doesn't show the Ohm range so it would need someone to test it with their TVR oil pressure gauge to see what figures they get.
The way I see it there's nothing special about the TVR gauge, it works within a very standard range of resistance which is more or less the same as all other common oil pressure gauges, and my bet is these cheap after market transducer senders are designed to be a plug & play match for existing gauges.
I've been meaning to try one for ages, while my cheap diaphragm sender does weep a tiny mist of oil (as they all do) it simply refuses to die, so I just haven't got around to trying a transducer sender yet.
Who will be the first to try my idea and fit a far superior & way more reliable transducer sender?
I bought a cheapy £15 eBay one. It had two terminals, so I had to run a new earth. Luckily it's located right next to the earth post on the chassis, so that's an easy job. A year on it's been fine.
Edit: This is the one I bought, it was £14.95.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370678852601?ru=http%3A%...
Edit: This is the one I bought, it was £14.95.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370678852601?ru=http%3A%...
Edited by zed4 on Thursday 10th March 15:30
zed4 said:
I bought a cheapy £15 eBay one. It had two terminals, so I had to run a new earth. Luckily it's located right next to the earth post on the chassis, so that's an easy job. A year on it's been fine.
Edit: This is the one I bought, it was £14.95.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370678852601?ru=http%3A%...
Haha, it says £914.95 now. I guess he doesn't have any leftEdit: This is the one I bought, it was £14.95.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370678852601?ru=http%3A%...
I searched high and low for one of these a little while ago and was so relieved when I found one I nearly clicked on it straight away before I noticed the £900 price tag.
Eventually I found one on the US eBay which, even with shipping, was only $28.00.
The advantage of grounding it through a separate tag means you can PTFE the threads without worrying about insulating it from the block.
Eventually I found one on the US eBay which, even with shipping, was only $28.00.
The advantage of grounding it through a separate tag means you can PTFE the threads without worrying about insulating it from the block.
ChimpOnGas said:
Of course a far better solution would be to move on from these prehistoric diaphragm type senders completely, what we really need is a proper modern transducer type sender like this.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silvery-Color-Pressure-T...
Unfortunately the spec doesn't show the Ohm range so it would need someone to test it with their TVR oil pressure gauge to see what figures they get.
<<SNIP>>
Who will be the first to try my idea and fit a far superior & way more reliable transducer sender?
Well that's what I'm using and it's absolutely useless for any of you with standard gauges as those transducers put out a 0-5v signal (they're a three wire sender) rather than a change in resistance...http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silvery-Color-Pressure-T...
Unfortunately the spec doesn't show the Ohm range so it would need someone to test it with their TVR oil pressure gauge to see what figures they get.
<<SNIP>>
Who will be the first to try my idea and fit a far superior & way more reliable transducer sender?
Phil
So I bought this one at £10.99 delivered. Let's hope it works
http://www.visual-performance.co.uk/oil-pressure-s...
http://www.visual-performance.co.uk/oil-pressure-s...
Hi Bob,
Please let me know how you get on. I fitted the same one a few weeks ago and even though the readings are now consistent (why i changed it in the first place) they now appear to ready rather high!
Now shows 75PSI cold idle down to only 45 PSI hot idle.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251091382046?_trksid=p20...
Cheers
Dan
Please let me know how you get on. I fitted the same one a few weeks ago and even though the readings are now consistent (why i changed it in the first place) they now appear to ready rather high!
Now shows 75PSI cold idle down to only 45 PSI hot idle.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251091382046?_trksid=p20...
Cheers
Dan
There is a belief that TVR Engineering fitted 0 - 150psi senders and that is why the pressure readings are usually low. Fitting a 0 - 100psi sender will increase the gauge reading. If you had 30psi reading with the TVR sender then this sender will read ~45psi which should be nearer to the true oil pressure
bobfather said:
So I bought this one at £10.99 delivered. Let's hope it works
http://www.visual-performance.co.uk/oil-pressure-s...
Bought one of these, fitted it on Friday and it lasted less than 150 miles. On install was working fine showing nice healthy 60psi but during a run out yesterday completely failed. Scared the living day lights out of me as I watched the needle drop. Pulled over to check everything to find all was good but the sender had failed. http://www.visual-performance.co.uk/oil-pressure-s...
mach2 said:
bobfather said:
So I bought this one at £10.99 delivered. Let's hope it works
http://www.visual-performance.co.uk/oil-pressure-s...
Bought one of these, fitted it on Friday and it lasted less than 150 miles. On install was working fine showing nice healthy 60psi but during a run out yesterday completely failed. Scared the living day lights out of me as I watched the needle drop. Pulled over to check everything to find all was good but the sender had failed. http://www.visual-performance.co.uk/oil-pressure-s...
bobfather said:
There is a belief that TVR Engineering fitted 0 - 150psi senders and that is why the pressure readings are usually low. Fitting a 0 - 100psi sender will increase the gauge reading. If you had 30psi reading with the TVR sender then this sender will read ~45psi which should be nearer to the true oil pressure
Not so a Healthy TVR sender will indicate correct oil pressure give or take a few PSI Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff