Just when you think... (oil pressure)

[Pupp]

...you've experienced all the tricks they play, you get the dreaded 'nil pressure' reading on the guage. Oil light not on and extinguises right on start-up so I'm happy there IS pressure (cheers Rob for your thoughts), so whaddya reckon? Broken sender? Duff connector? Guage itself?

Having had a quick squint for senders, there seem to be different types according to guage type... how would I know what guages I have (they don't seem to be branded). 97 car, brushed ally bezels if that helps.

[odyssey2200]

If the sender unit has 1 wire to it earth it out.

If the guage reads max the chances are the sender is fubar.
If not chect for a 12 volot feed to the sender.

[Pupp]

odyssey2200 said:

If the sender unit has 1 wire to it earth it out.

If the guage reads max the chances are the sender is fubar.
If not chect for a 12 volot feed to the sender.

Cheers, that's useful. Job for when it stops raining (next April then)

[f@-pots]

Mine did that too, started off being intermittent then nothing at all over a few weeks(daily driver) I must admit I didn't take too much notice as the light was working perfectly but during my manifold removal experience(still ongoing two bolts totally seized) I noticed that the connector although looking 'on' was in fact only holding on by the plastic shroud.So I'm pretty confident that all will be well when I finally get the car back together again.

[nix887]

Hi

I've just had that exact problem on my '98 500 and had it fixed by Fernhurst this morning. It was the oil pressure sender unit. Quick replace, new oil and filter, purring beautifully and oil pressure back to where you expect to see it.

To recap, I had progressively worse pressure at idle, to almost zero this morning before the work was done. Oil warning light on with ignition, off at start, didn't come on again. Dip stick level fine, pressures whilst driving dreadful. All sorted now though, and not too painful on the pocket.

nix

[fatboychim]

There are numbers(just hard to see) on the sender, just had this when the lug snapped on mine at Austec.

[softtop]

Check out reality with a wet gauge. Then solve your problem knowing if you have a real oil pressure issue.

[spend]

Some senders have a sleeve/brass thread adapter which is prone to breaking, only heard of it failing when swapping the sender - take care.

Dave

[Nuggs]

Dodgy sender

[Pupp]

Cheers guys, not had chance to have a look yet but hopefully tonight. If I end up dropping the sender off the car, I assume I can do this without draining the sump?

[Pupp]

Broken sender wire... stone or other road-debris damage by the look of it. Was one of those 'blood run cold' moments when I saw the needle on '0' 'though

[Nuggs]

Pupp said:

Broken sender wire... stone or other road-debris damage by the look of it. Was one of those 'blood run cold' moments when I saw the needle on '0' 'though

I know what you mean about the shock of seeing it on zero.

However, as the engine would lunch itself in the time it takes to pull over if it really has no oil pressure, it's a short-lived panic either way!

[fatboychim]

Pupp said:

Cheers guys, not had chance to have a look yet but hopefully tonight. If I end up dropping the sender off the car, I assume I can do this without draining the sump?

You can change them without draining, however, if you leave the sender out the draining will resolve itself (all over your garage floor)

[Pupp]

fatboychim said:

Pupp said:

Cheers guys, not had chance to have a look yet but hopefully tonight. If I end up dropping the sender off the car, I assume I can do this without draining the sump?

You can change them without draining, however, if you leave the sender out the draining will resolve itself (all over your garage floor)

Worth knowing... cheers