Oil Pressure on cerb has gone weird

[ssavill]

Hi all,

hope you are all having a good weekend.

Quick question for you cerbera owners out there - my oil gague has displayed from weirdness yesterday.

On startup, the oil pressure (indicated by the guage stayed around 0 for ages) ((initally turned engine off for fear of bad things)) - but the oil pressure light went off instantly

Started the engine up again, and again - started ok - and the pressure gauge up went very very very very slowley over about 10 mins to the normal 50psi

on turning off the engine - it now stays stuck at this point.

I am guessing there is a problem with the capilliary tube - has anyone seen this before, and if so - was their an easy fix?

Many thanks,

Stuart.

[gazm]

Could it be the oil pressure spring (costs a couple of quid to replace if it is)

Gareth

[ssavill]

gareth - any clues here - i have no idea how this lot bolts together / where to find it. All i can see is the capillary tube out of the back of the oil pressure gauge and dissapears into engine land.

hhheeelllpppp :-)

[alinton]

It could well be the oil pressure relief spring. Its behind a large (M22 I think) bolt-head which you can easily see under the engine, it goes in sideways on the driver's side, if I recall correctly.

There's a spring and a ball in there - if the spring gets soft or breaks (which they do) then you'll not get enough pressure. It can be tragic if a bit of a broken spring gets into the engine though.

Its unlikely that your oil pressure pipe has suddenly become kinked, more likely that the spring has bust. Its real cheap and easy to fix.

Rgds

Andy.

[longbow]

Stu, from your initial post the problem most definitely seems to be your gauge. For a start, you said the oil warning light was out, and also the way the pressure climbed makes no sense. The fact that the gauge then stuck on switching off the engine is the best clue though. It could be a partial blockage of the tube, either way you'll need to source a replacement. Changing it is a pain, as the gauge and tube are all one piece, and so you will need to feed it from the dial pod right through to the take-off forward of the engine. Fiddly job, but fairly straight forward.

[alinton]

Having re-read the original post, I agree with Longbow.

Wonder why it got blocked though?

Andy.

[ssavill]

Guys,

Thanks for you're input - much appreciated. One more question, and I apologies if this is dumb - when you buy the replacement - does the pipe down to the engine come with - i.e is this one complete part.

on a second note - are there any better aftermarket guages - as given the thread, it sounds like the originals are inaccurate (that being said - i havent got any evidence to back that up)?

Thks again,

Stuart.

[ssavill]

Sorry longbow - another note on the guage behavior - the pressure guage does drop down over a period of time (i.e.8 hours) and then on re-start climbs very slowly again... but as previously state - the oil pressure warning light goes out damn quick (i.e. just after start and a quick "hold" at 1000 revs for 30 seconds. Dont know if this backs up your conclusions?

Tks

Stuart

[gazzab]

It takes 30 seconds for your oil pressure light to go out? That sounds like a lifetime!

[ssavill]

Hi gazzab - as per the note - i said i hold the revs at just aroun 1000revs for 30 seconds as it seems to help the idling out after that. the oil pressure warning light goes out after 2 seconds or so - as soon as the engine kicks into life

[longbow]

The replacement gauge will come with the capillary intact, i.e. yes it is all one piece. I looked into an aftermarket gauge but the problem is getting a sufficiently long capillary tube. In the end I got a standard one and it has been working perfectly ever since. Sorry - just clicked here. I was getting confused with the water temp part of the gauge, which does indeed use a capillary tube and connects infront of the engine. However, the oil piping is hard tube, and the standard connector screws onto the back of the gauge. HOWEVER, as the unit is indeed dual role, then if you replaced it, you would need to replace the capillary section as well (water temp), which as said, is a fiddly job.