Oil Pressure --> PLEASE HELP

[bighauns]

I posted in the Problem Diagnosis Section, but no one really noticed I dont think, so I am going to try my luck here, sorry if that seems dumb, but I am kinda worried about this and it is important:

Hey!

I kind of asked about this before, but I wasn't too worried about it then, but now I am kind of getting worried.

A few months ago, I did my JDM 6 Bolt Swap and from then on my oil pressure gauge did not work at all, it was always all the way down. I just thought it was a sensor or an electrical connection or something like that. As well, I do not have an oil cooler in place, I simply have some oil line in there, if that make a difference or not.

Now, it is kind of moving every once and a while, it is pretty sparatic, I have not noticed a pattern of it going up yet. However, if I put my key on to "Accessory" then the gauge goes all the way. After I start the car though, the gauge goes back down again.

A couple times later that it went up I was kind of ripping it up pretty good, then the gauge would go up kind of half way where it should be, but then when I slow it down it drops right as low as it can go.

I think I have Zero weight oil in there right now, if that makes a difference.

Please let me know what I should do, check, and how huge of a deal this is. I mean, I know that a car should be making oil pressure. The question is how hard is it to recify or repair this situation.

UPDATE--> I jacked up the car and I think I found the sensor wire that sends the signal to the gauge. It was connected, but wicked dirty, so I took the plug off, cleaned it and took off the little metal "L" bracket and scraped it down to a nice "gold" finish. Now, every time I start my car the gauge goes up to just a little bit below the first line on the gauge (for normal), then after about 30-40 secs it falls back down to right around low and if I rev it up, the needle does not move at all.

I am sure that is the right sensor because before I hooked it back up I started up the car and there was no movement at all.

AND NOW--> I checked my oil and it was significantly low, so I went and picked up some 5w-30 oil, filled the sucker up and the gauge is still reading nothing.

Please help me.

[96spyderman]

You might need a new oil pressure sending unit... sometimes they get some crud inside keeping it from reading correctly...That or just buy an oil pressure guage for the A pillar...

[bighauns]

Yeah, I am already planning to buy a new gauge for it. It just seems as though it is kind of consistent (ex. when I start my car, the gauge goes up a bit and then goes back down). So, I dont think it is the sending unit, it seems to consistent, but I will check it out with my new gauge.

I did a search on this stuff and I really didnt find anything, any other suggestions?

[gthompson97]

i think the gauge going up and down when you turn the key to accessory is just a test to see whether the electrical part of it works or not, not the actual sending unit itself. check that out and see.

[bighauns]

Yeah, the only reason I said that was to say that I found the right sensor and not the other one that is down there.

[CBURKE]

i am having the same prob. I had a really bad oil leak and it got nasty dirty. so i used a speaker conector and i still get nothing it just sit's there. I put on a new oil pick up but the gauge was not working before I put that on so, hell i don't know!!!

[kjewer1]

I had a guage that acted randomly, jumped around and such. Every two weeks the vibration from no bshafts, solid mounts, and 8500 rpm would take out the sender. The internals were rattling around inside it. Remote mounted the sender and it has been fine since. It is most likely the sender in your case as well if I'm reading the symptoms right. The stock sender was about 18 bucks if I remember correctly.

With the 91 daily driver, the motor is a bit tired. oil pressure at idle was very low, and only around 40 at cruise. Switched to 20w50 and its way better. 12-15 at warm idle, and 50-60 on the highway. The thicker oil is easier for a worn out pump to move. Stick with the 5 for now, and see what the sender does. But if you have a high mileage oil pump you might consider using 10.

Edit> Forgot to mention that the stock guage is about as useless as the stock boost guage. An aftermarket guage (45 dollar autometer electric guage works great for me) with actual numbers is 100 times more usefull. Everything from 30-60 psi on the aftermarket guage doesnt even move the stock guage needle AT ALL.

For what its worth, all I have is a 2g guage bezel pod with autometer sport comp 0-35 psi boost and 0-100 psi oil pressure. Thats all I need, and all I want, for guages.

[bighauns]

I have ordered the gauges and what not, I really hope that it is just the sender. It seems really consistent lately, when I start it up, it shows a little bit of pressure but then it just sits at nothing from there on out.

thanks for the help, I really hope that it is nothing, considering the motor only has about 40,000 kms on it.

[bighauns]

Hey, I checked out the oil pressure today and it is as a constant 38-39 so, all is well and I have the autometer gauge ordered...should be here early next week.

Thanks for all your help!