zero oil pressure!

[Linebckr49]

zero oil pressure on the gauge, at least. but car seems to be running normally, however.

ok, so i finished installing my taller 5th gear (what a ride http://www.3si.org/forum/showthread.php?t=343650, but i got it installed right, and drives well). i've driven the car twice since i put it all back together. when i was coming back home on the 2nd trip, in 5th gear cruising i noticed the oil pressure gauge (stock) reading 0. the ticker was at the bottom. so in the midst of freaking out in the car, cursing to myself, and babying it the remaining mile home, i started thinking.

i though perhaps i (or my friend) unknowingly unplugge the oil pressure sensor while working dropping the transmission? no, couldn't have, sensor plug is on the top at plenum. then i did some searching here http://www.stealth316.com/2-oilpresloc.htm. my engine is a DOHC, by the way.

in the picture you'll notice that the drive shaft and the support bracket are right next to the oil pressure gauge unit and switch. the only possible thing i can thing of is when i was re-installing the drive shafts into the differential, i could have accidentily knocked the oil pressure gauge unit or the switch. since i'm not getting an oil warning light on the dash, i would assume the pressure switch is ok (per Jeff Lucius description of switch and gauge unit). but since my gauge reads 0 oil pressure, perhaps the oil pressure gauge unit is fubared?

has anyone else ever had problems with their stock oil pressure gauge?

any other ideas?

[Stealthee]

Sounds exactly like what you did. People end up knocking the wire off more often than not.

[Linebckr49]

stealthee to the rescue (TTR, i'm officially coining that new internet acronym NOW) and FTW!

so you think i knocked just the wire off instead of damaging the sensor unit?

worst case scenario, i get a new oil pressure gauge unit, but on this parts page it calls it the "oil pressure sending unit." i assume this is the same part, just different nomenclature?

[sLADe781]

That happened to me before. I didn't have a reading for like about a year and a half on my car after I bought it. Both the guage and sensor were unplugged and I couldn't find it for the longest time until I randomly stumbled across it one day. But yeah, it was just dangling high above and I just reconnected both of 'em.

[Linebckr49]

sHweet!

i'm stoked that most likely its just a dirty/unplugged connector. i've bought so many new and replacement parts lately, that i don't wanna have to buy another for some screw up of mine.

alas, i've been under my car for the past 3 days (nights actually, and for so many hours) that i'm a little tired of crawling under there and getting dirty. i swear, i'm in a perpetual state of uncleanliness. fast orange saves my life. yesterday when i was putting my starter back in, i got some dirt in my eye. instead of crawling out from under the car to remove the planck, errr...ummm...piece of dirt from my eye ["remove the planck from your eye", anybody know the literary allusion? big points for the correct answer], i just stayed under there with one eye shut, and put my damn starter back in.

though i still have a lot left to do (IPS motorsports sent me ss braided brake lines for an AWD car when i ordered them for a FWD car), i need a day's brake (har har, the puns keep on rolling) from car working.