I bought a brand new autometer ultra lite electrical oil pressure gauge and it's not working correctly.

I remote mounted the sending unit to the fender wall and grounded it with a metal mount. I verified that it was grounded with a simple voltage tester.

When I turn the key to ACC (with the engine off) the needle is burried past 100 PSI. It does the same when the car is started and doesn't budge no matter what.

Someone on another board mentioned that my sending wire must be grounded. Well, it was.

But the only reason it was grounded was because it was connected to the sending unit as specified.

When I turn the car on, the rear of the sending unit where the wire gets attached still remains grounded. Shouldn't it be sending positive voltage to the gauge?


I checked all of the connections going to the back of the gauge and they appear fine.


I believe the sending unit is faulty, but it is brand spanking new.

Did I not hook it up right, or should I bitch to Autometer for a new sending unit? The gauge fogs up also when it's humid outside, while my oil temp and water gauges are fine.

 

Yeah send it back to Autometer and they will fix or replace it for free. I got to send one of my Colbolts back in too. Sucks but they will get you straight

 

make sure you dont have +12 volts hooked up the input terminal on the gauge

 

either the sending unit is bad, or you have one of your wires going through the firewall that is grounded, i had a similar problem, the wire going through the firewall was grounded, and it showed 100 psi all the time, maybe recheck the wiring

 

Definatelly wiring. Mine did the same thing. Make sure you have a REALLY good ground on the sending unit.

 

yea it definately sounds like a ground issue! I had the same exact thing happen to me when I installed my guage.