so i recently installed an Oil pressure gauge. the reason i'm posting this is because i think my oil pressure may be low. or i possibly have a bad sending unit.

when i first installed it when it was warmed up and sat at idle, the needle would be steady at 25psi. and when i was at cruising speeds it'd sit steady at 75psi.

well...after driving around like that for about a month or so i noticed a heavy oil leak when i backed out of the garage. turned out the fitting that goes into the block that attached to the sensor had cracked due to the wieght of the sending unit. so i got a new fitting and a rubber hose and relocated the unit.

everything worked great for about a day or two untill i noticed that the gauge was going all over the place when at cruising speed(usually 60 or 65). it was going from 75-50 and stopping in between for a second or two then moving again. same thing at idle. it'd go from 25-12 or 13?

first i thought the oil level might be low but it checked out fine.

now when i'm cruising it'll sit right above the 50psi mark, and when at idle it'll sit at the first small line.

i'm using the autometer phantom series gauges and heres a pic of the gauge that i have just so you can understand what i'm saying with all these numbers.


is there possibly a way i can check to see if it's just the sending unit or if i have low oil pressure now?

thanks a head of time for your help...anything helpful will be appreciated.

 

did you happen to look at rpm while this is happening?? oil pressure is related to rpm, it should be pretty consistant according to load cycle and rpm. if its hot out and oil temps get hot, your pressure will read lower. maybe its time for oil change.. i don't know.. or time for wider range gauge.. that thing shows in increments of 25.. better than nothing but more detailed gauge will tell a better story, get oil temp as well.

 

well...idle is idle...lol and whem i'm cruising it's usually about 35-3700rpm. even at high rpm, 6-7k, it doesn't go above 60psi.

i just changed the oil so that isn't it either.

the tempeture makes some sense to me but would the tempeture of the oil cause the pressure the change so irradically the way it does? because oil temps, once they get to a certain temp, couldn't possibly change the pressure by 15-20psi can it?

 

Not sure how long the hose is, that you connected to the sender, or what type of hose you used. Perhaps that is it. Normally the sender would be right into the block. If easy, try fitting the sender back close to the block as it was at first. The hose could be swelling and changing the reading. If that does not work, suspect the sender was damaged when it came loose.

 

the hose is maybe 7inches long? give or take a little bit. and i forget the exact name of it but on the side of the hose it say "max 1600psi"

i hope it's the sender and not something worse. is there any way i could check if it's the sender? and where i can get another one if it is?

 

make sure the wire thats hooked to the sender has the nut tight on it. if its loose, it will make the reading vary. i have the pro comp ultralite series, same range and itll do that if the wire connection isnt tight...speaking of which, im going to lowes to get a new nut to hold the connector on.