ESDEBE - Advice please re oil pressure gauge

hmalan

New member
Esdebe (Simon), Bit of advice on the electrical front, and anyone else if they know the answer. Sender unit for old Tim oil pressure gauge got dented when I took the engine out to replace the gearbox. Bought a new set of plasma gauges.

Oil pressure gauge rises to 20psi as soon as ignition is turned on, before engine is started. Once engine is started gauge rises and falls as per previous TIM gauge but with all readings about 20psi high, eg: around 60psi at idle where the Tim showed about 40psi at idle, and 80psi when engine under load, where Tim gauge used to read about 60psi. Thought faulty sender unit so contacted company, they were very good and immediately sent out a replacement sender, changed this over and still the same, contacted them again and they sent a new gauge and sender. Fitted these and still the same. Wiring all appears to be in order. Tried earthing body of gauge, additional earth on sender etc.

Could the gauge of the wire be having an effect?

All help / advice appreciated, willing to try anything, within reason !!!!
 

Lime&Orange

New member
TIM guages I had where all wrong, but that is to be expected due to them being so cheap.

Might be that the gauge your using now is actually right?

Can you borrow a different guage to check?
 

hmalan

New member
Lime & Orange, main issue is that the gauge reads 20psi when the engine is not running and does this all the time. If the buggy is left in the garage for a few days and then ignition is turned on without starting the engine the gauge rises straight to 20psi.

Forgot to mention in my post that I have fitted a voltage stabiliser and checked this, and it is producing a steady 10volts. The problem was there before and after the fitment of the voltage stabiliser.

Thanks

Alan
 

Lime&Orange

New member
That to me says faulty gauge, maybe connected it wrong?

It must be getting some volts as soon as ignition is on (illuminated?) and this is what the gauge is reading.
 

esdebe

New member
I'll make a post as you directed the question at me... but unfortunately I don't have an answer....

As the last post says it does sound like the connection may not be right (but I see you have checked these) Also is the pressure sender and Gauge compatible ( I see you got them as a set, so we would expect so), where is the sender connected to the block (is it from a T into the oil pressure waring light take off?)  Does it get interference from the coil, try disconnecting the love voltage leads from the coil and see if the reading drops.

I've never done anything with OIL gauges, so I can't offer any other help sorry.
 

Phaeton

Moderator
Staff member
Alan,

2 things to try, remove the gauge & sender from buggy, wire them direct to a battery & see if you still get 20lbs if you do then it's the way the gauges are made/calibrated & nothing you do will alter them. If they do stay at 0 when doing that put them back in the buggy & put a new earth direct from battery to engine, I have a large jump lead you can use if you want to come over & see if it is a difference in potential earth causing the problem.

Failing that I have another 2 gauges which you can borrow  ;D ;D (in joke these are actually Alan's I haven't got round to returning yet). Or disappoint your young 'un & replace gauge with a capillary one.

Alan...
 

hmalan

New member
Tested everything again, I had already been sent a replacement sender and gauge set and these had been the same which is why I assumed it was the wiring.

Couldn't resolve it so I bought another gauge set yesterday, fitted and working ok.

One interesting point is that this is a similar gauge to the plasma one, shows nothing until turned on and then lights up and the 0 point on this gauge is in about the same place as the 20psi on the other gauge, meaning that it is part way up the gauge.

Alan, was going to nip over this morning but Joanne is doing a sponsored walk in a few weeks and has decided to do 14 miles practice this morning.

Simon, on a separate note, I also decided to bottom out the terratrip and guess what, the gearbox drive isn't turning.

I thought about trying to partially raise the engine so that I can take the end off and try to sort it out but I think for now I will stick with a magnet sensor off of the wheel and the satnav
 

Phaeton

Moderator
Staff member
Alan,

You can just about get the speedo drive out without unbolting the engine. You remove the cable & then there is a bolt remove that & ease the drive out. I did have a spare but gave it to Danny, which was one I repaired. There is a metal shaft & a nylon cog which were no longer connected. I cleaned them both up with carb cleaner & put a small amount of epoxy resin on & then joined them back together.

Alan...
 
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