Oil Pressure Gage Quit

[BAlford]

Something went wrong with the oil sending unit, the gage or the wiring. The gage is stuck to the right of the 90 lb mark. The idiot light still works and I have drove the car a couple of hundred miles since the gage quit working so I know I have pressure. I know, not a good way to find out if you have oil pressure. However, if I burnt the engine I could justify a new engine to my wife. I am sure none of the rest of you have to explain car expenses to your wives.

 

Does the gage normally rest, when the key is in the off position, in the "0" or above the the 90 lb mark. I can not remember it's been broke for some time?

[Tim240z]

Could be the sending unit, or the wire from the sender to the gauge could be grounding somewhere. Disconnect it from the sender and see what happens. If it drops to 0, then th esender is bad, if not, the wire is touching earth somewhere.

Tim

[Guest greimann]

The gauge goes to zero when the key is off on the ZX model. If it is pegged at 90, there is most likely a wiring problem.

[BAlford]

I was told by a mechanic that the standard check is to ground the wire to the sending unit to check the sending unit. There are two wires one to the idiot light and one that goes to the needle. From looking at the manual it seems that the wire to the needle is the "YG". Also the manual shows that the sending unit is the ground through a reostate.

 

When the plug is off of the sending unit it remains above 90. It would only do that if there was a dead short, but it would seem that it would return to "0" when the battery is disconected. Since it stays above 90 that seems to indacate that the gage is stuck.

 

If I remember right you have to remove the dash to get the gage out to replace the gage. Am I right?