Fluctuating Oil Pressure

[G Kanobi]

Hey guys,

My cars been doing something odd lately. Oil pressure seems to be going up and down. I can't seem to find any pattern to it. Tried different driving situations and driving on hot/cold days. It either reads somewhere just under the 4, or only just about the 0, or some times reads flat 0.

I'm well aware I shouldn't be driving with this amount of pressure, but have had no choice this week. Probably done around 1000km's since this has been happening.

This said, the engine is still running, and seems to be okay.

I'd say about 70% of the time its been reading 0. 20% hanging between just above 0 and 1/4. And the other 10% just under 1/2.

The car is running rich, and idling high (fluctuating between 1,200RPM - 1,800RPM). I gave it an oil change hoping it was the broken down oil, but it seems to of had no effect.

ANY ADVICE would be greatly appreciate. I have no idea where to start with this problem. Faulty oil pressure sender unit perhaps?

Ideas??

Thanks heaps

Regards

Glen

[Duncan]

almost certainly faulty pressure sender if the motor hasn't broken yet. But get to a mechanic straight away and get them to confirm with a mechanical gauge.

[Beer Baron]

just to make sure. you do realise that oil pressure goes up as reves go up, and goes down when revs go down right? so it's quite normal to see oil pressure at 1bar at idle, then 6 bar under high rpm. or even 8 bar+ if the engine is cold.

[Hillzy]

I have been told that the factory gauge is quite unreliable but yeah be best to get it checked out.

[G Kanobi]

Sweet as guys,

I'll look into it, or might even invest in an aftermarket gauge to be sure in the future.

Cheers

[bumble_bee]

hey just a quick questions wer is the oil pressure sender unit located?

is there a fix or a way to clean it or anything?

i think mine mit b playing up.

for about a month now, ive notice my oil pressure sits on about 6-8 wen cold.. just under 8 wen driving.

and on about 3000rpms sits around 3.5?

this is on the stock gauge.

and on idle after some long drives it sits on 2.

is this normal? i swear it use to never be all over before. or that high when cold.

im running penrite 10-50 and a gen. nissan filter.

and it has been burning the oil abit now, i believe.

never use too.

but no smoke and no leaks.

also im running a new highflow hypergear atr28 g2 bush bearing turbo with speedflow line to the turbo.

and my engine done about 118,000k's

i did run motul 10-40 turbolight through wen i first fitted the turbo, which was a bout 100,000k's..

so i used it twice, but i reckon it ran better on penrite. thats y i went back.

was this a good idea?

but yeah. any ideas would be great.

thanks

[bumble_bee]

woops.. not 8!!! im mean 6 wen cold wen driving..lol

on cold idle it would sit on 4.

and on 3000rpms wen warm(normal temp) it would b about 2.5

[Triptych]

according to workshop manual your pressure should go up as the revs go up which somebody pointed out before. I cant remember the correct RPM but its 2, 4, 6.

[hypergear]

I've been importing cars for a number of years I don't think most of them work probably due to its age. Some of them don't even move. As long as the car's driving good you don't really have to worry about that gauge much.

[SECURITY]

i dont think the fault is with the sender because when you're reading actual low pressure your engine light comes on.

i think the fault is with the gauge - when i took apart my gauge in the dash there was a resistor on the circuit board that had looked like it had blown, there was also traces of carbon around the plastic, if i find the picture i took ill post it up.

[bumble_bee]

i dont think the fault is with the sender because when you're reading actual low pressure your engine light comes on.

i think the fault is with the gauge - when i took apart my gauge in the dash there was a resistor on the circuit board that had looked like it had blown, there was also traces of carbon around the plastic, if i find the picture i took ill post it up.

oh ok.. yeah no lights appearing.

mayb im just worring over nothing.

car is driving fine..so yeah