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Pigeonrat9
29-07-06, 02:26 PM
Quick question, guys...my oil pressure gauge on my SR dash is playing up, just wondered if anyone had any ideas. The gauge always used to go straight to the top of the scale when starting the engine from cold, and would gradually drop to just under halfway at idle as the engine warmed up.

Just lately though, regardless of whether it's started from hot or cold, it's only moved up just beyond the red and stayed there. After about 15 minutes driving it suddenly leaps to the top of the gauge and from then on works perfectly as it used to - about a third of the way up at idle, and at the top of the gauge at anything above 2000rpm. I don't know what "dislodges" it and makes it start to work properly, heat, vibration, whatever, but it's more likely to dislodge itself sooner on a bumpy road!

I've changed the clocks for a spare set and it still does exactly the same thing, so am I right in thinking the oil pressure sender is just sticking a bit after the engine is started, or is it something more worrying to do with the oil pressure? As I say, after 15 minutes it's usually working fine again...

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Paul.

Adam
29-07-06, 02:40 PM
Check the connections at the sender, its at the back of block bolted to the back of the oil pump.

Pigeonrat9
29-07-06, 02:56 PM
Yep, I've disconnected it and cleaned all the connections, and the only other thing I can see is some slight weeping of oil around the sender thread. I'm tempted just to change the sender anyway - it came off an A-reg which had done 200,000 so it might well be knackered - but new senders are almost impossible to find. If it's just that, I'll probably live with it, as long as it's not an issue with the oil pressure itself...

mikey14sr
29-07-06, 03:56 PM
If you look through the haynes manual it shows you how to strip and clean the oil pressure relief valve, might be a good idea to inspect it for wear or clogging up?

Pigeonrat9
29-07-06, 04:42 PM
If you look through the haynes manual it shows you how to strip and clean the oil pressure relief valve, might be a good idea to inspect it for wear or clogging up?

Sounds like a good idea, forgot about that! It's a little threaded bolt with a spring inside, on the front of the oil pump, I think? It's due an oil change in a few weeks so I'll have a look...

Cheers :thumb: