So I was driving my 87 hatchback, oil pressure gauge showing what it should...opperating fine. I went to meet a friend for golf .....then as we were leaving he couldnt start his car....so I jump started his. A couple a minute later I notice (while going 60 miles an hour) that the oil pressure gauge was showing near zero, a hair above the red line......and was not moving due to acceleration and deacceleration.....so I immediately pulled over, check the oil....fine. I continued to drive home (risky) but made it back fine (about 15 miles). Now I don't much, but if I was getting no oil pressure, I should have not been able to drive that far at the speed I was driving without the engine seizing. Could it have been that when I jump started my friends car that it zaped the oil pressure gauge (all other gauges work fine)??????

 

Thanks.............

So I was driving my 87 hatchback, oil pressure gauge showing what it should...opperating fine. I went to meet a friend for golf .....then as we were leaving he couldnt start his car....so I jump started his. A couple a minute later I notice (while going 60 miles an hour) that the oil pressure gauge was showing near zero, a hair above the red line......and was not moving due to acceleration and deacceleration.....so I immediately pulled over, check the oil....fine. I continued to drive home (risky) but made it back fine (about 15 miles). Now I don't much, but if I was getting no oil pressure, I should have not been able to drive that far at the speed I was driving without the engine seizing. Could it have been that when I jump started my friends car that it zaped the oil pressure gauge (all other gauges work fine)??????

 

Thanks.............

 

Did the motor tick or tick louder than usual after the pressure dropped?

 

~CHIM~

Check the oil pressure sending unit. Maybe the wire fell off?

If you truly lost oil pressure your lifters would let you know

 

It would sound like a bag of rocks rolling through the motor.

 

You know its bad when a guy in a big diesel truck looks over as you pull up and makes a weird face. dont ask me how I know that.

Check the oil pressure sending unit. Maybe the wire fell off?

 

Where is that located (the oil pressure sending unit wire)??

 

Thanks...

Did the motor tick or tick louder than usual after the pressure dropped?

 

~CHIM~

 

No....the car ran a smooth as it always has.....and I drove it for at least 10 miles on the highway.....

 

If there was a serious problem with the oil pressure, wouldn't it have happened immediately??

Where is that located (the oil pressure sending unit wire)??

 

Thanks...

Its attached to the oil pump. You can't miss it, its a big gold unit with a wire sticking out of it.

Its attached to the oil pump. You can't miss it, its a big gold unit with a wire sticking out of it.

 

A bit of an optimist, aren't you? It could look like a big oily lump of coal.

not to hi-jack but...

 

which in your opinion is better for a oil pressure guage? mech or electical?

A bit of an optimist, aren't you? It could look like a big oily lump of coal.

HAHA! Yeah your right!

not to hi-jack but...

 

which in your opinion is better for a oil pressure guage? mech or electical?

 

Electrical. Unless you enjoy the possibility of scorching oil on your legs and feet.

Oil sending unit, look for the closest wire to your oil filter.

I have always been under the impression that mechanical is the most acurate.

 

 

 

But of course this could be wrong.

 

 

 

Pyro

I have mech. and they are more accurate than electrical unless you get the really highend electric ones that run $200+ per gadge.

 

I haven't had any oil leaks inside the car and I've had em in there for about a year. I have however had problems under the hood due to pinching the fragile plastic lines, a much better option is the copper lines that are allot stronger, this elliminates the chance of a leak.

I have mech. and they are more accurate than electrical unless you get the really highend electric ones that run $200+ per gadge.

 

I haven't had any oil leaks inside the car and I've had em in there for about a year. I have however had problems under the hood due to pinching the fragile plastic lines, a much better option is the copper lines that are allot stronger, this elliminates the chance of a leak.

 

Oh yea, copper for sure. Every plastic line set up I've seen leaked. I run copper. No leaks. Also, if one can afford the extra dough for "full sweep" gauges, they are, in my opinion, worth every penny.

This actually just kinda happened to me in my XT (MPFI N/A EA82).

 

I was going around 50mph in top gear, at about 2500rpm, which would normally have the oil pressure sitting around 45 or just slightly below. For some reason, it was sitting around 30 (just a guess). I drove it down a neighborhood street, and got the revs up to abour 3500rpm in 1st, and the gauge went to just below 45. It sits at the same spot at idle that it always does. There was absolutely no noise from the lifters.

 

It normally sits right at 45 anytime the revs are above 2000, and if I get on it, it goes to 45 or a bit above.

 

Usually, I notice that sending units just plain die, and register 0. Could mine actually be getting inaccurate from age?

i just dropped my motor back in after a reseal on most of the major stuff, and im having mine where the oil pressure is only reading 45 or so after i redline it on the tach. and is below zero on idle but the car runs perfect so i would say just keep an eye on the oil and ear out for motor noise till you can get another sending unit for it. i know from previous offroading in mine my sending unit is a bit bent in the front and the whole front casing will spin around by hand so thats prob my problem 4 me.

 

adn from the experience of packing mud so tight in betwen the skidplate and the oil pan that it cuts off the oil trying to get up the pickup tube i can definetaly say that is you werent getting the oil moving through it you would definately be able to hear the clatter.