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Thread: Oil Pressure Gauge Conversion Part 1 of 2

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by jaywish
    I was wondering about where would be the best place to buy the new Autometer oil pressure guage?

    Jay: If you need a hand doing teh conversion, let me know and I will give you a hand.

  2. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by martyo
    Jay: If you need a hand doing teh conversion, let me know and I will give you a hand.
    See, that's what's so great about this place...

    ...although I'm not sure you want to let marty near anything sharp...and be sure to count the change in your ashtray when he's done...
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  3. #33
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    Thumbs up

    Quote Originally Posted by TripleTransAm
    Interesting... I haven't checked the original gage yet, but the spare factory gage I picked up at the dealer on Thursday morning had the blue-ish "cap" on the clear lightbulb. The real autometer gage came with both green and red "caps" but since the instructions allowed for reusing the factory gage's wiring, so I figured I'd keep the blue cap along with using the factory faceplate.

    Before we start a witch hunt, recall that the Canadian and US faceplates are different. Perhaps the differences also include the presence of the blue cap or not.

    Side note to RF... A/R Canadians with too many Trans Ams want the gage faceplate with the little 'oil can' graphics to go along with the 'battery' symbol on the Canadian voltmeter!
    Folks,

    I had a fun morning and put in a KB Dead Pedal, a JET Chip, a K&N air filter (in the stock housing), and... I swapped out both gauges with the AutoMeter ones. I carefully cut stock wires and crimped on new circle connectors. Of course I used AM's replacement oil pressure sending unit and cut the plug off of the stock wire to mount on the new sending unit. I decided to just swap out the pair and not put the MM faces on the new AM gauges. As I used a matched set for Oil and Volts, I think they look great! I also used the stock light bulbs in the new AM gauges. For now I left the bulb covers off... Tonight I'll play with the the stock blue and the recommended green bulb covers and go with what looks to match the main dash the best. By the way, startup cold oil pressure is close to 75 PSI at idle and goes up to just past 100 PSI when revved. Once warmed up, the motor idles at just over 25 PSI. Is this a normal situation? Thanks for the inspiration!

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by djcwardog
    By the way, startup cold oil pressure is close to 75 PSI at idle and goes up to just past 100 PSI when revved. Once warmed up, the motor idles at just over 25 PSI. Is this a normal situation?
    First of all: WAY TO GO, wardog!

    Second, if you are using 5W-20 oil, then yes...those numbers are normal. With 5W-30, you'll get closer to 100 lbs at cold startup.

    Let us all know how you like the JET chip...I think you're the only one who's using that brand...
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  5. #35
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    new OP guage

    Need some advice. Ford installed my new Autometer guage and sending unit. The oil pressure NEVER goes above 25lbs hot or cold, I (we) suspect something is wrong with the sending unit, as it was installed using the excellent directions offered here, Have rechecked all connections twice. Is there some way to calibrate the new guage or am I just going to have to replace the sending unit? Thanks in advance!!!

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by mercman
    Ford installed my new Autometer guage and sending unit.
    Well, there's your problem...

    Seriously, I think a call to AutoMeter is in order...it could be either the gauge or the sender, and they should have some way you can verify which one is defective.

    There is no "calibration" per se...when you turn the key ON (not to START) the needle should come up off the peg slightly and read "0". The sender is basically just a variable resistor that changes with pressure applied to a sensing element, usually a diaphragm of sorts. Since the sender and the gauge are in series, this changes the amount of current flowing through the gauge, causing it to read up (hopefully).
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  7. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by RF Overlord
    Well, there's your problem...

    Seriously, I think a call to AutoMeter is in order...it could be either the gauge or the sender, and they should have some way you can verify which one is defective.

    There is no "calibration" per se...when you turn the key ON (not to START) the needle should come up off the peg slightly and read "0". The sender is basically just a variable resistor that changes with pressure applied to a sensing element, usually a diaphragm of sorts. Since the sender and the gauge are in series, this changes the amount of current flowing through the gauge, causing it to read up (hopefully).
    I have a thought having just done this myself. You will want to pull out the sender and double check to make sure that no teflon tape was allowed to get in the oil path. If a small strip got loose and was forced by oil to lodge against the new sender, that could explain the problem. This is very important as the sender is a 1/4" mounted to an adapter that screws into the boss just above the oil filter. That is two separate places where they should have wrapped teflon tape to prevent a leak. Just pull apart the two pieces and re-apply teflon tape ensuring that it in no way hangs over the end - remaining only on the thread barell itself (for both fittings). It's worth a look... Good thing is that by disassembling the sender in this way you'll find the tape (or not) and be able to remove it (if there) and not worry about it getting into the engine...

    After all this, then a call to AM may be the best... (Assuming that the Ford mechanics used the proper wires, etc... in installing for you.

    Good luck!

  8. #38
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    Are the gallery pic's around

    I am doing the gauge internal swap next week and wanted to look at the vegasmarauder pic's. Are they still around anywhere? I looked in the Photos section and cant find them...
    regards,
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  9. #39
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    shami, those pix may be lost. There was an issue with the gallery when Logan did an upgrade a while back, and IIRC a lot of pictures were gone.
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  10. #40
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    yeah I thought they may have been lost due to the site changes... I had hopes someone had them saved some where else....
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  11. #41
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    I just did my gage swap today, using only the autometer gages, (no face-plate swap) and, while they look great, my oil pressure reads over 100 all the time, even with the engine off. I'm thinking the gage is A.F.U., because I can't see how the sender could be sending a reading that high with no oil pressure going to it. I followed Wes's write-up to a T, (which was very well done btw ) and according to his instructions, as well as the instructions from autometer, I didn't mix the wires up, so I can't think of what else it would be. I left a message with AM after I discovered this, so I hope to hear from them tomorrow. In the mean time, any one have any other ideas?
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  12. #42
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    100+psi is normal for a cold engine at hhigher RPMs. After it warms up you should be at 15 - 25psi at idle.
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  13. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by fastblackmerc
    100+psi is normal for a cold engine at hhigher RPMs. After it warms up you should be at 15 - 25psi at idle.
    Yeah, but it reads 100+ at startup, idle, cold, hot, engine not running etc....
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  14. #44
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    You sir, have an engine with it's own heartbeat. Cherrish it.

    Are these gauges driven by a sensor, or by an oil line directly from the engine? If it's a true mechanical (hydro-mechanical) then an oil line comes from the engine to the gauge and drives the mechanisms. If that's what you have, then maybe there is a bit of something (Tef-tape) in the line holding the pressure. If it is an electro-mechanical, then the sensor is probably fried.

    I always used the hydro-mechanical type. Gives you the real deal.
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  15. #45
    TripleTransAm Guest
    If you didn't swap the dummy on-off switch for the real autometer sender, the "real" gage will read max all the time (can't remember if it does this with the engine off as well, though).

    I'm not a big fan of having oil lines coming into the cabin.

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