oil pressure sender failures: Continued

Executive summary:

1995 SW1 has gone through about 5 oil pressure senders. They all started leaking through the electrical connection. The first 4 were from NAPA, then I bought the factory one from a Saturn dealer. That one lasted maybe 500 miles. Car has 194,000 miles. Regular oil changes with Castrol GTX.

Okay, this points to high oil pressure. Before tearing off the timing cover and replacing the oil pressure relief valve, I wanted to have a metric to compare. I bought a SunPro electric oil pressure gauge. Installed it today. Gauge has calibrations from 0 to 100, with 50 being dead center. I would have bet that my pressure was going to be around 85.

Good thing I did not bet! Pressure hovers around 50. I saw it jump almost to 60ish with the throttle open, but that's it. It drops to around 35 or so when the engine is hot and idling, which I would expect of a car with this many miles.

Is anyone else running with an oil pressure gauge, and if so, what are the pressures that you see? I have a hard time believing that 50 is too high.

-David

Reply to
David Teichholtz
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I have two Saturns with oil pressure gauges. Highest I've seen has been around 60, lowest around 15 to 20 at idle. Your pressure seems normal.

Lane [ lane (at) evilplastic.com ]

Reply to
Lane

Have you been careful with respect to the torque applied on the senders when installing them? Those sending units are not that stout, and it's easy to overtighten them ....

Reply to
Mike Surwill

I've been careful, tight plus 1/4 turn. The leakage comes from the top of the sensor, not from the base.

-David

Reply to
David Teichholtz

I just got back from a 40 trip and those are exactly the ranges I saw.

I guess if the sender unit from the gauge holds up, my problem will be solved.

(Gee, I wonder if I should report these repeated failures to MrFact? (a joke,a joke.....))

-David

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Reply to
David Teichholtz
50 is not too high. And even if it were 150, the senders are not failing due to pressure. They're just cheap pieces of junk. If the last one only lasted 500 miles, then it should surely be under the 90 day warranty. Keep screwing them in there.
Reply to
Steve Barker LT

THAT's a very good point. And they don't have to be very tight to seal up on the threads. MOST people overtighten MOST things that are screwed together.

Reply to
Steve Barker LT

I have had most of the failed sensors replaced under the 1 year warranty from NAPA. And my thought had been the same as yours, I would just change it everytime I changed the oil. But with a 500 mile failure that plan goes out the window.

If the problem was just that these are pieces of junk, wouldn't everyone be seeing the problem?

-David

Reply to
David Teichholtz

Good point. So what are you doing that other people aren't?

Reply to
Steve Barker LT

That is where the weirdness comes in. There ain't too much to screw up here. I'm kinda hoping that I might see a situation where the pressure goes high, but that has not happened in the 50 miles that I have driven the car since I put in the gauge.

-David

Reply to
David Teichholtz

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