[mike_wiz]

Allright this is actually on my RV. 1 ton Dodge sportsman van 360 2bbl w/727. I park this at my buddy's house for the winter and go up every month and start her up and take it for a quick drive to get the juices flowing.

I was doing this last week and noticed that the oil pressure qauge (which has always shown abour 50-60 psi) was only showing about 15 psi! I checked the oil and was full.

Is there any other way to check oil pressure short of getting a manual guage. The sending unit is in the rear which is very easilly accesible. I also want to check the wire to I guess and make sure it isn't just a crappy connection. Also it ran for about 30 minutes and no tick developed at all so I imagine it is getting oil up top? Thanks.

Mike

 

[cooper30]

Maybe some crap is plugging up the pick-up screen?

Unfortunately, to be sure a mech gauge is the way to go

 

[K.C.]

If it was mine, I'd pull out the sending unit and hook up a manual gauge to confirm everything is ok. If everything is ok, then you can decide whether or not you want to fix the stock gauge/sender/etc. or permanently install a manual gauge. It could be that you’re pressure relief valve in the oil pump has stuck in the open position.

 

[cooper30]

Something else I just thought of: Last winter I dropped like 10 or so psi. I changed my oil and filter and it cleared up the problem. The filter was afu (fwiw, it was a Fram)

 

[mike_wiz]

I will have change that out and see what I get. I normally do it every May but hey 10 buck for a filter and oil and at least I can verify its not that. I did have the inside cover off to and there is a small chance I bumped the sending unit wire so that will get checked too. Cool I got something to do this weekend. Oh yea what about the oil itself? I think it still has 10w 40 in it and it is pretty chilly here. Could that cause a small drop to? I figure once it was up to operating temp it should be fine?

Mike

 

[Evildriver-3]

Just get a mechanical guage, or would you rather save $30, $60 and need a motor , could be the sender, could be the pick up, could be the filter, could be the pump but with that miserable sender and factory guage it's all could be's, could be nothing

 

[Bummo]

When I grabbed a mechanical guage and hose, fittings, etc I 2 weeks ago I got it at Walmart (no rants please) and it was $10. cdn! Cheap but it works fine. If I dig up one of my smiths or sw guages I might swap it over but the cheap one seems great.

 

[webbcraft2150]

Factory gauges are notorious liars. Check it out with a mech gauge, fix the sender or gauge and be happy on your way.

 

[Ram]

Have you noticed a drop in the water temp gauge too, or the gas gauge indications seem to be off some too? If so it could be a loose gound to the instrumnet panel or a going "regulator" (forgot that other name for it) little can on the back of the instrumnet panel, or a bulkhead connection with water in it or a short!

 

[mike_wiz]

Have you noticed a drop in the water temp gauge too, or the gas gauge indications seem to be off some too? If so it could be a loose gound to the instrumnet panel or a going "regulator" (forgot that other name for it) little can on the back of the instrumnet panel, or a bulkhead connection with water in it or a short!

That is a posibility the gas gauge has never worked (bad sender) but the temp gauge didn't seam to be up where it should be....hmmmmmmmm ......I got a nice project this weekend....

I found an old mech oil pressure gauge in my garage (never made it on RC) so I can verify pressure at least though..Thanks for all the help...this got me going on the RC's pressure gauge though so now a new post is going to be born...

Mike

\]]

 

[mike_wiz]

Well I pulled the sender and slapped on a mechanical gauge and got the standard 40 psi at idle and about 50 - 55 at 2500 rpm, which is what it has always been. OK so I know I have pressure. I would really like to get the original gauge working though.

I ground out the wire at the sender and the gauge shoots right up as it should. I got a new sender and it showed the exact same (around 10 psi). I really am stumped on this, The temp gauge doesn't seem to be working that well either but I am not sure , the low end is 120 degrees so I think it should have registered something.

Thanks for any forthcoming info on this.

Mike

 

[IntenseImages]

tighten all of the connections to your gauges on the back of your dash.

just one thing though, if oyu happen to be doing this with the battery still hooked up do not short across the connections on the voltmeter.{bigeyes}{bigeyes}

eric

 

[78machowgn4me]

my friend had the exact same problem on his ramcharger. the problem was that he had actually OVERfilled the oil pan, and that caused the oil to foam and lose pressure. he drained a 1/2 to 1 quart (dont remember for sure) and the problem was solved.

 

[macario]

It's called a voltage limiter but some of the parts monkeys call it a regulator. Not saying this is the cause of your gauge problems though.

Have you noticed a drop in the water temp gauge too, or the gas gauge indications seem to be off some too? If so it could be a loose gound to the instrumnet panel or a going "regulator" (forgot that other name for it) little can on the back of the instrumnet panel, or a bulkhead connection with water in it or a short!