Oil pressure gauge - Help?

[Gary91]

I have fitted an oil pressure gauge and sender into the oil lines for my oil filter relocation kit but i dont think i have wired it correctly. there is a positive and negative for illumination which is wired to a switch, there is a wire from the sender to the gauge, the positive on the gauge is wired to ignition on the stereo harness and the negative to earth. when i turn on ignition, the needle goes right across the gauge to the maximum and even when i start the engine the needle stays at maximum. the needle only goes back to zero when i turn off ignition. any ideas whats wrong?

 

[Rory]

Sounds like you have your positives mixed up?
If you have wired it to a switch, try turning it off and see what happens?

 

[Gary91]

Even when the switch is off, when i turn on ignition the needle goes to the maximum.
Has anybody else got electrical oil pressure gauges and how have you wired them?

 

[Rory]

Whay have you wired it on a switch? Wire it into the light switch wire under the steering colum..

Something isnt right (obviously). If you take out the switch and wire the + and - into the same as the gauge what happens?

 

[weeJohn]

Faulty sender, or the wire to the sender has shorted to earth.

 

[Gary91]

i got the gauge tested on another vehicle today and turns out that the gauge is at fault. Don't matter because it was a cheap one from ebay. i'm going to buy a mechanical one as it will be easier and more accurate. Any recommendations?

 

[dark_knight]

if you have some dime, save up and get a trusted brand name.. i've got generic defi's and they work ok.. look mint too..

 

[weeJohn]

I wouldnt use a mechanical oil pressure sender, its to many connections in the oil system and also you will have hot oil in the cabin all then time.

 

[dark_knight]

i'm with weeJohn on this one. electronic oil pressure gauges are the way to go -- less likelihood for things to go wrong. imagine if you sprung a leak from one of those mechanical setups..