When my car is turned off the little "hand" on the gauge sits below the 0 mark. It doesnt sit like the rest of the gauges. When my car is running the gauge is still down there but not as much. When I rev the engine it moves up a little and as the revs drop it goes back down. Is there a way to fix the gauge? Or is it possible to replace only that gauge? Thanks.

Heres a pic of my gauges. Notice the oil pressure.

 

That's funny, mine is the opposite. When it's off it still sits below 0. But when it's on it goes all the way to the top and stays there.

 

Anyone else have this problem or had this problem and fixed it??

 

That brings up a question, what should the oil pressure gauge be at under normal operating?

 

I have the same question - what is the normal operation? I took a friend of mine out today in my stock 10th AE. It has less than 20K miles on it so I am assuming everything is working. Without the engine running it is at or just below zero. Once warm, it sticks around 30-40 or so. As I increase RPMs, it increases. When I was out on I-5 going about 70 mph it was reading 90-100 (top reading is 110). I am thinking this is normal. I quite frankly haven't been paying much attention to it. But since this was my buddies first ride in a car with a rotary engine, he was paying attention to everything. He seemed to think it was normal based upon his mechanical knowledge. I would sure like to know for sure.

 

so does anyone know how to fix this? I tried cleaning off the old oil that was on the connector below the oil filter but that didnt fix it. So does anyone know if I can just replace the oil pressure gauge without replacing the whole cluster?? thanks

 

You might try replacing the sender,That could be the problem.I've heard that over time the contacts get dirty and they start giving bad readings.

 

You're problem doesn't have anythign to do with the oil pressure sender or dirty contacts.. the only way your guage will end up dropping that far below 0 is if there is something physically wrong with the guage. .you can easily pull the guage cluster off and pull the needle off it's pin.. then reset the needle back to the 0 mark.. but who knows how accurate it will read after then.. best bet is to get yourself a new guage... you don't have to replace the whole cluster.. you can buy the oil pressure guage + fuel guage (They are a single unit) seperately..

 

Chris Ng ,
Thanks alot . I think I'll hit up the local junk yard and get me a new gauge.

 

replace the sender.

 

I know the sender is good because when I rev the engine the gauge moves up. So the gauge has to be messed up since it doesnt sit correctly at 0 when the engine is off.

 

That is true. I regret to inform you that there is no easy way to fix this problem. The first thing to do is clean off all the contact points for the unit. Then you want to check the sending unit to make sure it is operational....if that checks out then you need to replave the gauge in the insturment cluster. Yes you can replace all the gagues seperately....just take off the cover plate and they should all be seperate back there.

 

i realize i am bringing this back from the grave but it was either this or make a whole new thread.

I have this problem and i am prepared to fix it by following instructions from the FSM.

now - my question is:

i have a friend who has a turbo gauge panel. my car is N/A. can i pop the gauge unit off of the cluster and only replace that? the picture in the FSM shows the turbo gauge and oil pressure together. I also have my temp gauge reading incorrectly too and would like to grab that if they are compatible.

 

Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

 

the whole gauge system for the oil pressure system is bad. dont rely on it at all. mark my words.

use a stand alone system as its faster, and you can have warning sounds when you have zero oil pressure.

 

I have this problem as well. Mine would drop below zero when the car was off and sky rocket to the top when the ign was on. I found out I didnt have the "condenser box" (little black box grounded to the slave cylinder) It had been replaced with a ring terminal and grounded closer to the starter. I replaced the ring terminal with a condenser, cleaned it up and grounded it to the same place i found it (by the starter) and my OP gauge sat appropriatly at zero for a couple days and stayed there even with the car on. Acouple days later the OP gauge hangs below 0 and stays there wether the car is on or off. I tried cleaning the contacts on the sending unit but no luck. Used "working" sending units are less than $20 on ebay and new ones are more like $60 so I'm going to replace mine with a used one and if that doesnt fix it, I'd replace the OP/Fuel gauge. I know I have oil pressure because my defi gauge would never lie to me but it sucks having to stare at the gauge cluster with a needle pointing straight down!

 

just check the oil level every week... and you should be fine. thats what i do