mrtiddles

Ok, so I have an 89 vert. Engine runs great, but the tranny is a piece. It's an auto (puke). Anyways, that's a different issue. The main topic of this post is my oil pressure gauge. You see, on occasion, it likes to show no pressure. 0. Nil.

Anyways, I don't get an oil light, and I noticed it while driving home, and the car wasn't running strange, no weird noises, no increasing temp, nothing to indicate that there was a lack of oil pressure, other than the gauge glaring at me, making me feel ever-so-uncomfortable.

Here's the fun part. I checked levels, and they're fine. Occasionally, the gauge will read fine, between 30psi and 60psi. At stoplights, however, it tends to drop to 30, and sometimes below just a bit.

Is my oil pump bad? Or is the sick vibration from my auto-tranny (It needs rebuilt and vibrates something awful) causing a loose connection on the sender unit? Where is the oil pressure sender?

Anyways, thanks in advance for your help. Have a fine day.

-setH

90WhiteVrt

Clean the connection on the sending unit. It's on the right side of the motor, that may help. Those gauges are notoriosly bad though, so i wouldnt worry.

mrtiddles

Thanks for the help guys, it gives me a bit more confidence that I can keep driving.

Just to clear this up... a rotary engine will still start acting weird when you lose oil pressure right? I know all about piston engines (specifically mitsubishi's 6g72), but rotaries are new to me.

Thanks again.

mikaz

It is normal to drop down to around 30 at idle.
Attached is a picture of the oil pressure sender unit, clean up the contacts and make sure it's attached securely, mine has fell off before.

wildfc3s

its the sender i have bought a auto meter oil pressure gauge because everytime i started the car my oil gauge would go to the top so i just changed the gauge so my new gauge started going crazy so i just put in the new sender works great

My5ABaby

iTrader: (7)

Well if you lose all oil pressure, as in it's not pumping, then you're pretty fucked.

rotariesrule

are you that vibration you are talking about is not a bad u-joint in the driveshaft.

mrtiddles

Well yeah, I know, but is it a noticeable problem at first? I mean, piston engines will start pinging, what will rotaries do?

[QUOTE=rotariesrule]are you that vibration you are talking about is not a bad u-joint in the driveshaft.QUOTE]

I would think that, but it only vibrates at idle, if I'm at speed, it's smooth as can be.