Bar Gauge Broken?

lowredcabrio · Post by **lowredcabrio** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:14 am

Hey guys, sorry, ive been unfaithful. I havnt been on my computer in a long while. busy with my girlfriend of 6 months (

) and taking drivers ed! exam tomorrow...Anyway, here's the deal.
BAR gauge is stuck on 5. dont ask me why... i know its not really a big deal but, i like to have everything in running order.

i'd like to do iit myself but i'll need sine help. Thanks a bunch in advance.

gull · Post by **gull** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:24 am

You can do a little basic troubleshooting pretty easily.

Disconnect the wire from the sender. The sender is a round object threaded into the driver's side of the cylinder head. There are two wires, one for the gauge, one for the warning light; don't mix them up, or neither will work right.

With the wire disconnected, the gauge will either drop to 0 or read full scale -- I can't remember which, but it will read at one extreme. Ground the wire and you should see the other extreme. If not, the problem is the gauge itself, or the wiring. Otherwise, it's the sender.

It's possible either the gauge or the sender is 'sticking' at 5 bar, but it's more likely to be a wiring problem.

CalAltaDubber · Post by **CalAltaDubber** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:27 am

Forst off, girl friends are important. so don't appologise.

The Bar gauge is actually an important gauge that measures the oil pressure in your engine (measured in BAR).

My first question is when you shut the engine off, does the gauge return to "0" or does the gauge remain pegged at "5"?

If the gauge is stuck on 5, I would guess the problem is the gauge (Time to start visiting the wreckers looking for new ones).

If the gauge returns to 0 with the engine off, there is probably a wiring problem, and that will take a little time to figure out. I will have a look at my Bently tonight and see if I can provide you with a couple of checks you can do to find the fault.

One thing you will need to fault find is a multimeter, either a digital or analog one will do. If you don't own one already, now is a good time to buy one. You can find decient ones cheep at Canadian Tire (I just bought a digital one there on sale for $10) or The Source (formerly Radio Shack). It is the sort of tool that you can use for more than fixing the car and is very handy to have around the house.

PDX Cabby · Post by **PDX Cabby** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:25 am

the oil pressure sender is on the drivers side of the cylender head, facing the coolant overflow tank. It is a silver canister, basicly, with two wires attached to the end of it. Make sure both these wires are still attached. If they are both secure, you may want to swap the wires. I know that if you have them crossed, the gauge will do exactly what you're talking about.

lowredcabrio · Post by **lowredcabrio** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:22 pm

hmm , thanks guys. I'm going to have to check this out. As for returning to 0 when shut off, its variable. sometimes it wants to, other times it doesnt. recently though, it has ben returning to zero which makes me wonder...

I have my learner's liscence now and i've been ripping around having a blast. topless driving rules! Keep cruising and thanks a bunch for the help!

lowredcabrio · Post by **lowredcabrio** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:02 pm

Well here's an update and these are the facts:
-bar is at zero.
-engine starts, bar goes to 5.
-engine is turned off.
-bar remains at 5 for about 1-2 secs and goes to zero.

Checked where previously mentioned and there is what seems to be the oil pressure sender there with one yellow wire attached. hanging there are a black wire (fits snuggly) and a yellow/blue (half and half, fits loose and falls off) wire. upon connecting the wires, nothing happens. same events occure. any help for me?

lowredcabrio · Post by **lowredcabrio** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:11 pm

Alright, so heres an old photo. crappy camera. anyway, the thing im looking at is highlighted in red. thing is, i cant really tell if the wire was connected then..

thanks a bunch.

Thing im wondering now is maybe this ridiculous heat is making the oil pressure go nuts... not this nuts i dont think.

PDX Cabby · Post by **PDX Cabby** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 6:39 pm

that is the pressure sender, correct.

If you look at the flat side (towards the fender) of the pressure sender you'll see that it reads VDO, the Yellow/Blue wire attaches to the pole closest to the "V" and the Yellow wire goes to the other pole closest to "O"

Post by **Briano1234** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:09 pm

Give that poor bunnny a bath...

See they do run better if they are cleaned.....

or not.

lowredcabrio · Post by **lowredcabrio** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:25 pm

Thanks. Oh Brian, that is a very old picture. not that things have changed very much...

Mydad stole the car for a rip around so i have to wait to check. Thanks again.

lowredcabrio · Post by **lowredcabrio** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:49 pm

Checked it out and my guess is the sender is a little wonky. wires are plugged where theyre supposed to be, gauge seems to be functional. Wires appear intact and undamaged. How much is a replacement? Carter lives in town, maybe he has one on his parts car.

thanks guys.

theonlychuck · Post by **theonlychuck** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:59 pm

if memory serves me correctly that sender is pretty cheap and the other sender is pricey (the sender for the blinking light). i might have that backwards though, it's been a while =]

PDX Cabby · Post by **PDX Cabby** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:45 pm

lowredcabrio wrote:Checked it out and my guess is the sender is a little wonky. wires are plugged where theyre supposed to be, gauge seems to be functional. Wires appear intact and undamaged. How much is a replacement? Carter lives in town, maybe he has one on his parts car. thanks guys.

Are you sure its bad
Cabbies with cold oil on start up will run 5 bars or more
thats not uncommon
give it time to warm up (ie, drive around town or whatever) and see what happens

if you just turn the key on (without starting) and the gauge goes to 5, then yes, something is wrong

lowredcabrio · Post by **lowredcabrio** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:01 pm

i tried that too, still goes to 5. not cold temp because always does it. gotta run.

gull · Post by **gull** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 9:10 pm

My engine bay looks even worse. The car had a bad valve cover gasket for years, so now the engine looks like it was in LaBrea Tar Pits. One of these days I'll buy a can of engine degreaser and head down to the self-serve car wash.