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My A4 starts easily, runs smoothly, and maintains a steady 160 degree temperature. I had a lot of trouble getting to this relatively happy place, thanks to a broken cooling system and a sticky valve, so I should be well contented. But there is one fly in my ointment.
As soon as I turn the ingnition switch to on, the oil pressure needle buries itself on the far right side of the dial giving me a reading of about 90 psi. It does this even before I crank the engine, so I'm assuming that the thing is telling me lies. But I'm also nervous about running the engine with no information regarding my oil pressure.
My boat is a 1977 Ericson 32 and my access to the back of the engine is terrible. I'm not sure I can see, let alone reach, the oil pressure sending unit. So far I haven't even been able to identify the sending unit with any confidence. As a result, I haven't yet tried to connect another guage directly to the block.
I've been assuming that if the problem were a fault in the wiring between the sending unit and the guage my pressure would read 0 rather than 90. Should I try replacing the guage in the cockpit? In case I have to work on the sending unit, does anyone have any pictures, diagrams or advice which might help me identify it by feel with both arms wrapped around the engine and my cheek pressed against the manifold? Finally, what might cause my oil pressure guage to fail in this way? Is the failure symptomatic of something worse?
As always, thanks for the help. Without this forum owning an A4 would be impractical. With this forum for backup, owning an A4 is both cost effective and fun.
As soon as I turn the ingnition switch to on, the oil pressure needle buries itself on the far right side of the dial giving me a reading of about 90 psi. It does this even before I crank the engine, so I'm assuming that the thing is telling me lies. But I'm also nervous about running the engine with no information regarding my oil pressure.
My boat is a 1977 Ericson 32 and my access to the back of the engine is terrible. I'm not sure I can see, let alone reach, the oil pressure sending unit. So far I haven't even been able to identify the sending unit with any confidence. As a result, I haven't yet tried to connect another guage directly to the block.
I've been assuming that if the problem were a fault in the wiring between the sending unit and the guage my pressure would read 0 rather than 90. Should I try replacing the guage in the cockpit? In case I have to work on the sending unit, does anyone have any pictures, diagrams or advice which might help me identify it by feel with both arms wrapped around the engine and my cheek pressed against the manifold? Finally, what might cause my oil pressure guage to fail in this way? Is the failure symptomatic of something worse?
As always, thanks for the help. Without this forum owning an A4 would be impractical. With this forum for backup, owning an A4 is both cost effective and fun.
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