oil pressure safety switch

[ramon]

Hi,
i'm new here.
have a newport30 (1979) with atomic 4 (don't know how old).
The cover of the oil pressure safety switch broke and having oil squirt out when engine runs. It seems that it was not connected to begin with as there are no wires I can see that would have connected to it. No loose wires. I'm thinking about taking the rest of the switch off and just putting a brass cap on it.

Before I do that, I'd like to know exactly what does the oil pressure safety switch do?? I think it just shuts off the fuel pump in case oil pressure drops, is this correct? Is it an ok idea to go without one since It wasn't connected anyway?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the subject.

[Dave Neptune]

ramon, if you have an electric fuel pump and you are safety consious it should be hooked up. That's why they call it a safety switch, regardless of what the P/O did. If you have a mechanical pump you don't need one.

Dave Neptune

[charles@pricefarrington.c]

Ramon:

Yes, it probably is the oil pressure shut off for the fuel pump. I would reconnect it. Without mine, my engine would have burnt up when my oil pressure gauage was not working, it showed fine, but there was little oil and the engine shut off. Saved buying a new engine vs. a buying a new oil sensor sender.

[ramon]

Thank you both!

How would I know if I have an electric vs mechanical fuel pump?
What do they look like?

Thanks again,
ramon.

[Marian Claire]

Check out the pics on the on-line catalog. http://www.moyermarine.com/cgi-bin/s...rebuilder.html Dan S/V Marian Claire

[roadnsky]

Or, I can do it for you...

The mechanical pump is the 1st pic (blue background)
The electric will likely look like the other two pics and will be mounted either on the engine or a bulkhead.

[ramon]

Got it.
So its the electrical then!

I'll order the oil pressure safety switch today.

Thanks again for all your help,

ramon.

[David Masury]

The oil pressure safety switch is a great upgrade with the electric fuel pump..
This year my faithful A4 started right up after dormancy, and I usually start and run it several times before launching. This past weekend the A4 fired right up and ran for five minutes and then died. Well, that set in motion the search and rescue mode. I checked everything except the obvious.

My boat is now 35 years old and after replacing the electric fuel pump with my spare and making sure that all fittings were secure...nothing happened.

The next day, I came back to the boat armed with every tool and meter I own only to find that the ground wire connector to my ground buss was corroded at the engine attachment. I re-routed the ground wire to my battery ground plate and the electric fuel pump clicked away.

Net result was that the ground wire connector while tight was corroded enough that good contact was not made..... what does this have to do with the oil pressure safety switch... well, the switch only turns on the positive side the the fuel pump and when the ground goes away, there are more things to check.

David