franklinair
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2007
- Messages
- 4,744
Last week when moving my C/S the oil pressure gage read '0'. I attached a direct reading gage to the adapter that screws into the block, and it read 50PSI so I assumed the sending unit had failed. I grounded the wire at the sending unit and the oil pressure gage went full scale, so I knew the wiring & gage were good.(This is NOT easy to get to with the A/C compressor & P/S pump in place.)
Replaced the sending unit (which also entailed skinned knuckles & bleeding). Cranked the engine and oil pressure gage read mid scale. All was well. When I restarted the engine, again- no oil pressure indication. I removed the new sending unit (minor loss of blood again) and replaced it with another new sending unit. Same thing again. On the first run oil pressure read OK. On restart '0' indication. Removed sending unit again (no loss of blood this time:icon_ecst. With the sending unit removed, I cranked the engine a few revolutions (with a rag over the end of the adapter to catch the oil) and I found a small piece of that thread sealing tape on the rag. Voila! Re-installed the sending unit (minor blood loss) and now all is well.
No telling how long this was waiting to happen. The PO obviously used the tape thread sealer when putting the car together, sometime ago. The reason for this epistle is to give everyone a heads-up about using this stuff. I never do. 3M makes a very good gasket sealer, and I just coat threads with that. Works well.
Neil (O+ blood type) Hoppe
Replaced the sending unit (which also entailed skinned knuckles & bleeding). Cranked the engine and oil pressure gage read mid scale. All was well. When I restarted the engine, again- no oil pressure indication. I removed the new sending unit (minor loss of blood again) and replaced it with another new sending unit. Same thing again. On the first run oil pressure read OK. On restart '0' indication. Removed sending unit again (no loss of blood this time:icon_ecst. With the sending unit removed, I cranked the engine a few revolutions (with a rag over the end of the adapter to catch the oil) and I found a small piece of that thread sealing tape on the rag. Voila! Re-installed the sending unit (minor blood loss) and now all is well.
No telling how long this was waiting to happen. The PO obviously used the tape thread sealer when putting the car together, sometime ago. The reason for this epistle is to give everyone a heads-up about using this stuff. I never do. 3M makes a very good gasket sealer, and I just coat threads with that. Works well.
Neil (O+ blood type) Hoppe