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Oil pressure gauge advice
Plunky - 9/5/17 at 09:58 AM

Hello all,
I want to fit an oil pressure gauge to a blacktop zetec.
Any recommendations of which gauge to use?
Has anyone tried the cheaper ones off of eBay, that come with the sender etc?
Thanks,
Liam

ian locostzx9rc2 - 9/5/17 at 12:32 PM

Etb gauges are good. cheap ones maybe ok but do you want to take that risk !

r1_pete - 9/5/17 at 12:32 PM

I personally prefer capliary to electric, and have generally used smiths

rodgling - 9/5/17 at 01:01 PM

I've used a cheap one in the past, it worked fine. One point to note is that the sensors for the electric gauges are reasonably delicate and need to be remote mounted, and not dropped...

Actually I think I have my old one available if you want it? (I removed it when I fitted a digital dash with a solid-state oil pressure sensor). It's basic but works fine.

redturner - 9/5/17 at 01:30 PM

O have always used Gordon Durite gauges on my competition cars, cheap and never had one fail. Only down side I have is that the Zetec is a metric engine and the sender is imperial thread, so had to modify the adapter.

Plunky - 9/5/17 at 03:16 PM

quote:
Originally posted by rodgling
I've used a cheap one in the past, it worked fine. One point to note is that the sensors for the electric gauges are reasonably delicate and need to be remote mounted, and not dropped...

Actually I think I have my old one available if you want it? (I removed it when I fitted a digital dash with a solid-state oil pressure sensor). It's basic but works fine.


Would something like his be required?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401265812543

What style is your old gauge? Could be interested...
Feel free to U2U me

snapper - 9/5/17 at 07:48 PM

I always have the original low pressure switch as well, that way if the gauge fails I still have the big red warning light

rodgling - 9/5/17 at 09:38 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Plunky
quote:
Originally posted by rodgling
I've used a cheap one in the past, it worked fine. One point to note is that the sensors for the electric gauges are reasonably delicate and need to be remote mounted, and not dropped...

Actually I think I have my old one available if you want it? (I removed it when I fitted a digital dash with a solid-state oil pressure sensor). It's basic but works fine.


Would something like his be required?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401265812543

What style is your old gauge? Could be interested...
Feel free to U2U me


It looks like this (white specks are dust not paint or other markings). It's got an output for a low pressure warning light:



but I can't find the sensor. They are cheap on eBay, but you'd need one with the correct range (0-100psi I guess) or the dial will display the wrong reading. Anyway, yours for £12 posted if you want it.

The remote adaptor you linked looks ideal, that's what I use on my car.

[Edited on 9/5/17 by rodgling]

[Edited on 10/5/17 by rodgling]

907 - 10/5/17 at 06:14 AM

quote:
Originally posted by r1_pete
I personally prefer capliary to electric, and have generally used smiths




I'm with Pete on this one.




If you fit an electric gauge & sender how do you test it?

You would take the light switch out (see Snapper's post) of the tee and insert a capillary tube one
so that you could compare the two. The manual pressure gauge would then tell you if the electric one was reading right.
If you trust the manual one to do this then you might as well have used this type in the first place.


I have an old Smiths gauge on the 907. Didn't bother to test. It reads 80 psi when cold @ 2000rpm and 40 psi when hot.
20 psi when hot @ tickover. Sounds about right?

Paul G

johnemms - 10/5/17 at 07:27 AM

Oil temp and big orange fail lights.

Don't blat the engine until oil warmed up.

If red light ever comes on then change engine.

coozer - 10/5/17 at 03:20 PM

I had a racetech cappilery one on mine, used the 1/8npt plug on the head just above the inlet manifold at the front... was very happy to see healthy psi in the head.....