Can someone point me in the direction of where to find the oil pressure sensor? Just finished putting the head back on and want to make sure it's hooked up so I can be sure I have oil pressure when I fire her up.
Oil pressure gauge
- Thread starter jestlurnin
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bj40green
Tssss, tssss
look for this
Rudi
Rudi
It was low on the right side of my block just down from the battery tray (2F)
- Thread starter
- #4
Thanks guys.
- Thread starter
- #5
Follow up question. I located the oil pressure unit. On the 75' it's on the opposite side of the battery.
How do I test that the gauge is working before I actually turn the engine over? Multi meter red wire at the electric connection side of the oil pressure gauge with key in on position and black wire from multimeter grounded out? Seems like this should work just not sure if the wire is meant to get juice with key only in "on" position. Obviously there wouldn't be any oil pressure without the engine running.
How do I test that the gauge is working before I actually turn the engine over? Multi meter red wire at the electric connection side of the oil pressure gauge with key in on position and black wire from multimeter grounded out? Seems like this should work just not sure if the wire is meant to get juice with key only in "on" position. Obviously there wouldn't be any oil pressure without the engine running.
Leave the plugs out and crank it over a few revolutions. You should see the oil pressure gauge start to come up. If it does, install plugs and fire away. By leaving the plugs out, you are minimzing cylinder pressures, etc that would normally wreak havoc in a no oil pressure situation. Anytime I have ever re-built an engine or redone a head, I do the plug's-out thing as a bare minimum. Another thing you can do is to remove the distributor and turn the oil pump with a chopped off slotted screwdriver or an old distributor shaft chocked in a drill. A few spins and the pressure should come up. This second method is actually better because you are not turning anything that is not already immersed in oil but it is a lot more trouble to do.
I had the same issue facing me when I wanted to fire up my F engine that had been sitting still for twenty years.
I got a brass fitting (1/8-27 NPT [National (U.S.) Pipe Thread] Female to 1/8-28 BSPT [British Standard Pipe Taper] Male on EBay for $7 and a 0 - 100 psig 1/8 Male NPT gauge, removed the oil pressure sender, threaded them in, and cranked with the plugs out, as suggested above.
My F engine has the external filter with two oil lines feeding the filter housing, so I left the downstream line a little loose and watched for oil to bleed out, then tightened it and cranked the starter again. I ended up with 38 psig on the gauge after about 30 seconds of cranking. Looked good to me!
By the way, on a 2F engine, a friend of mine didn't have time wait for the fitting or gauge, and fired it up. We knew we had oil pressure when a dent in the side of the oil filter popped out! Kind of a 'poor man's oil pressure gauge.' And to think, I tried to talk him into installing a new filter to replace the dented one before the test.
I got a brass fitting (1/8-27 NPT [National (U.S.) Pipe Thread] Female to 1/8-28 BSPT [British Standard Pipe Taper] Male on EBay for $7 and a 0 - 100 psig 1/8 Male NPT gauge, removed the oil pressure sender, threaded them in, and cranked with the plugs out, as suggested above.
My F engine has the external filter with two oil lines feeding the filter housing, so I left the downstream line a little loose and watched for oil to bleed out, then tightened it and cranked the starter again. I ended up with 38 psig on the gauge after about 30 seconds of cranking. Looked good to me!
By the way, on a 2F engine, a friend of mine didn't have time wait for the fitting or gauge, and fired it up. We knew we had oil pressure when a dent in the side of the oil filter popped out! Kind of a 'poor man's oil pressure gauge.' And to think, I tried to talk him into installing a new filter to replace the dented one before the test.
- Thread starter
- #8
Great advice. Looks like the Mrs. Has another job to get this rig back on the road! Sitting in the driver seat watching the gauge while I crank.
Does the key have to be in the "on position" to do this method? Seems like it would need some juice to register on the dash.
Does the key have to be in the "on position" to do this method? Seems like it would need some juice to register on the dash.
Tell the missus to stay inside and cook dinner. You don't need her assistance for this. Just pull the plugs out, sit in the driver's seat and attempt to start the truck like you normally would. It won't start (no plugs) but the starter will turn the engine over, spinning the oil pump in the process and building oil pressure which should show clearly on the gauge. Easy peasy! Then go eat that wonderful dinner your wife made for you...
- Thread starter
- #10
HA!! Live it
- Thread starter
- #11
*love
bj40green
Tssss, tssss
Checking the oil pressure gauge procedure:
More on clusters, gauges, etc,:► https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/clusters-gauges-speedo-odo-meters.544543/
Rudi
More on clusters, gauges, etc,:► https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/clusters-gauges-speedo-odo-meters.544543/
Rudi
Rudi's test is much more benign, and won't put the engine in jeopardy--My 77 takes ~ 5-8 seconds after start to push the oil pressure up, so I'm thinking just spinning it over with the starter will not get any appreciable pressure to show. I would check the sender first using his(FSM) method
bj40green
Tssss, tssss
And if you want to test the OIL pressure sender:
Rudi
Rudi
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Another "no risk to engine" approach to verify the oil pressure gauge is working: Pull the dizzy, and use an electric drill with an old wide straight screwdriver chucked into it, and lowered through the dizzy hole, to engage the pump to spin the oil pump. This is how I fired my truck up after getting the engine back into the frame. I had also removed and repaired the oil regulator, and had installed new oil lines and fittings, so had several concerns about making damn sure I had oil pressure BEFORE cranking that engine! Like was posted, it took about 30 seconds of "drilling" to get to full oil pressure. I also had the valve cover off to verify that I had oil going to the valve train. Another thing I did was to use an aftermarket oil gauge AND the OEM gauge so I could see the pressure and watch the OEM gauge move.
- Thread starter
- #16
All great suggestions gents!
Tried cranking by hand...nothing happened. I cranked with plugs out and the oil pressure gauge didn't move either. So... I did the stupid thing and said screw it and fired her up. Oil pressure was spot on. Drove it around the hood for 20 minutes at no greater than 20MPH and everything looked good the entire time. Bullet dodged.....
Tried cranking by hand...nothing happened. I cranked with plugs out and the oil pressure gauge didn't move either. So... I did the stupid thing and said screw it and fired her up. Oil pressure was spot on. Drove it around the hood for 20 minutes at no greater than 20MPH and everything looked good the entire time. Bullet dodged.....
