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oil gauge works! yesssssss!

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
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It works! Yeehaa! The previously "stuck" oil pressure gauge now reads 0 to 60 to 0 psi. Be still my pounding heart!

So here's the solution:

It was the actual gauge mounting to the panel. The oil line segments weren't clogged at all.

I noticed the head of the gauge pointer wasn't "centered" in the curving slot where it travels - it was against the bottom of the slot, possibly binding. As I reached back to try to loosen the two thumb nuts on the gauge mount, I saw that any little wiggle of the mount (behind the panel) caused the pointer head to move up and down in that slot. Pressing upward hard on the mount actually centered the pointer head in that curving slot, halfway between the top and the bottom.

So I somehow managed to loosen the two thumb screws (man are they tough to turn ...) and "twist" the gauge about an eighth of an inch. The pointer head centered itself halfway between the top and bottom of that curving slot.

While holding pressure on the mount, I started the engine. Pointer slowly moved up to 50 again. I pressed a bit more and the pointer moved to 55. Rev'd to 3000 for a sec and the pointer moved to just over 60.

Cut the engine and the pointer actually moved back to zero.

Success!

I didn't completely tighten the thumb nuts down again; doing that would cause the pointer head to again mash against the bottom of the slot.

There's still some playing around with the mount and thumb nuts needed, but I'm a happy guy.

So to celebrate I did a warm engine compression test (all plugs out). Got 170 170 170 170 - and a sigh of contentment.

To celebrate the celebration I also flushed the heater core (garden hose technique) and the heater actually (sorta) heats. There's some bubbling and gurgling and the feed hose barely gets warm, but I figure eventually the air will bleed out. One of the hoses is ribbed so it's likely an original. Needs to be changed.

Three victories in one day. Life is good. Sun still up so I repainted the lettering on the dash knobs.

Thank you guys!

Tom
 
Congratulations!!

And I felt good sanding down and priming a spare heater case.

Guess I'm the under achiever today, so I better try a little harder next weekend.
 
This is indeed welcone news. There's a chance the fasteners which hold the "guts" of the gauge in place have loosened due to vibration, causing the needle (and all else inside the instrument) to move a bit and bind. Best thing would be to remove the gauge and visually set it and snug the nuts on the rear of the gauge... and be sure the metal line is not "tweaking" the gauge on reinstall. It should nearly line up with NO bending/stressing it to go on the gauge fitting.

Good bit of definitive analysis there, Tom!
 
NutmegCT said:
Three victories in one day. Life is good. Sun still up so I repainted the lettering on the dash knobs.
Click to expand...

Just as an FYI, a trick someone on this forum told me about is to use a white crayon on those knobs.... As I'm swimming in crayons here, I tried it and the results were fanstastic; all in about 10 seconds! Long-lasting, too. Wish I could give proper credit to that tipster...
 
A white "paint-stick" or a bit of "Grumbacher's Titanium White" laytex paint will do the same thing. Just be quick to wipe the residue from the rest of the knob with a paper towel.
 
Tom - I don't suggest you may need to do this, but if you need to take the gauge apart, assuming it's out the car, all you do is cup it in your hand and twist the chrome bezel to the left - like unscrewing a jam jar - and the bezel and glass will come off.
 
I am extremely happy for you. Been watching and
listening from afar with interest. Yeah! Way to
go.
These oil pressure gauges, I think, are kind of funny.
Really don't know what is proper amount. Seems like
guys say they are all over the board.

My '74 TR6 runs high for a while at higher rpm and then
will level off about three quarters the way over; but
drops low at idle, etc.

Just watching and learning from experience.
Nice to hear from you this experience because I'm going
into the dash when time allows. Really don't want to
cause I'm enjoying driving the car.

2wrench
 
Hi nutmegCT the good doctor is right on. The oil gauge has a fitting on the line and a little nut that holds the oil pressure mechanism (guts) in the can. When the holding nut comes lose, the guts will slip down and hang up just like what happened to you. This is a problem if you do not go after it correctly because now if you turn the fitting nut on the oil line and do not hold the nut that holds the guts the whole thing will turn and you are going bend the needle and ruin the gauge. What you can do is gently reach up and hold the line steady and at the same time turn the little hard to see nut that is right behind the fitting line nut back against the gauge can to hold everything in place. The whole mechanism is held in with that nut. The oil fitting nut and the holding nut are on the same piece. The way you have fixed it is you have just wedged the guts in the can and they will probably come loose again. This whole job would even be easier if you removed the heater and if you do remove the heater DO NOT take it to a radiator shop and have it pressure tested with out the clips on it. The whole thing might/will open up like an accordion. The systems are only under 4psi anyway. When the heater is out I would just gently warm it up in a tub of hot/boiling water and shake it upside down over the sink with perhaps a brush or maybe carefully poke a wire inside to loosen up the junk, mostly you just want to shake up side down and flush it out. It has been setting bottom down collecting rust and what ever for probably fifty years.
Sp53
 
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