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Oil Pressure gauge: What is Normal owner's manual

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saintsairforce

Probationary Member
26
1
Sep 20, 2005
Maidstone,
This post is in regards to the stock oil pressure gauge and how it often falls low when idling. In the past I, along with many other members have found that the oil pressure gauge would faill into the low zone of the gauge when the vehicle was warm and idling. For the first little while it seemed like there was something wrong. Checking the oil level became a daily event. After talking to some other members on here they said this was just the normal operation of the gauge. It wasn't until I bought my second DSM that I found the relief I was looking for. This second DSM just happen to come with an owners manual. In it it explains the operation of the oil gauge. I thought I would post a scan of this section for all other members who were unsure about their oil gauge. Note: checking the oil regularly is still recommended.

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I hope this will put all those uncertainties to rest.

Cheers,
Ricky
 
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An Owner's Manual.

Strange concept to DSM owners. Answers more than half the questions we ever get here.

Then again, ten bucks on eBay is quite an investment, I suppose.

Thank you for your post. :thumb:
 
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Thank you so much ! I caught myself in the same situation . Even filling to almost the "Full" indicator on the dipstick to be sure. I was so worried. *Sigh* What a relief . All I was thinking was *F@*&* LOL THANK YOU ! And thx for the scan I will save it
 
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I am so glad someone posted this, there seems to be alot of threads lately about low oil pressure I hope this answers them..
 
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i just bought this 90 awd tsi and it has an oil pressure gauge. when i start it up cold the pressure is at 80 lbs. The dash gauge is alittle before the high notch. i rev it up and the dash gauge doesnt move and the oil gauge i have goes up to 100. After driving the car for awhile the oil gague goes stays to around 40-60 and the one on the dash stays about in the middle. Why is that? do you think the accesory one is hooked up in a wierd place. wats normal oil pressure for these cars. car is stock cept for a 3inch turbo bak

thanks
 
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The oil pressure numbers your aftermarket gauge are reporting are right in the ball park.

The factory oil pressure gauge is highly dampened, and not very accurate to boot.

The main thing to be mindfull of is the oil pressure at operating temperature, especially at a hot idle.
 
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I just installed my new oil pressure gauge (prosport electric) and it's showing zero oil pressure at idle when warmed up. I'm really scared to even drive the car now. When driving around 3k rpm in 5th gear, I get about 30-35 psi though. On cold starts it jumps up to around 60-80 psi or so. I have the sender remotely mounted by 3 feet of SS line tapped into the stock position of the pressure sender. The actual sender itself is mounted up by the power steering reservoir. I put this gauge in b/c my stock gauge seemed to be reading lower than usual and I wanted to find out what was really going on. My car has about 141k miles and (I assume) has the stock oil pump. Should I look into replacing this? Is there anything else that would cause it to be this low? I just changed the oil two days ago with 10w-30, non synthetic. Thanks.
 
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My car did the exact same thing. I think it has something to do with the sensor or placement. I drove mine just fine. No problems with the oil.
 
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My stock gauge read really low also though. On a warm idle it read at the very bottom (not between the two tick marks, the lowest line) and would sit around the first tick mark whenever pressure was the highest.
 
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Is your low pressure coming on at idle? If not you have at least 5lbs at idle. Just make sure it comes on with the engine off.
 
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Will the idiot light still work if the old pressure sender is disconnected? The light isn't coming on, and never has so far. It does light up when the key is in the "ON" position though, so the bulb isn't burnt out.
 
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Batman™;151206486 said:
My car did the exact same thing. I think it has something to do with the sensor or placement. I drove mine just fine. No problems with the oil.
Click to expand...


How many miles did you put on the car? I've searched around about this for the past 45 minutes and can't find anything. I'm going to try moving the sender a little to see if it affects the readings. I don't think the line is kinked that goes to it, but I'll mess with it tomorrow probably. Should I take off the oil cap and check to see if the cams are getting oiled? If the oil light isn't coming on, should I assume that everything is ok?
 
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hey i was just looking at that in my owner's manual today! i usually don't worry about it unless the needle is below the middle mark while cruising at highway speed. of course then, i can usually hear the lifters ticking like crazy.
 
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My lifters don't even tick at idle, which makes me think everything is alright. They'll tick for about 4-5 seconds on start up, then they go silent. I thought that the gauge would give me a good indication of what's going on in my engine, but it's just confusing me.
 
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Dream On said:
My lifters don't even tick at idle, which makes me think everything is alright. They'll tick for about 4-5 seconds on start up, then they go silent. I thought that the gauge would give me a good indication of what's going on in my engine, but it's just confusing me.
Click to expand...

yeah my talon used to do the same even after an oil change with restore. i do remember driving on the highway and being able to hear the lifters and noticing on my logger that i was getting massive knock whenever i was on the gas. i pulled over and checked the oil level. nothing on the dipstick.
 
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Sharadon said:
Is their air in the 3ft of ss line you added. That will mess with the gauge
Click to expand...

How would you suggest doing that? Undo the sender and pour oil down in the line if it isn't exploding oil when I take it off? I figure that the oil would eventually fill in the line and any air would be vented.
 
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Dream On said:
How would you suggest doing that? Undo the sender and pour oil down in the line if it isn't exploding oil when I take it off? I figure that the oil would eventually fill in the line and any air would be vented.
Click to expand...

How long has it been doing this, because if there really was a problem youd already now by now if you knock my drift...
Ive delt with a bad build before were the balance shafts wasnt properly removed and the engine started knocking really bad in 80k of regular driving and this was on cryotreated internals... It doesnt take long to destroy internals on low oil pressure...
At times on my old engine in my gst ( Which i had low oil pressure on before b/s removal ) I always kept the oil a little higher than the line and no problems...
Sounds like the low oil dummy light is work0ing if it comes on during ignition then turns off... Hook a mechanical gauge to the head and if the head is getting oil then the rest of the engine Is.
 
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It's an electrical gauge. It's been like this since I installed it. I pulled the oil cap off yesterday and there was oil on the cams, and little droplets were coming up out of the hole so I assume that they're getting plenty of oil. The cam lobes look all shiny and don't have any scratches in them either.
 
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