Ok, I have just picked up a glowshift electrical oil pressure gauge, and after wiring it up, as soon as I gave the car power (hadn't cranked it yet) the gauge read 23psi, and when I turned the car on it didn't change at all, in fact when I turned the car off it stayed at 23, the only way to get it to drop is to unplug the harness at the back of the gauge.
My first thought was the ground by the sender, I have moved it twice and even cut it completely, all three resulted in the same thing, 23psi, even with the wire cut.

Now the gauge is used, the sender is brand new from glowshift, so if it just doesn't work, then it's not a big deal, just hoping someone has had a similar problem.
Thanks

Do you mind giving more info on the wire hook up for the gauge? Would need to know what goes where on the gauge. Some pics of the install would help as well. My guess would be that the signal wire is either connected to a wrong source or that something internal is messed up.

Yeah sure, I'll get pictures tomorrow,
It's a model with 5 wires, one for switched, ground and dimmer in the car, and one for signal and ground at the sender.

Here are the pictures

Hey sorry for the late response. I looked up the wiring list for the gauge and it seems to be as follows... yellow to +12v that is always 12v no matter what the key is (constant), red to accessory +12v (12v with key in accessory position and car running), black to vehicle ground (-) (good chassis point), green to the oil pressure sensor, and optional orange to 12v headlight (+) source. You can catch this wire using the headlight switch or interior lighting like the cig plug light.

Ok so, you definitely, absolutely need to re-do those grounding connections that are just wrapped under bolts! This could be your problem and why the gauge peaks!! Terminate them all in ring terminals, remove all paint beneath them, and tighten them down for sure! Do that for both the inside gauge ground and then the ground for the sensor outside the car too. I really think that is your main problem with the gauge. Once that is done just make sure that the green is going where it should and that your 12v sources are where they should be too. Shoot an update with what you find. Hope you get it figured out.

Ok, this particular gauge doesn't have a constant wire, it only has one color so it doesn't need to remember anything, and i have been wanting to redo my ground point for my gauges for a while.
I have already ordered a new gauge, which I should have done in the first place haha. Thanks for the detailed reply.

I would definitely address those grounds and put the proper eyelet connectors on so that they stay grounded. I'm not trying to insult you with that, but the way you have them done is horrible. We have all gone through doing wire jobs quickly. Wires can slip out over time with enough vibration and then you're looking to find out what happened. Save yourself the potential trouble later.

I agree with you, I have already done that, as I stated I would in the last post.

I guess I am the only one that is running a mechanical guage. I wired it up just like the instructions said.

I had one that I ran to the engine bay, and it always had some oil at the connectors, so I guess I'm just scared of it leaking in the cabin.

Everyone I have talked to has had that same concern but I have ran mechanical gauges since the 70's and never once had one leak inside the car. Had a packrat chew a line into 2 once but never an issue in my cars. They were all old muscle cars and IDK if we had electric oil pressure gauges back then.

And I tried to run an electric gauge also on these and I had some problems too, that is why I went to the good old tried and true.

1990TSIAWDTALON said:

I guess I am the only one that is running a mechanical gauge. I wired it up just like the instructions said.

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Yeah man I ran a mechanical gauge too for a little while too, thinking it was so much more accurate. Then after doing more research and having one leak at the gauge one time INTO the dash I quickly switched to an electrical one. The difference in accuracy is so minimal that I personally just do not see the risk worth it. To each their own though for sure.