vanster

My oil pressure gauge, sputtered and then died. Came to life a few times but now wants to live at the bottom.
I am thinking:
A) there is a loose connection on the back side of the
cluster.
B) Is there a sending unit that could have given up?

The light does not go on and there is plenty of oil and no running issues.

Ducman82

check the connections down at the sender by the oil filter.

davek9

If they ^^^ are reversed it will read 5 bar, not sure what it reads if not connected, at least you will know the wiring to the gauge is good

MainePorsche

Protect the wires and connections well. It is a hot, dirty place. Clean the connection points well first - apply Deoxit too.

vanster

The needle drops to the bottom so this tells me that they are not reversed.
I'll get under it and clean everything again.

Reddog2

Check wiring as it comes up from the sendet along front of the engine. Wire will rub here and break or short out. (i assume it comes up the front in an 80 as it does in my 86)

davek9

It also goes through the 14 pin

MainePorsche

Yep.
Happy hunting.

IcemanG17

the senders die.......and peg 5 bar when they do

PHIL928

I like to go through the dash diagnostics and check whether it still reads the pressure in digital form, if it does then the sender is fine, the problem is between the sender and the gauge (wiring)

Bilal928S4

I don't think his car has any dash diagnostics as it is a 1980.

GlenL

The sender has two outputs. One is a pressure level for the gauge and the other is a switch for the fault light. Since the fault light isn't ON you've got oil pressure. Nice to know.

I'd start at the sender and work backwards. It works by providing a variable resistance to a 12V input and the current the flows determines the needle position. You should find 12V all along the wire segments from the pod to the sender with ignition in running position. If there's 12V at the sender then you've got a sender problem.

Chalkboss

I have had the sender fail reading low, not high.

PHIL928

haha, should have gone through his signature!
Maybe it'll help someone in the future if they ever land on this thread through doing a search.

Schocki

If everything else fails, it could be that the gauge itself is faulty. My GTS had the same problem, it was a bad solder spot at the end..