Edward

My Warning "!" lit up with the oil pressure light and needle dropped to the bottom, yikes! Long read, but please tell me what you think:

Conditions: I was at around 60mph on a fwy offramp toward a green light, then the light went red so I clamped the brakes hard; like dropping anchor but no drama. Sat at the light till it went green then bam: Warning lights and oil-press needle drops to zippo!!!

I panic and scurry past the intersection to pull into a restaurant parking lot when, just as suddenly, the oil-press needle pops up to normal! I cancel the warning "!" lamp, sit there for a second, and revved the engine to look at the needle behave completely normally.
Hmmmm, massive confusion: oil pressure problem or sensor/sender problem?
For the seconds the needle was at zero, the car sounded/felt normal, but who knows, right?

For the rest of the commute home (another 15 minutes, regular city streets), my eye is constantly on the needle, watching it go up/down like normal. When I got home I checked the dipstick and oil was below registering on the stick (I have a small leak at the cam-chain covers). Again in a panic, I top up, but to my relief it only needed maybe 3/4 quart ...which is normal for me, as I checked my maintenance records and saw that I had gone ~3000 miles since my oil change, so this has been my normal consumption (and leak) for over a decade, so in other words normal.

Ok, so it's been maybe 3 days now since the drama, and driving with one eye on the gauge has been a bit stressful, but all seems good. Your thoughts here, please, gurus???

Edward

INTMD8

Well a dry sump has to be much lower than 3/4 of a quart down to have starvation (starvation due to oil quantity that is).

Sounds most likely a sending unit/wiring/gauge issue but the only way to be sure is to put a mechanical gauge on it.

Personally I would be replacing the sending unit as zero oil pressure situations rarely fix themselves otherwise.

mpruden

Agreed. I've had a sender failure on another car and symptoms were as you describe. I'd park it and replace the sender. Especially because you have a 95.

Quadcammer

sender issue most likely. could also be a gauge issue. My gauge would stick at too high or too low a level and then pop back. North Hollywood replaced the movement and it was fine again.

Spyder_Man

I currently have issues with my oil pressure gauge / pressure sender. I know it is at least the gauge because sometimes when I tap on it I can get the needle to respond properly. I was told by my wrench that the oil pressure sender is "way in there" and a PITA to get to without dropping the engine. I also have cam chain cover leaks.

So I just keep adding oil and checking the dip stick. I aim to change my oil every 5000-7500 miles too.

_snowbird_

Same problem here. My pressure gauge just pins straight to the top under all conditions, and I'm not sure when I'll make the effort to dig in a replace it.

Edward

Thanks guys! Makes me feel better that it seems to point to the sender.

Had a clutch replaced and a bunch of preventative engine-out stuff done maybe 8 years ago ...I absolutely had the sender replaced then. So it would suck that it'd go bonkers on me now. Well ...the problem hasn't repeated itself yet, so maybe I'll cross my fingers and keep that eye on the needle more often. I suppose it could also be the gauge ...which would be easier/cheaper to address, for sure. Hopefully it doesn't happen again, but if it does, I'll try the tap and see what happens. Thanks gents!

Edward

Spyder_Man

Try tapping on the gauge next time. Also think back as to whether you just went over a big bump or change in incline, that's usually when the connection in my gauge gets loose and the needle goes nuts.

Linnm

Next time is goes to zero, stop and check the oil level immediately! If you have no oil you don't want to drive home first.

993c4ie

I had an intermittent problem with the oil pressure gauge...so made a small project out of it.
Have a read at this thread http://forum.porsche-club-ireland.co...72844#msg72844
Use of contact cleaner is the short executive summary on my project.

Note: at no point did the warning light came on though in my case.

C2sideways

Hi, need to log in to read so it's not a quick option.

When I start up sometimes the oil pressure gauge does not respond unless it's given the two finger tap. It's a little disconcerting until it flicks up. Is this just a sticky gauge mechanism and is it an easy fix with contact cleaner ?

henrybr

Open up the back of the gauge and check to see if there is a load of deposits around the contact points. That was what stopped mine from working.