OK. I know how to hook up an idiot light for the alternator but how do you wire one for the oil pressure sender? Yes, I also have an oil pressure gauge and volt meter gauge, just want some extra attention getting in case I'm in the cruising zone. Thanks.
The ones I'm familiar with are all single post pipe threaded switches that just ground the light bulb. I think you can get them at NAPA in 1/8 and 1/4 pipe threads, and you could probably pick one easiest from the pictorial catalog of Echlin bits. I think idiot light for oil pressure is an excellent idea.
An ignition switched power source to the light bulb and the ground from the socket runs down to the switch on the block. Turn the key on, no oil pressure, the oil switch is made completing the circuit and lighting the lamp. As soon as oil pressure builds up the switch breaks the circuit and the lamp goes off.
your light can not be self grounding through the light socket , it has to have two wires..one for the switch power and the other to the sender
You'll need a separate sender for the idiot light than the one you use for your oil pressure gauge. So you might need to put a T fitting in between the block and your other sender if there aren't any more oil pressure ports on your block. The sender for the gauge has a variable resistance. The sender of an idiot light is just a simple on/off. Off when there's more than a certain pressure (maybe 10 psi or so) and on when the pressure falls below that. If you want a real bright light that'll catch your attention, you could use a super bright LED as your dummy light because it wouldn't draw much current (compared to an incandescent lamp) and the oil pressure switch could turn it on and off directly without a relay.
I've seen a diagram where two senders were used - a stock one, and one a little higher pressure than stock. It was wired so that when the higher pressure one went off at 1/4 to 1/8 normal oil pressure the light would go off, and when the lower pressure one went off it would kill spark to the engine...
Hmmm, sounds dangerous to me, say u r on a freeway and the wiring somehow gets grounded for the lo sender, the engine kills and whammo, no power steering, power brakes, etc. Good luck getting it off the road safely.
If you do want to do something complex beyond turning on a light, there is a readily available multi-terminal GM one that originally was used to shut off electric fuel pump on Vegas.
Thing is, most newer vehicles have this same feature. It is designed to prevent damage caused by idiocy. They'll shut down for low oil pressure, overheating, and over speed.
Actually, I saw this years ago in Classic Auto Restorer magazine. They argued that by the time most stock oil pressure switches got tripped, your oil pressure was probably so negligible that damage was already being done. They advocated putting a "T" in with the original switch in on one side, and a higher pressure one from a big truck or the like on the other side and rigging it up so that the higher pressure one would be the light (like 15 PSI) and the stock one (like 7 PSI) would be the shutoff. They said that with the fact that most folks would pull over and fix the problem before the second switch was tripped. Besides, if you have an oil pressure problem, wouldn't you want to get off the street ASAP anyway? LOL! They also claimed it would save your engine. Just something I saw once that seemed like a good idea at the time. Figured I'd pass it on... ~Jason
In oval racing...we use a sending unit that lights the warning light at a higher pressure than the stock one which won't do so unless the pressure drops to about 5psi. Here's a link to a sender by RebCo that is set for 20psi. They also have one that is adjustible from 20-40 psi. They sell a nice oversize light too. Sender: http://www.rebcoperformance.com/catalog/item.asp?id=134&catid=5 Light: http://www.rebcoperformance.com/catalog/item.asp?id=145&catid=5
Perhaps you may want to put the higher pressure sender unit, and then put some audible device such as a sonalert. That way you can see and hear the low pressure warning.
Dude! That would be BADASS! Radio Shack sells little devices like they put in those greeting cards that have the songs, etc in 'em for super cheap. They're a record-once kind of thing... Wouldn't it be awesome if the juice went to one of those that said, "Oil's low, TURKEY!!!" like Scatman Crothers (aka Hong Kong Phooey)? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scatman_Crothers LOL! ~Jason
i run autometer senders in all my cars (15psi). http://store.summitracing.com/partd...400442+4294845483+4294845481+115&autoview=sku
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