I have recently been through a process which I think others may be able to relate to.
The oil pressure displayed on the gauge of my Fulvia 3 (1.3) wasn’t very good, although any rattles to suggest a serious issue were absent.
At tickover over it was barely registering and at 3,000 RPM with the oil at working temperature, it was reluctant to get to the halfway mark (35) on the gauge.
I had the engine rebored due to poor compression and lipping on the bores and the bearings seemed fine with virtually no wear on the crankshaft. The bearings were of course replaced anyway.
There was only a slight improvement to the oil pressure which was a little worrying, although I did suspect a faulty or incorrect sensor. I couldn’t see any markings on it to indicate its specification.
I needed to get to the bottom of it for my own peace of mind, so I bought an inexpensive oil pressure testing kit on Amazon. I was able to remove the oil temperature plug from the oil filter mounting base (extremely tightly done up - use a good quality allen key with a ratchet wrench) and attach the oil pressure testing unit pipe to it using the correct adapter from the kit and a right-angle adapter also supplied with the kit. Not only did this enable a simultaneous pressure reading to directly compare it with the car’s own gauge, but it wasn’t necessary to remove the oil filter to access anything. I did remove the air filter box to get better access.
The results were remarkable. The test gauge showed excellent oil pressure throughout the range whilst the car’s instrument showed under half! Clearly the sensor unit was either faulty or the wrong specification. The car’s gauge is unlikely to be wrong as it’s essentially a voltmeter and there’s not much to go wrong with one in theory.
Anyway, I hope this post will help people who are suffering from apparent low oil pressure. The kit cost £28, was easy to link up and not a drop of oil was spilled! Thanks also to Pieces Fulvia who confirmed that I could use the temperature sensor port to do the job.
The kit was:
FreeTec Engine Cylinder Oil Pressure Diagnostic Tester Tool Set for VW BMW Opel Ford Fiat
I guess there are many kits that do exactly the same, but this one with the 90 degree adapter fitted in the space - just.
Oil pressure gauge accuracy
Re: Oil pressure gauge accuracy
I thought somebody might be interested to know how a mechanical oil pressure gauge can be fitted to a 1.3 S2/3.
Why might someone be interested in that? As per my earlier post, I found that the oil pressure gauge on mine had always read extremely low, far lower than I would expect, barely getting to 35 on the gauge and registering hardly anything at tick-over when hot. I also understand that the oil pressure sensor does quite often become inaccurate.
I tested the oil pressure using a cheap but effective gauge, temporarily plumbed into the temperature sensor on the oil filter housing. It registered around 80 psi when cold, which is excellent.
I really don't like things that aren't giving the correct reading, so I searched high and low to find a new sender of the correct electrical specification. It’s the sender that’s the key. There may be one out there, but I certainly couldn't find one after an awful lot of looking. Even the usual Fulvia parts sources only had ones that would give a significantly lower reading than they should (although somewhat better than mine).
So I decided to permanently fit an oil pressure gauge. To ensure a simple but accurate setup, I opted for a mechanical gauge.
There are a number of gauges out there, but I went for an Auto Meter mechanical gauge with a PSI dial. Dials showing BAR are an option. I found one on Amazon which was £73 including postage etc. from the USA. You can get them directly from a supplier here, but it will cost you £30 more. I went for the silver dial as it has an orange hand which is the closest I could get to match the existing white/orange dials in the car. Black dials with white hands are also available.
I also needed an adapter to fit where the oil pressure housing blanking plug that I had to remove was, and after a bit of digging around managed to find one on eBay for about a fiver including postage from China. The required item is “adapter 1/8in NPT To M14x1.5”. Both items came in about a week.
I wanted to fit it in a way that looked as unobtrusive as possible and could be easily read. I decided the best place was under the ashtray. So I bought a cheap 52 mm instrument mount on eBay and set about attaching it to the underside of the ashtray housing. The only way to do this was by glueing it to the ashtray mounting housing using Araldite or similar. You have to remove the metal ashtray housing and cut a section out of the thin plastic bar directly underneath the front of housing. This enables the housing to be reinstalled flush after the gauge mount has been glued to the ashtray housing. You can’t use nuts and bolts as they will foul the ashtray.
An important point is to get the correct 52 mm instrument mount. There are plenty of them on eBay and the most common one is the one to go for. If it’s any taller, it will not clear the bottom of the console when you open the front to swing down the panel to access the fuse box etc.
It’s good to bend the gauge mount a little so that it faces slightly up to make it easy to read. Do this before it’s glued in place!
Connecting the gauge was quite straightforward, the only difficult part can be removing the blank on the oil filter housing (apparently it’s used for the oil temperature sender on the HF 1600) which is an Allen hex. Mine was extremely tight and after getting the feeling that my L-wrench might snap, I used a hex mounted in a half-inch socket.
The result is a reassuring extra that looks good, is accurate, unobtrusive and easily read. I hope this helps anyone who might wish to install a mechanical oil pressure gauge.
Why might someone be interested in that? As per my earlier post, I found that the oil pressure gauge on mine had always read extremely low, far lower than I would expect, barely getting to 35 on the gauge and registering hardly anything at tick-over when hot. I also understand that the oil pressure sensor does quite often become inaccurate.
I tested the oil pressure using a cheap but effective gauge, temporarily plumbed into the temperature sensor on the oil filter housing. It registered around 80 psi when cold, which is excellent.
I really don't like things that aren't giving the correct reading, so I searched high and low to find a new sender of the correct electrical specification. It’s the sender that’s the key. There may be one out there, but I certainly couldn't find one after an awful lot of looking. Even the usual Fulvia parts sources only had ones that would give a significantly lower reading than they should (although somewhat better than mine).
So I decided to permanently fit an oil pressure gauge. To ensure a simple but accurate setup, I opted for a mechanical gauge.
There are a number of gauges out there, but I went for an Auto Meter mechanical gauge with a PSI dial. Dials showing BAR are an option. I found one on Amazon which was £73 including postage etc. from the USA. You can get them directly from a supplier here, but it will cost you £30 more. I went for the silver dial as it has an orange hand which is the closest I could get to match the existing white/orange dials in the car. Black dials with white hands are also available.
I also needed an adapter to fit where the oil pressure housing blanking plug that I had to remove was, and after a bit of digging around managed to find one on eBay for about a fiver including postage from China. The required item is “adapter 1/8in NPT To M14x1.5”. Both items came in about a week.
I wanted to fit it in a way that looked as unobtrusive as possible and could be easily read. I decided the best place was under the ashtray. So I bought a cheap 52 mm instrument mount on eBay and set about attaching it to the underside of the ashtray housing. The only way to do this was by glueing it to the ashtray mounting housing using Araldite or similar. You have to remove the metal ashtray housing and cut a section out of the thin plastic bar directly underneath the front of housing. This enables the housing to be reinstalled flush after the gauge mount has been glued to the ashtray housing. You can’t use nuts and bolts as they will foul the ashtray.
An important point is to get the correct 52 mm instrument mount. There are plenty of them on eBay and the most common one is the one to go for. If it’s any taller, it will not clear the bottom of the console when you open the front to swing down the panel to access the fuse box etc.
It’s good to bend the gauge mount a little so that it faces slightly up to make it easy to read. Do this before it’s glued in place!
Connecting the gauge was quite straightforward, the only difficult part can be removing the blank on the oil filter housing (apparently it’s used for the oil temperature sender on the HF 1600) which is an Allen hex. Mine was extremely tight and after getting the feeling that my L-wrench might snap, I used a hex mounted in a half-inch socket.
The result is a reassuring extra that looks good, is accurate, unobtrusive and easily read. I hope this helps anyone who might wish to install a mechanical oil pressure gauge.
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