two brand new autometer oil gages RIP

[ramoncito89]

I’m currently using autometer oil pressure gages to be specific the one that goes up to 100psi and my car is a sentra that never goes to further than 70 on race conditions well when I started the car in the morning the gage indicator went all the way around passing the 100 line and well then we thought that the gage was broken and when we went out to the practice session the oil filter came loose and spilled about 3 quarts on the racetrack and I’m not going to give details on the black flags and skating session that took place afterwards but we got another oil pressure gage from my good sponsor and guess what the brand new oil pressure gage went all the way around too! Then my friend told me that it was because I changed from mobil 1 15w50 to Red Line 40w and I don’t think it was because of that what I think is that the line is obstructed because there is no way a car will run 45 minutes of racing in 150 psi I will like to know if some of you guys have gone trough this before.

[Conover]

Sounds like you might want to check your pressure relief in the oil pump, maybe not regulating pressure. the oil filter incident highly suggests that your pump is putting out too much pressure. . .

[Gary L]

It might be helpful to know more about the lube system setup, especially how and where the oil pressure signal is picked up. I will agree with one thing... changing oil from Mobil 1 15w50 to Redline 40W (which also meets 15w40 spec) will not cause this problem. Been there, done that, with the exact same oils, and if anything the Redline produced slightly less pressure in the same engine.

Important - What else was changed or monkeyed with just before these problems occurred? And on that subject, I wouldn't necessarily associate the oil filter problem with high oil pressure, unless I was positively certain it was tightened properly at installation.

Finally, is this a direct-reading guage, or one driven by electrical signal? If the latter, are you sure you're using the right sending unit and that there are no shorts in the wiring?

[ramoncito89]

It might be helpful to know more about the lube system setup, especially how and where the oil pressure signal is picked up. I will agree with one thing... changing oil from Mobil 1 15w50 to Redline 40W (which also meets 15w40 spec) will not cause this problem. Been there, done that, with the exact same oils, and if anything the Redline produced slightly less pressure in the same engine.

Important - What else was changed or monkeyed with just before these problems occurred? And on that subject, I wouldn't necessarily associate the oil filter problem with high oil pressure, unless I was positively certain it was tightened properly at installation.

Finally, is this a direct-reading guage, or one driven by electrical signal? If the latter, are you sure you're using the right sending unit and that there are no shorts in the wiring?
[/b]

gages are mechanical ,dont like electrical plus there is a mocal oil cooler in the mix but it was there before running good nothing else was changed.

[Gary L]

Then we'd better pay heed to Mr. Conover's suggestion... relief valve gone bad.

[Conover]

Pull the Pan

[joeg]

I had this happen on a new motor. It is not the gauge; it is the valve in the pump.

Mine blew the filter right off!