[rabidpanda]

Well, I have been trying to fix the minor kinks in my new rex. Right now the A/F ratio gauge is driving me insane. It just goes lean, rich, lean rich, even while I am at the same speed or RPM. Has anyone installed on of these and might know a trick that I don't? I also noticed that the wire that they ran to the 02 sensor wire was wired crappy, so I am going to fix that. Anyone have any ideas?

Also, I have an oil pressure guage. It isn't hooked up, or at least it doesn't work. I don't think the original owner even tried to do it. Problem is, I have never hooked up an oil pressure guage? How is it done? Someone said it might be that I have to tap the oil pan, but there has to be an easier way. If anyone could help, I would greatly appreciate it.

Dan

 

[stick]

Hey Dan. I have installed both of these gauges on my car. First of all, the A/F gauge is functioning correctly. The A/F ratio does sweep back and forth quite a bit during normal operation. These gauges aren't very useful for tuning purposes. The only time I found mine to be useful is when it no longer *ever* showed a rich condition...then I knew that my O2 sensor had probably kicked the bucket.

As for the Oil pressure gauge, you want to get a kit that allows you to mount the sending unit somewhere *other than the block*. You do not want to mount the sending unit on the block because the vibration will eventually rip the threads out of the block. I got a kit from www.fast-turbo.com which included a stainless line, a t-connector, and an adapter to connect it to the spot on the block where the oil pressure switch is. You connect the adapter to the block, the stainless line to the adapter, the t connector to the end of the stainless line, and then you connect your sending unit and the stock oil pressure switch to the t connector. You then mount the t-connector in the location of your choice. (somewhere other than the block...the firewall is a good choice).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

 

[rabidpanda]

Do you have any pics of the install, like where the oil pressure switch is? Also, how hard is it to reach it? I am back in the US, but I am at my barracks with no garage, jacks, and only have basic hand tools? Should I wait until I go home to start on this?

 

[stick]

The oil pressure switch is on the back of the block near the oil filter. When I did this install, I had to jack up the car and work from underneath the car. It is near impossible to see what you are doing from the top of the vehicle.

 

[rabidpanda]

Well, I tried to fix the A/F gauge. The previous owner had it taped up and it looked ghetto. So, I got a butt connector and some heat shrink, and made it look all pretty. Now, the guage stays on rich the whole time. Does that mean that I messed up the connection, or does it now mean that I am always on rich? I think that I may have messed up the connection, so now I guess that I should get another connector and maybe try it again. Anyway, if anyone has any ideas, let me know. Thanks.

Dan

 

[stick]

Which wire did you connect the A/F gauge to? Once the car is warmed up, it should sweep back and forth while you are driving.

 

[rabidpanda]

Well, it was already connected to the O2 sensor wire, which goes to another type of sensor on the head, next to the distributor. Before today, the guage swept back and forth while driving. Now, it just stays on rich the whole time. Not sure why though...

Dan

 

[akirarex]

Like Stickershop said, it should sweep back and forth when the car is at operating temp. When it is cold it will read rich until it warms up. The obd0 cars do not have heaters in the o2 sensor to heat them up to their working temp so you have to wait for the exhaust heat to warm up the sensor. So in the mean time you just see "rich" until it gets up to temp.

Dan if you were back in Ohio this would be easy with summit racing right there. I have an oil pressure gauge as well and you need to be carefull about the threads in the block of the engine. It is NOT american pipe thread IT IS BRITISH PIPE THREAD!. Do not stick an american pipe fitting in there it will crack your block (yes I did do that). When I did this I also had to buy a stainless steel braided hose to send out to the sending unit (so it wouldn't be rigidly mounted to the block as previously mentioned). I was also using a crows foot wrench set to do it. It all depends on what fittings you have to work with.

 

[rabidpanda]

Well, I will check out Summit right now, and see what they have. Thanks for the help...

Dan

 

[rabidpanda]

Well, I came up with another problem. I went to the Autometer site to figure out what guages I had, and I have either the mechanical OR short sweep electric oil pressure guage. They are both the same picture on the site...
Electric
http://www.autometer.com/cat_gaugedetail.aspx?gid=2619&sid=7
Mechanical
http://www.autometer.com/cat_gaugedetail.aspx?gid=2665&sid=7

So what is the best way to find out which one I have? I guess the connections on the back, but I don't want to rip apart the inside of my car if I don't have to. Thanks for the help so far!

Dan

 

[bobski]

The mechanical gauge will have a hose connected to the back and maybe 2 wires for lighting. The Electrical gauge should have anywhere between 2 and 5 wires connected to it, but no hose.
Does your gauge needle make a nearly full rotation like the pic suggests, or only 1/4 of the way? The electrical gauge you linked to says it's a short sweep gauge, but the pic is of a full sweep gauge. Autometer does make full sweep electric gauges, but they're microprocessor controled or something, so tend to be obnoxiously expensive.

 

[rabidpanda]

It is a full sweep, but I will have to check the back to see what type it is...

Dan

 

[akirarex]

More than likely a full sweep is going to be the mechanical one. Like Bobski said the electric full sweep (270 degrees) are quite expensive and have an electric box that you have to hook up with power and then feed wires to your gauge. You really don't need to know the exact oil pressure 99% percent of the time. You just really want to know is there pressure at all and is it remotely where it should be...... simple.