So I am wrapping up my 3.4 swap and when I ran the engine for the first time, I neglected to switch my oil pressure switch to the 3.0 sender. My oil gauge ceased to work. I tested the resistance on the gauge and it read around 25 ohms. I had read somewhere that it was supposed to be in the 40s, but I can't confirm that. I ordered a brand new replacement from Toyota and it had about the same resistance give or take an ohm. But then I noticed that the "burned" one had its needle pegged to the side beyond the low reading.

the new one is in the cluster above. So upon further reading I found out the operation of these is a simple bimetallic strip like in a thermostat. The coil heats a metal strip that moves the needle. So instead of turning on a furnace, it moves your oil needle. Then I also read that usually when these are "burned" it doesn't actually break anything it just makes your bimettal strip "sprung".


My question is: has anyone ever bent the strip back to point the needle in the right direction? If so, did it actually swing like it was supposed to? I bent mine back to match the factory new gauge. I guess I can hold on to it as a spare and find out some day if it works. But for now I'm curious if I wasted my 80 something bucks on the new one.