I swapped my idiot light dash for an SR5 one with all the guages on my 85 4Runner and now my oil pressure is on the low line or just above...it does move slightly though. I did replace the oil pressure sending unit BEFORE I hooked it up so the guage is not burnt out...at least I didn't do it. I have had the 4Runner for about 5,000 miles(about 30K on the new engine) and the low oil pressure idiot light never came on except when starting it up so i know it worked.

Could I have a bad sending unit?

The new sending unit screwed in much farther than the original, could it be getting blocked from getting oil?

Any other ideas?

 

It's possible the resistance from either the wire or sending unit is not calibrated to the new SR5 oil cluster meter. Sending units don't often fail when near new. I wonder if the SR5 oil sending unit has the same resistance as a non-SR5 type?

I don't believe it's depth of the sending unit that is the root cause of this problem.

Good luck and update us.

 

you have to get the new sending unit... the sr5 guages use an actual pressure guage where as the non sr5 had an idiot warning light..... although everything bolted up fine, you reading is inaccurate now due to the fact that you dont have the correct sender... they are indeed differnt senders... i replaced my non sr5 recently and looked up both parts at the local kragens... the bad news is that the sender for the guage is a tad bit more expensive than the idiot light one.....

 

I did replace the idiot light sending unit with one for the oil pressure guage so it has the right type of sending unit. With the oil pressure this low I really doubt the engine would have lasted 30,000 miles so I am stumped.

 

TTT

 

Well since you had no problems before, I would think it's either the new sending unit or a dirty plug connection at the gauge itself. Your new sending unit should be three times as big as the old one(shaped like a bell). It also might be too long like you stated.

I'm wondering if you could put some power directly to the gauge to see if it reads fully?

 

if you ground the wire that goes to the sending unit, it should peg the gauge on high, this can determine if the gauge is working properly

 

I still have real low oil pressure, I grounded the guage and it slowly went almost to the top. I can see fresh oil on top of the motor through the oil fill hole so there is sufficient pressure plus there never has been any clack-clack type sound indicating low pressure. I guess I have a bad sending unit??