I have been driving my 95 4Runner V6 for 6 years now and never realised that there was no oil pressure warning light..only a gauge. My aftermarket oil cooler line burst and the 3VZ ran out of oil at 80 MPH . I heard the cams making a racket and looked at he gauge it was at ZERO. I pulled over shut down and removed the adaptor from the block and put back the filter on the block filled it with oil and am still driving that was 2000 miles ago...no ill after effects as yet. For those of you who may not have noticed..NO OIL PRESSURE LIGHT on 90-95 SR5 and Limited 4Runners..WHO LOOKS AT HE GAUGE ALL THE TIME?? I AM SURE A LIGHT MAY HAVE MADE ME CATCH IT QUICKER.

 

gauges over idiot lights everyday.
lights dont come on until you hit the failure point

 

i look at the gauge quite a bit

 

im always looking at the gauge. i don't understand it sometimes. im curious if my sender is on the fritz, or if the old 3vze is gonna grenade soon...

 

I didn't realize that, thanks for the warning about the lack of warning. I'll look at the gauge more often now. There are ways to add a custom warning system though, with bells and whistles, might look into that some. Hope your engine is ok.

 

This is true on my 1988 pickup as I found out when I did the SR5 cluster swap.

My original Toyota cluster had just an idiot light. The oil pressure sender for the idiot light is really just an on/off switch. The sender has just 1 wire.

I also have a Porsche Boxster and the Boxster has an idiot light but no oil pressure gauge. The Boxster sender has 1 wire. So Boxster owners who want an oil pressure gauge put in a Porsche 996 instrument cluster because it has an idiot light and gauge. But then the Boxster owner has to put in a 996 sender that has 2 wires. A wire for the idiot light and a wire for the gauge. So the Boxster owner with the 996 cluster has to add a wire from the sender to the cluster in order for the idiot light and gauge to work.

When I was reading the SR5 cluster swap instructions it took me a while to realize that Toyota uses just 1 wire even if you have a gauge. You put in the SR5 sender, but it is just 1 wire. I thought perhaps Toyota had figured out how to operate an idiot light and a gauge with just 1 wire.

When I got the SR5 cluster I pulled all the bulbs and shined a light in the back to see what idiot lights it had. It had no oil pressure idiot light.

So with Toyota you either have the light or the gauge, but not both.

 

I have the SR5 cluster, but hate having tick marks for the needle to track over. Anybody know what pressure the middle line represents? How about the bottom one? I actually added an oil sender and put in a VDO gauge in the a-pillar. Works great, it's at eye level and now I know what PSI the middle line is!!!

 

That is interesting, I own a 1994 Hilux Surf 3.0 V6 (Japanese market version of the 4-Runner) and mine does not have an oil pressure light either. I put it down to a faulty bulb or a wire off somewhere.

I do keep a careful eye on the gauge though.

Just had the head gaskets done ?1,073? truck is running fine now.

I have an oil leak, but doing research on this and other forums it now looks to be a leak around the oil cooler.

Anyhow hello from the UK.

Regards,

Paul