Oil level gauge suddenly stopped working. Concern?

[sadcaper]

Went for a spirited drive on Monday am. Oil leve gauge working fine. No issues. Drove the car today for first time since and oil level gauge won’t get off the red. Should I be concerned the engine is somehow suddenly out of oil??? Haven’t had a chance to check the oil manually as I’m at an event but thought I’d check here.

[LIRS6]

Could be sender, could be position of the float, could be lack of oil - but I doubt it. If everything was fine previously, and you didn't have some obvious puddle of oil under the car, I'd suspect either a malfunction or maybe you didn't get it warmed up enough for it to register? One comment though - when underway, the gauge should be in the red area, not white - unless the engine is warm and just idling. If it's in the white area while driving, either you likely have too much oil, or the sender/float is amiss. Check the oil level before driving. Engine running! Most say no more than halfway between min/max on the stick is where you want the level to be.

[rolfjahn]

Replaced mine last night

[Autoban]

The oil level not working is not a big problem as long as you know your engines oil consumption and check on a regular basis. My 911 is the only car I ever owned with an oil level gauge.
However, I would fix it to have a fully functioning car

Juergen

[7783911]

in my case, the sender finnally gave up the ghost at 100K...easy to replace, suggest oem sender over others with proper gasket.

one test is to remove the sender and

1 confirm wiring is solid
2 move the float manually and observe your gauge..if no movement in gauge, and wires good..then sender bad. otherwise trace your ground to ensure its 100%
3: IF you decide to look at gauge..I strongly suggest you take a picture of all the wire connections..not easy to find on internet and a bit of a jumble so getting it together 100% can be a challenge without ref photo

good luck

[Jack Stands]

Can you just put a jumper wire across the two terminals as a simple way to see if the gauge and wiring is good? The sender is just a variable resister.

[sadcaper]

Thanks all. No oil on garage floor so must be an issue with the components. I'll do some digging. Just got scared when I saw it stuck on red suddenly! Thanks!

[universeman]

The wiring for the sender goes through a 5-pin plug in the engine compartment near the rear passenger taillight in the oil filter area. Try cleaning and securing that plug before you tear into things. That was the issue on mine.

[sadcaper]

I finally got around to manually checking the oil and it has gone down a touch since the last time I checked it so makes sense that the gauge is acting differently. Also, after car is warmed up, and sitting level and idling the needle does jump up to around halfway mark. Before it would be at 3/4 mark.

Anyway, here's a pic of the dipstick. It appears a bit low, but still within the two marks. Would it make sense to add some oil? It complicates things that I don't know what oil is in there currently as I haven't changed it since I bought the car. Would it be safer to just do an oil change and start fresh? Not sure I want to mix oil.

[sadcaper]

Oops, pic of the dipstick.

[Ctopher]

Originally Posted by sadcaper

I finally got around to manually checking the oil and it has gone down a touch since the last time I checked it so makes sense that the gauge is acting differently. Also, after car is warmed up, and sitting level and idling the needle does jump up to around halfway mark. Before it would be at 3/4 mark.

Anyway, here's a pic of the dipstick. It appears a bit low, but still within the two marks. Would it make sense to add some oil? It complicates things that I don't know what oil is in there currently as I haven't changed it since I bought the car. Would it be safer to just do an oil change and start fresh? Not sure I want to mix oil.

One of the first thing I would recommend when buying “new” used car is to baseline all the fluids. And since you don’t know what oil the previous owner is running it would probably be in your best interest to research oil on this forum and go with what you think is best based on your needs and change it. And that would also include the trans and brake fluids.


Ctopher

[sadcaper]

Originally Posted by Ctopher

One of the first thing I would recommend when buying “new” used car is to baseline all the fluids. And since you don’t know what oil the previous owner is running it would probably be in your best interest to research oil on this forum and go with what you think is best based on your needs and change it. And that would also include the trans and brake fluids.


Ctopher

I just did the trans fluid, but adding brake fluid is probably a good idea.

[theiceman]

just take wire off sender and ground it. if it goes full deflection when you ground and unground it with the ignition on its the sender, if not, check wiring and gage.

[Kraftwerk]

The oil-level sender was one of the first things I fixed on my car when I bought it in 2002. For me it was an easy-fix : electric contacts at oil tank had become full of gunk & old oil road sludge, I just took the wires off and cleaned the places of contact with a piece of sandpaper. Thing has been working fine ever since. Probably something everyone should do every ten years or so..