oil sender repair?

[mark '87 930]

I replaced the gasket on my oil tank sender today and checked out the sender itself, it seemed to check out OK and got varying resistance as I moved the float.. but I still get the gauge pegged at the top. If I short the two wires together (the ones that connect to the sender), the gauge goes right to the bottom mark (indicating no oil) so I presume the wiring is good. If the gauge is faulty, can it be repaired? Isn't it just a potentiometer?

Realizing I don't use the gauge to check my oil, it's still nice to have a working gauge for some type of baseline.

[Porsche_monkey]

Sounds like job for a REAL engineer.

Yes, it's just a potentiometer, sounds like it's reading open circuit most of the time. My old car fluctuated so much I rewired it. No change. I ended up disconnecting it.

Put your ohmmeter at the other end (up in the dash) see what you get there. It might be a wiring issue, but it doesn't sound like it is. Doesn't sound like a gauge issue either. My guess is the sender unit is worn.

Maybe someone can post the proper resistance range for the sender. Then you can install a fixed resistor that will read mid-range and forget about it.

[mark '87 930]

Anyone?

I'm sure someone must have tried to repair this thing!

[POKDUB]

Sounds like you might have the wires reversed. Recheck

[HawgRyder]

The other possibility is the ground on the oil tank.
If the tank is NOT grounded properly you will get that exact problem.
Bob

[mark '87 930]

It's bolted to the car..I guess I should check that as well.. that's a good point. The car is in good shape though and there is little to no corrosion on things which is most likely why I never thought of looking at that.

[Porsche_monkey]

I've seen Mark's car. A ground problem isn't very likely.