how to check oil temp and pressure?

[914nate73]

I have a 1973 2.0. When my car warms up it stutters, So in order to troubleshoot a suspicion of either overheating or plugged oil something or other, I need to test thse two things. I have a temp guage in the car, but I guess that this guage is worthless. Any ideas on how to test these would be greatly apprerciated.
Nate

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

You can calibrate your temp gauge. Take the sender out of the car (yeah, messy--draining the oil and all) and hook it up again. Ground the threads. Stick the whole thing in a pot of water, and boil that water on a camp stove. Power the gauge and see what the gauge reads. You now have a verified reading for 212F, which is a very useful temperature.

Or you can put the sender in a pan of oil and use a good thermometer to provide more readings.

Or you can stick a thermocouple sender down into the oil sump and see what it says when your gauge is at various positions.


To check oil pressure, hook up an oil pressure gauge. These usually screw into the hole in the case where the stock "idiot light" sender is. Or you can mount an electrical oil pressure gauge in the cockpit. In order to fit the sender for that gauge, you need an adaptor kit. (It's pretty much a piece of hose with some adaptors to screw into the engine block, and a bracket to hang the sender.) That will let you see the pressure at any time.

--DD

[Fly Mach .86]

Where is the oil sender located on the engine? 1975 2.0.
Cheers, Elliot

[Ron Meier]

Buy an infrared Temp gun. Reads temp with a laser. I could check case temp, oil filter temp, head temp, etc., by aiming the laser and pulling the trigger - instant read out. Cool!

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by Fly Mach .86
Where is the oil sender located on the engine?

Which sender??

Oil temp is in the "taco plate"--the round plate on the bottom of the engine that is held on by two bolts. (Overtighten the bolts and the plate folds like a taco shell.)

Oil pressure is up on top of the engine just aft of the distributor.

--DD

[jkeyzer]

One thing I noticed when I was testing a gauge and sender I had was that if you completely submerge the sender in the water the readings get skewed. This is because if water touches the sender case and the spade terminal for the signal wire, it provides an alternate path for current and changes the readings. Watch out for that.