Oil pressure sender, mechanical vs electrical

[lmcchesney]

Is there any specific advantage of electrical over mechanical? Is there anyone experience of oil leak with the mechanical system?
Thanks,
L. McC

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Do you want to have 210-degree 60-PSI oil running into your cockpit? I sure as h--l don't...

--DD

[tat2dphreak]

LOL, dave: "why?" I thought that was the "MAX" heat switch?

[lmcchesney]

Thanks Dave. There is nothing like addressing the obvious.
So, you are saying all mechanical oil pressure gauges/lines have this problem? Seems like they have been on the market for a long time.

[lapuwali]

Time was, it was all there was. Electrical gauges didn't really appear until the late 60s. There are those who insist the mechanical gauges are more reliable and more accurate than the common electrical gauges.

On a 914, the main issue would be running that pipe all that way. Different issue on a front-engined car.

And while it sounds awful to have high pressure hot oil piped into the cabin, think of how unpleasent it would be if a heater core sprung a leak and allowed 15psi 195dF water into the cabin on the average water-cooled car.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

True... And there are gauges you can get that have a separate "working fluid" so you don't actually have the oil running into the cockpit. But still, you have to route the fluid-carrying line from the engine to the dash (or wherever you put the gauge), and it's an awful lot easier to just run a wire or two.

I don't see that knowing the oil pressure super-precisely is going to give you any real benefit. You're mostly interested in, "Do I have a lot of pressure, or do I have zero pressure?" With a side-order of, "How does this pressure compare to last week? Is the bottom end of the motor dying?" Electrical gauges are far more than good enough for those sorts of indications.

--DD

[Bleyseng]

Skip the mechanical oil pressure gauge. Had one in my hotrod 64 Squareback, damn oil line (plastic) blew out all over me and my dress pants on the way to a fancy dinner! That sucked...
Geoff

[hardflex]

I have a cheap mechanical 3 guage set in mine. you can buy copper tubing pretty to replace the plastic oil line, it's easy to bend and route, for a few dollars.

not nearly the classy look of the VDO's though.

[silver2.0]

They make a special kind of pressure gauge that just has a little piston shaped deal inside a little tube, and it seperates the oil/water and the pressure is transmitted through a hollow tube filled with air. The problem with those though is they are not very accurate because air obviously compresses more than a liquid. We have several of these types of gauges where I work, and although they might make the gauge last longer, I question the accuracy.