Oil Pressure Sensor T-piece

[cfc1]

I was quite a lucky sod yesterday... whilst driving along listening to "my tunez" (thats me being cool btw :)) I heard a funny noise.. it was like a stone stuck in the read of a tyre.. tic tic tic tic tic... I turned my "Tunez" down and listened more closely... again I thought the same thing, I lifted off the fast pedal and the noise went away.. I pressed the fast pedal down and it stayed away... I sat at a steady speed (30mph as in a built up area) and tic tic tic tic tic. So I was slowing down getting ready to stop and my oil pressure gauge was reading 0psi.

I thought "OH! S***T".... I pulled out the dipstick and sure enough.. nothing! :o luckily I had Oil in the car.. so I topped it up hopeing I would have enough to get me to the garage but as soon as I started the car it came out as quick as it went in leaving a huge puddle on the road. Good job I have breakdown cover through my insurance, I called the tow truck who transported the car up to my work for the mechanics to have a look at. I wasn't pleased with what they found.

Part of the mounting hardware for the oil pressure sender had completely snapped, the T-Piece...

Looks like this.

...This is the 2nd time I've had a problem with the way in which this was put together, the first time the Union adapter into the block snapped. At first I put it down to bad luck with a faulty adapter or that it may have been over tightened and fractured, but I now feel that the full assembly shouldn't have been put together the way it was... Union adapter into block - t-piece - another adapter - t-piece - pressure sender and switch. On the first t-piece and the 90 degree is the oil feed line... I now feel that this assembly is too long and possibly hitting the firewall causing it to break or the vibration combined with the weight of the assembly is causing it to break.

So having found the fault I popped along to a local hydraulic shop and bought some parts that I needed to change the assemble and how it is mounted, the only thing I couldn't get was the t-piece (as pictured above) that fits into the pressure sensor and the switch but did mange to get it on with enough threads to get the car topped up with oil and started. This is where I became a lucky sod... the engine sounds normal, I think I must have heard the hydraulic tappits tapping away as there was no pressure for oil to get to them.. so fingers crossed.

As for this t-piece, I have found this on eBay...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OIL-PRESSURE-GAUGE-P...tem310067019527

are these things all the same.. all I know is that my size is 1/8 and the pressure sensor states something like 1/8 27npt?

[dave.m]

Hi Dave, NPT is American (national pipe thread) BSP as you know is British think you need to know the actual details

of your piece. Assuming the thread on the engine block is metric, because its japanese, any details on the parts its

connecting to ? Maybe a case of taking parts to compare, if you need help allthough I'm on holiday just now give me a

shout and I'll nip into work and get some thread gauges. just try to be quick as I go away on friday. ;)

[Flat Pack]

Heard several stories of those adaptors failing in the kit car world (where its quite common to fit a pressure sender and a low pressure switch where there was originally only the switch). It's felt that the weight of the sender and switch combined with the vibration of the engine is more than the T-piece can cope with. I've still got the T-piece screwed into the block and then the pressure sender and switch into that on my car, but quite a few people have fitted a braided flexi line before the T-piece so it can be mounted to the chassis somewhere and the sender and switch better supported. I'll probably move over to that setup next time I drain the oil and would definitely do it ASAP on a daily driver rather than something that only gets used if the sun eventually comes out :)

www.thinkauto.com do a wide range of pressure fittings and some handy low pressure switches - mine switches at 21PSI so serves more purpose than the usual 'you've just killed your engine' light. IIRC my aftermarket pressure sender is 1/8 27npt, but I can't really help more than that.

[cfc1]

Thanks for the offer Dave... will keep it in mind.

Flat pack.. you have described my setup to a T (pardon the pun)...

fit a pressure sender and a low pressure switch where there was originally only the switch). It's felt that the weight of the sender and switch combined with the vibration of the engine is more than the T-piece can cope with

I also feel that weight and vibration played a major part in the failure along with the length of the assembly causing it to hit off the firewall.

People have suggested a sandwich plate, which I think is a very good solution.. my problem with that is sourcing parts to enable my feed line to reach it, also won't have much time to wait on parts ordered online. I think by mounting my sender, switch and t-piece to the firewall will take the weight down considerably.

The oil feed line entering the block (where the OEM switch goes) via a small t-piece with a 3000 psi hydraulic hose connecting them up should give me the same benefit as the sandwich plate would... but with less hassle for the moment.

[dave.m]

Thanks for the offer Dave... will keep it in mind.

No probs Dave, could maybe have got you something made up at work but for the holidays.

Cant answer your PM because of either TOC or Bransons broadband is causing problems when I try to.

But if you are stuck, these guys are the experts and they may have something off the shelf that meets

your needs. See link for their Glasgow branch -

http://www.hydrasun.com/contact_us/glasgow.htm

Oh and just a precautionary note about the one on E-bay, off the top of my head I'm sure most BSP threads

are 27 threads per inch (TPI). Its possible to mix them up with the NPT threads of similar size because they

are also 27TPI. Trouble is they wont seal properly as one has a 55 deg angle and the other is 60 degrees.

What looks like it mates together can end up a bit of a mess when someone forces one onto the other. Good luck.

[cfc1]

Do you work at Hydrasun? I notice they have a place in Broxburn which isn't far from me... I could possibly go over there with my assembly and see if they can help connect it all up. Do you know if they can make stuff up while you wait?

Any info would be appreciated :)

[dave.m]

Hi Dave, dont work for Hydrasun, work for an engineering co that does machined parts for aerospace and oil/gas industry.

We use Hydrasun now and again for fittings or testing etc. They are very good, and given the importance of your connection

I reckon better spending a little bit more and getting good fittings. Try giving them a call, let me know how you get on as

there are other companies that do similar.