Can anyone show/tell me where to tap in for an aftermarket oil pressure gauge?

 

Two general methods are used. The most common is to drill and tap the oil filter housing in the center and install the sender there, but the drawbacks are that it interferes with oil changes somewhat (you have to remove the sender) and the casting thickness in the area isnt very thick, this can cause problems down the road from removing/reinstalling the sender and engine vibrations wearing out the metal. A means to make life a bit easier is to remote-mount the sender on the firewall and use a short #4 braided line to connect it to the canister; doing so will help to eliminate the above problems.

The other location is to tee into the area where the stock sender is. This is below the oil filter housing on the back side of the engine block. You will see the sender and it's bright green electrical connector and single wire. The sender threads are 3/8NPT and the location pretty much recessed. The Promini gauge cluster that I used came with a special fitting that goes between the block and the sender, and you then use a 45 degree 1/8NPT brass street elbow to attach your sender to the adaptor. This results in a clean installation, though the working area around the sender is very tight. You also need to use a deepwell 1-1/16 socket to remove the sender, most sender sockets will not work on this confounded sensor because the plastic portion above the nut area is so tall and large in diameter. Using a Craftsman 1/2in drive deepwell socket here works well.

People seem to have been able to get this adaptor by itself from Promini. If you are using a mechanical gauge (using tubing to connect to the gauge)rather than electrical I recommend to use something other than the thin nylon tubing that the gauges usually ship with. Use the optional copper tubing instead. Best yet is to use the Auto Meter full-sweep electrical gauge; you get the benefits of a 270 degree sweep without needing to run potentially leak-prone tubing into the interior. The gauge is $$$ though, about 150 bux.

 

I will put in my 2 cts. I tapped a fitting into the oil filter and located an electric sender on the firewall. Relatively easy but scary job .

If I had to do it again I would locate the fittings needed to place a tee at the OEM oil switch (located on the block just to the interior of the oil filter). Running a line from that tee to the sender.I think it is a cleaner looking and less troublesome at oil change time. Come to think about it I could still do it that way.
Cool... another excuse to play under the hood.

 

I ordered my 05 MCS with the Chrono Pack, which includes an dash oil pressure gauge. Don't know offhand where the sender is mounted, but this implies that you might use factory parts with a little investigation.

Oil pressure gauges I've isntalled on other cars often use a sender with alarm circuit which substitutes for the stock alarm only sensor.

Neil
05 MCS

 

Thanks guys, all great posts!!
Is there a particular spot on the car in which to run the wires or the tubing?
Hey Neil,I will definitely look into how the factory does their setup.

 

Please keep us posted on what you find on the factory parts.
Is there enough room to have oil temp and oil pressure senders (electrical) in this location?

 

My how-to thread should answer any and all questions. Feel free to ask any other questions.

Cheers!

 

Norm, there is, with some creativity. When done right, it looks factory.

In the case of the factory gauges, the sender itself is replaced. In place of the light-only pressure switch, there is a variable resistance electric guage sender instead. It's not likely that this sender would be compatible with most of the aftermarket gauges out there. In fact, almost every gauge maker has their own sender/gauge combo who's parts arent interchangeable. If you tried, the readings would be erroneous at best, or the gauge and/or sender could be damaged.

I would want both the light and the gauge. A light attracts more attention that a needle quietly dropping to zero. A combination of the two is the most effective warning.

 

I purchased the pro mini adapter. I think it was about 50-60 dollars. If anyone wants pictures let me know. I have not installed it yet.

 

Stever,by all means,please post the pics!

 

i did the same thing (PRO-MINI) works great

doug

 

I would think there would be a way to get the information from the ECU... that is what I assume the chrono package does.

I don;t know about the Mini but my Chevy has the sending unit right at the base of the oilfilter... i know this b/c I have broken it twice when changing the oil

 

I have attached a picture of the pro-mini part with the Autometer senders attached. I do not know if these are correctly installed due to space restrictions. The pro-mini part is the part in the middle the threaded part will replace the factory sender and then the factory sender will get screwed into the female threads. I hope it helps.

 

That is nearly identical to what I used in my installation, but saved my self a boatload of money. When I found out the Pro-MINI part was $50, I went up to Home Depot and made the exact same thing for under $10. Seems to be easier and make more sense to me.

 

Eggsactly! I did like Steebo did. A Home Depot run for a short piece of brass pipe and a t-nipple, ten minutes under the hood and I was fishing the plastic tubing through the firewall.

If you go this route you don't have to remove a sensor or an oil feed tube to remove the oil filter.

 

Oh Yes, I will be keeping the light. I may have to make my own fitting to accommodate;
OEM sender to light
Oil pressure gauge (electric)
Oil Temp. gauge (electric)
Brass fittings silver soldered together isn't the problem, it's the 150 bux ea.
Thanks to you guys who ventured forward first and for sharing your Knowledge :smile:

 

Am I nut's or wasn't there a picture up here of that adapter?

 

Could you elaborate on this part? What size/type is this fitting? Thanks:smile:

 

1) 1.5" , 3/8" brass NTP nipple about $2.00
2) 3/8" female brass NTP T fitting about $4.00
3) my optional fitting TBD about $2.
This allows for two connections I.E. one for oil temp./pressure gauge and one for OEM oil light or any combination you choose.
I want to eventually have three if there is enough room or use a SS braided hose to remote mount a sender.
I went to Home Depot last night and found all the brass fitting parts for as you see about $8.00.
My configuration will require me to add a fitting to the top of the 3/8" female brass NTP T fitting. This will allow for the OEM sender (light in my case), oil pressure and oil temp. gauge's.

 

Yes, post 13 is missing. Wonder why?

 

OK, this may be a stupid question, but is this the right place to get the oil temp from?

 

Apparently this is taps into the oil gallery just before the oil filter and oil cooler.

 

Thanks very much:smile:

 

Excellent! My next winter project is oil temp & pressure gauges. This helps A LOT! Thanks.

 

For oil teperature readings to be accurate, it is best to install the sender for the temp gauge where it will be immersed in and encounter a steady flow of oil around it. The oil does not have top be pressurized, so most people (as well as the factory) will mount the sender in the oil pan, often in place of the drain plug. You can drill and tap a spot in the pan as well.

If you mount the sender in an oil gallery (such as where the oil pressure sender is mounted) you will encounter erroneous readings in many cases. Why? Because the temp sender is a probe, albeit a short one. It needs to be in the flow of or the greatest mass of hot oil to measure the temperature. When you mount a sender via a tee from the pressure port, the flow in the area is blocked (deadheaded). While the oil in the area will conform to the pressure of the oil in the gallery (making pressure measurements accurate), there is no actual 'flow' into the tee other than what gets pushed in by oil pressure. There is no flow back out other than where it comes in. Also, since the tee will mount the temp sender a distance away from the flow, the ambient air around the tee will cool the tee, senders and the oil inside as the hot oil flows by, but not through, the area, leading to lower readings.

Think in terms of measuring the internal temperature of a roasted chicken after pulling it from the oven to know whether it's done or not. You stick the thermometer into the core part of the meat, If you stick it in the wing, especially if the chicken has been out of the heat for a moment, the temperature there will begin to be much lower than inside.

If you have no choice but to tee in a temp sender, make sure to make it the closest to the engine, and therefor the nearby flow of oil. The pressure senders can be further oil with no problems. Also, avoid using a long series of pipes or stacking of tees. Remote-mount the electrical items via a hose instead, since you end up magnifying engine vibrations the further you get from the engine due the the 'whipping effect'. THe vibrations can eventually damage senders and also strains the fittings which can actually break from fatigue. The bonus in all this is that the MINI uses a large (3/8NPT) fitting coming from the engine rather than a skinny, 1/8NPT one that a lot do. This makes any teeing arrangement much more solid, and actually can allow remote temp senders to work better (from eddy currents in the oil flow moving it around).

Another good area to mount the oil temperature sender is in the end of the oil filter canister. The outer portion of the sender itself is not very big, and tucks nicely inside the recess in the hex end on the canister. It does not interfere with putting a socket over the hex with the wiring removed, and it's low mass compared to a pressure sender will not strain the housing with vibrations. The biggest plus is that it is in the strongest area of hot oil flow, and due to it's size, does not impede the flow.