oil pressure

[bitrootvz]

Before I put in a new cam shaft I thought I would get an electric oil pressure gauge and see what I have for pressure in case it is a worn out oil pump. any thoughts on this Idea?

[geezer101]

Good idea. Although mechanical oil pressure gauges have been considered more reliable as far as accuracy is concerned, if it fails at either end you're in trouble. Easy enough to set up. Don't forget they rely on a pressure sender and not the idiot light sender.

[bitrootvz]

well I got the oil pressure Gage and it didn't fit. not metric treads. will have to find an adapter. Do you time the idiot light will work with the pressure sensor if I connect both tto the new sensor?

[tortron]

Yup run both through a t adaptor and both will work

[bitrootvz]

Has any one bought an after market electric oil pressure gauge with NPT treads and had to get and adapter so you can thread it into the metric hole of the 4 cyl engine? Any idea of the sizes of each? it looks like 8mm to 3/8 in.

[tortron]

I typically buy a kit with line and fittings in there. Will come with 4 or 5 adaptors

[bitrootvz]

Ok the answer to "can you hook up both wires to one sender is" yes and no. you can but your light will now act as an indicator of pressure by getting brighter as the pressure increases. So I put in a T and use both sensors and it now works. The electric gauge states that I have 25 psi at idle and 50 to 100 at freeway speeds the needle bounces and i'm guessing its the cheap gauge. I would think that that should be enough pressure to keep the lifters from clicking. do you think it's the cam shaft.

[geezer101]

It shouldn't be the cam. An oil flush would more than likely silence noisy hydraulics. May also fix the bouncing oil pressure (don't know, but old oil will varnish the insides of an engine...) The gauge shouldn't bounce, even if it's cheap. If anything it would either be inaccurate or straight up not work.

[bitrootvz]

your probably right the oil is black and maybe has 100 miles on it. I have already don the diesel flush but I'll try it again. Wish I'd have bought another jeep. I'm in this about 3 grand.

[bitrootvz]

well i did the flush again and put in new synthetic 20-40 and my oil pressure is at 100 psi at highway speeds. 25 at idle. still have the clack buy i think it's a valve on # 3 cyl. bet replacing the head is a bear and costly. think I'll just get through the winter and see what happens when I plow the driveway.

[geezer101]

It won't need a new head, maybe new HLA's/lifters. Good thing is the head doesn't have to come off to replace them if needed. The main thing you need to be cautious of on the 2.4 is overheating it. A number of members had experienced snapped cams from the heads locking up...

I have a Hyundai wagon with the J2 engine in it and that sucker sounds like a typewriter when it's due for an oil change - but this time I went over and it was BAD. Did my regular oil flush treatment and the noise didn't go away at all while warming it up (err, had me worried this time), so I drove it for the last 2 days with the flush in it. The noise has all but subsided except at idle when the oil pressure is down. Time for a used head overhaul when the cash is flowing.

[xboxrox]

I read that a stuck PCV valve can cause an engine to gum up with crud...

[Soular]

Did you ever find any thing that worked??

Has any one bought an after market electric oil pressure gauge with NPT treads and had to get and adapter so you can thread it into the metric hole of the 4 cyl engine? Any idea of the sizes of each? it looks like 8mm to 3/8 in.

[bigwavedave]

I just finished up installing an electric oil pressure gauge in my 89 G63B. You do need an adapter and a tee (the tee for an oil pressure valve for electric fuel pump). for my particular gauge, it required me to wire it up to constant 12v, ignition 12v, headlight switch for the dimmer, and ground. Then the other plug just came straight off the oil pressure sunder supplied with the kit. I made a little mount that just screwed into the lower console area near the floor and it all works out pretty sweet. The gauge has a number of different colors that you can choose, and as I mentioned earlier dims when the headlights are on.

The picture of the adapter and tee doesn't have the sender installed obviously, but with the sender screwed in and the wire plugged into that, it fits perfectly and clears the skid plate with about 1/4. Hope this helps someone.

[geezer101]

^ I bought a bunch of those gauges for my Hung Dog wagon (A/F, volt and vac sans 'Glow Shift' logo) - haven't installed them yet but that last pic will motivate me And thanks for posting up the threaded adapters for the oil pressure senders.

[bigwavedave]

Hopefully this will make it a little easier for someone to find the right stuff!

also, once engine is warmed up, oil pressure is ~20psi at idle and ~70-80psi at 65-75 mph. The gauge seems to be pretty accurate and very responsive to throttle pedal pressure

[SubGothius]

Has any one bought an after market electric oil pressure gauge with NPT treads and had to get and adapter so you can thread it into the metric hole of the 4 cyl engine? Any idea of the sizes of each? it looks like 8mm to 3/8 in.

Just to clarify/confirm, as shown in bigwavedave's screencap, the oil switch block threading isn't metric; it's 1/8-28 BSPT (British Standard Pipe Tapered), aka ISO 7-1.

[camoit]

The HYD adjusters take a crap all the time. Just swap them out and be done with them. They are 30 years old and I see guys having problems all the time. It's cheep to fix them.

[charger_john]

The HYD adjusters take a crap all the time. Just swap them out and be done with them. They are 30 years old and I see guys having problems all the time. It's cheep to fix them.

Though I'm not having this problem I’m curious:
Are you suggesting the hyd adjusters be replaced with same? Or with mechanical screw adjusters?

[geezer101]

Originally Posted by camoit
The HYD adjusters take a crap all the time. Just swap them out and be done with them. They are 30 years old and I see guys having problems all the time. It's cheep to fix them.

Though I'm not having this problem I’m curious:
Are you suggesting the hyd adjusters be replaced with same? Or with mechanical screw adjusters?

No straight forward answer to this one. Mechanical adjusters are part and paired to a mechanical head.
*Pros to a mechanical head - will always provide positive lift regardless of oil pressure or valve spring load and the adjusters themselves never fail, will work with performance mods.
*Cons - they can be a PITA to adjust for proper clearance or noise reduction (using the workshop manual recommendations usually ends with the valvetrain sounding like a typewriter) Mechanical heads don't have the best valvetrain lubrication and can eat themselves if the engine is poorly maintained (shredded cam journals, worn out rocker arms and rocker rails, cam bearing face damage)

Hydraulic lifter and heads are no to low maintenance and are generally quieter. Noisy hydraulics can be sorted out with an oil flush and oil changes at regular service intervals will prolong their lifespan.
*Pros - no direct maintenance.
*Cons - no scope for performance mods like a high lift cam or heavy duty valve springs, can be expensive to replace (ebay can supply them as low as $38ish USD but over the counter will probably gouge you), can become noisy and/or clogged when failing to service the engine regularly and may not return to 100% operational performance even after an oil flush and change.

[camoit]

I just saying to replace them with the same ones you take out. Going to manual adjusters is a step back on a stock engine.
The first gens like mine used splash and spray for lube. No oil in the cam or head. The second gens added oil to the cam and head because the engine was loud and people cried about about having to take the car in for adjustment.
The Hyd. adjusters take up the gap and make them auto adjusting. You won't find a single car on the road today that does not come out of the factory with out them.
We went from manual adjustment to Hyd adjusters, Just like we have gone from carburetors to fuel injection. F,I, was just hitting the market when I started as a mechanic. Disc breaks, AC, power windows, AM / FM cassette radio, intermittent wipers, cruse controll, and seat belts were an option back in the day.

I would just replace them and let it run. The engine was only 110 HP when it was new so no matter what you do apart from doing major internal and external mods you will not see any huge gains in power.