Bought a 92 Roadmaster Wagon today. Rust free Arizona car. It has a few cosmetic issues but since I do paint and bodywork for a living that's no big deal. Interior is real nice. Red leather with no rips or tears. Everything works and the A/C blows cold. Runs and drives great. The only concern i have is the oil pressure guage is showing low at idle. So low that the oil light comes on at a stop. The engine doesn't make any bad noises so I'm hoping it's a guage malfunction rather than low oil pressure. Just in case of a worse case scenario does anybody know off hand if the oil pan will come out without pulling the engine in case I have to get to the oil pump or bearings? Hopefully it's the guage but I bought it cheap enough if I got to do more it won't break the bank. Here's some pictures.
Congrats on the Roadie! Looks to be in fine shape. Sorry, can't help you with the oil gauge issue; hopefully you're right and it's just the gauge. Good luck.
Nice score, hemi! The oil pressure gauges in these cars are notoriously infamous for showing low pressure. Do a test at the sending unit. Take it out and screw in a mechanical oil pressure tester to check it to be sure. There is a fix to get the oil pressure to show more accurately on the gauge but it takes more than just buying a new gauge. This is an inherant problem in these cars...BUT...test the oil pressure to be sure first.
Forgot....yes, you can likely get the pan down by loosening the motor mounts. You can change out the oil pump that way but the bearings will be a real bitch IMHO. Not to mention that the rear seal is a one piece seal and if it gets cocked or banged up during the operation you will end up with a huge oil leak and then will have to drop the tranny to fix it anyway. Personally, I like pulling the engine for bearings. Oil pump no...bearings yes. Not saying you can't do the bearings from underneath, but, it won't be easy and there's always the chance of injuring that rear one piece seal.
Thanks Fox, I'm hoping it'll turn out good and be the gauge. I'm going to try to find time today to install an aftermarket guage to check.
An after market gauge MAY not tell you what you need to know. Probably won't. Best way to check is with a tester at the sending unit hole. If you don't have a tester...beg, borrow or steal one. It will give you actual numbers, too. I have a brand new engine in mine and had the same problem. I knew about the gauge problem but checked it anyway to be sure. Easy to do. My gauge lays way over to the left like thay all do. Some are worse than others. When I checked it I was right at 40 at idle and jumps up to 60 at RPM. Just as it should be. Trust me...check it right.
What if I put the atermarket guage in the sending unit hole? Wouldn't that eliminate all of the factory guage readings and give me the true readings?
Yeah, that might work. If it will screw in there?? But, wait...I'm thinking that the electronics may be a problem with that scenario...Not thinking too well in the morning here. See,...a big part of the gauge problem isn't really all the gauge's fault. It's a series of things on certain of those cars. I'm just trying to have you check it so you will absolutely KNOW what the pressure actually is. You can do it however you wish, hemi, I'm not trying to force anything. Just want you to know what's up when you are driving it in the future and can relate that to the dash gauge.
I appreciate the help Fox. I'm not too up on these new fangled cars with all the electronics. I spend most of my time working on 50's-60's Chryslers. Much simpler cars.
I hear THAT! I'm pretty new to this stuff myself, my friend. If you check it out with the OPT unit as described and it checks good try a new sending unit. If that doesn't work get back to me.
The oil sender on these cars screws into a regular 1/8"NPT pipe thread as they have on chevy small-blocks forever, so the plumbing on a mechanical aftermarket gauge WILL work, except for one thing.... The electricity for the fuel pump is channeled through the stock oil sender.... On my OCC, I'm gonna replace the sender with a new one because it leaks and may be causing some fuel stuttering.... If I was inclined to install an aftermarket backup gauge, I would screw it into the unused oil pressure port that is in the top block surface at the rear, adjacent to the distributor.
Well after a month of driving it I finally got around to figuring out the oil pressure problem. It was the oil presure switch. Nice easy fix. I had it up on my lift to change the starter so while I was under there I figured I'd replace the oil pressure switch. Good oil pressure readings now. Since I've driven the car for a month without the engine blowing I knew it had to be a faulty guage reading but it does feel alot better not seing the oil warning light come on at every stop.
low oil pressure problems are common on not just these cars, but many trucks up to 94 with ecternal coolers. replacing the sendng unit with an off brand sending unit can sometimes solve the problem. if you dont tow, rmoving the external oil cooler usually solves the low oil pressure problem. using mobile will make the problem worse when the oil coller is still hooked up. removing it requires a regular oil filter mount from an older sbc along with its correct bolts. then remove the lines and cap the connections at the radiator. when i switched to mobil one mine would get so low on really hot days that the fuel pump sometimes shut off sitting at a light.
