Oil Pressure Gauge Question

[TadS]

Ok, I had a bit of a scare with a failed oil filter last week and now I am totally punked out. I am popping my hood every-other day to check and make sure I am not leaking, and I really would like to stop doing that, so I am looking into getting an oil pressure gauge. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about them either than there are 2 kinds (mechanical and electrical) and that Scott had a really bad time with one.

I see from looking at my Haynes book that the 5S has a pressure sender, could just get and electrical and tap a wire from that, or is there something more advanced that I need to do? I am not so much worried about exacting accuracy, I just want to know next time the O-ring fails on my filter before 2 qts is in my driveway .

For those who wonder, it was a genuine Toyota Filter installed by the dealer.

[Mole]

im not too sure if a pressure gauge can tell you if you have leak or not.

it just monitors the pressure when you put pressure (accelerate) on the engine.


in your case, how was the filter faulty?

[TadS]

Bad O-ring seal. It was probably defective from the factory. It sprayed oil all over my engine, so I figured I would have registered a pressure drop. Is there any other way anyone knows of to monitor for oil leaks like this? I drove 1500+ miles to Niagara and back 2 days after this got caught, I can only imagine *cringe* the breaking motor sounds if I wouldn't have noticed the oil under my car.

[SBCelicaGT]

Yes, an oil pressure gauge will spot a leak like that. If you run out of oil, you dont have pressure. However, you can't just tap into the stock pressure switch since all that does is turn on the low pressure light when your oil pressure is super low. You need to find a place to mount the sender that will come with your electric gauge, or find a place to mount the adpater for the mechanical gauge.

[SolDoubt]

LOL Tads,
Nothing GOOD can come out of going to Canada!!!! I jsut took a trip to Toronto and when i came back there is a problem with my transmission Damn Canada and its bad luck