my oil gauge doesn';t move at all
07-29-2006, 04:10 AM
#1
Hyogen's RX-8
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my oil gauge doesn';t move at all
I dont' think it ever moves..it always is a few ticks above middle...
and it stays there even when the dipstick shows my oil level is below the recommended line
what could be wrong? :O
and it stays there even when the dipstick shows my oil level is below the recommended line
what could be wrong? :O
07-29-2006, 04:24 AM
#3
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There is nothing wrong. It is an oil pressure guage, not an oil level guage. You could be two quarts low and still maintain good oil pressure. Just check your level every 1500-2000 miles, thats about when I need to add a quart.
That's somewhere around 350-400 miles usually.
07-29-2006, 10:13 PM
#10
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Originally Posted by otherside
There is nothing wrong. It is an oil pressure guage, not an oil level guage. You could be two quarts low and still maintain good oil pressure. Just check your level every 1500-2000 miles, thats about when I need to add a quart.
I'm pretty sure you missed the point on that remark..
Oil pressure is supposed to fluctuate. Out stock gauges are COMPLETELY WORTHLESS! At idle it should be about 30-40psi lower then WOT. Buuuttt, it never moves.
07-29-2006, 10:22 PM
#11
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Actually... look at it (VERY) closely, it does move, just that it moves just short of a tick mark from idle to redline the rest of the needle's sweep range is unused. I wonder if there is a way to alter it to show a better representation of the oil pressure...
07-29-2006, 10:30 PM
#12
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Idiot guages are kind of stupid, but in some ways they are smarter than we are. A person will gladly watch a guage slowly creep up as long as they think they can get to their destination before they think something "bad" will happen. People can easily fool themselves into thinking they are taking an acceptable risk when it seems inconvenient to do stop and do something. But if the guage suddenly shoots up, it will get a pretty immediate reaction, as it should.
07-29-2006, 10:38 PM
#13
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no there is no way to alter it. in order to get an oil pressure reading you need to add your own sender and guage. the dash can module gets a signal from the pcm that indicates pressure or no pressure- on or off. thats it. there is no changing that.
07-30-2006, 02:20 PM
#17
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Makes you wonder. Why have the guage at all if it's just on/off. That should be an idiot light. They ought to give us a guage for oil level; instead of making us check it with a barely readable dip stick every time we fill the thing with fuel (per owners manual).
07-30-2006, 05:00 PM
#18
Originally Posted by Zeltar
Makes you wonder. Why have the guage at all if it's just on/off. That should be an idiot light. They ought to give us a guage for oil level; instead of making us check it with a barely readable dip stick every time we fill the thing with fuel (per owners manual).
07-30-2006, 07:07 PM
#19
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Originally Posted by oreo
on my FC it varied GREATLY from idle to medium load. Weren't all mazda oil preasure gauges supposed to be equally useless?
Uh, how is that useless? If your gauge DIDN'T vary greatly from idle to load, you would know something was wrong. IE: a pinhole leak, low oil, etc...care to explain how you find that useless, hmm?
07-30-2006, 07:53 PM
#21
They want to give the illusion of full instrumentation but don't want to have to deal with low oil pressure issues from the owners.
The RX-8 instrument clutter (not misspelled) was designed to look cool (rather than be functional) to hit the car's target demographic.
07-31-2006, 10:31 AM
#22
Originally Posted by Raptor75
They want to give the illusion of full instrumentation but don't want to have to deal with low oil pressure issues from the owners.
07-31-2006, 04:12 PM
#23
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Ah, to live in a time when MBA's—rather than engineers—call the shots
Jose, aka "Hey Boss, pay me an MBA"
Last edited by jinsenser; 07-31-2006 at 04:18 PM.
07-31-2006, 06:11 PM
#24
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unless you have the oil temperature, pressure, engine rpm, and oil viscocity logged and continually calculating an oil pressure at the standard conditions for the rpm range and also the oil pressure chart to compare your numbers with across the rpm range - your real pressure guage isn't telling you anything a dummy guage isn't (you either got oil or don't)
07-31-2006, 06:25 PM
#25
disagree r0tor,
for instance it wasnt until i gauged my car did i see for myself that it would not hold the manuel's identified normal pressure at 3K with the recommended 5W20 oil. Need less to say i now run a 5w/30. oil pressure gauge can also identify(we dont have one with the 8) oil pressure drops during high G moves. oil pressure gauges are useful. like everything else they have a specific purpose and thats all. for some drivers the stock one would be fine. just cant believe mazda cheaped out on gauges.
olddragger
for instance it wasnt until i gauged my car did i see for myself that it would not hold the manuel's identified normal pressure at 3K with the recommended 5W20 oil. Need less to say i now run a 5w/30. oil pressure gauge can also identify(we dont have one with the 8) oil pressure drops during high G moves. oil pressure gauges are useful. like everything else they have a specific purpose and thats all. for some drivers the stock one would be fine. just cant believe mazda cheaped out on gauges.
olddragger