Sounds like the gauge is picking up an incorrect resistance.

Long answer:

To answer your question on why to ground the gauge, it is not an ESD issue. The reason why you need to ground the sensor is because the ground path is actually part of the electric circuit of the gauge.

You only connected one wire from the sensor to the gauge right? But, as I mentioned the gauge and sender form an electrical circuit and, like any circuit, you need a return (ground) path. The way electrical automotive gauges do this is by connecting both the sender body and the gauge to the vehicle. When you put the sender directly into the block, it is grounded since the block is grounded. With the adapters, it sounds like they aren't connected well enough to the engine (probably due to a gasket or o-ring) to work well as a ground.

Now, the reason I think you're seeing such a high pressure reading is because your sender isn't grounded. The way the electrical sensor works is that it changes resistance between its grounded body and the terminal in proportion to the change in the quantity being measured (pressure, in the current case). The gauge shows a value based on the resistance it sees between ground and the wire you ran to the sensor.

In your current setup, there is additional electrical resistance from the adapter to the vehicle ground, which the gauge is interpreting as a higher reading from the sensor.

Short answer:

Try grounding the body of your pressure sender unit, and I think your pressure reading will become normal.

 

very noice!!!....

im going for the autometer in cf of course!!
i really would like to get something in digital but havent found anything in cf...
if anyone knows digitals that come in cf...please point me in the right directions..

im gonna use an A/F, boost-vac and oil pressure

 

damn...........besides the PCM reflash, this will be my next purchase.......except I think I would like digital. Still debating.
I have a stupid question for you guys............when you buy this pod from Racing Beat is it 100% ready to go in? No more needed items? It was unclear to me if you need to buy sending units(?) or whether the kit was good to go as is. I figure that's gotta change if I go digital, but I'm not absolutely sure I will go that way.

 

^ its a complete set with sending unit http://www.racingbeat.com/FRmazda4.htm

anyway,if you concern about their plastic line for oil pressure,just change it to braided stainless steel line like expo1 did

 

There are two wires from each temp sender to the sensor module and three wires from the pressure sender to the sensor module. The temp sensors are working fine. I grounded the oil pressure sensor and am still getting 80psi. The gauge even reads this before the engine is started.

 

I just went through my dash again making sure each wire is correctly attached between the sender and the sensor module and between the sensor module and the gauge. Everything is okay and here is what I'm getting. When ignition switched to acc position, oil pressure shows about 81 psi. Under open throttle, it will go up a little but eventually comes back down to about 81. When disconnecting the wire from the sender the gauge max's out. Oil temp guage works fine. I'm thinking that I received a defective sender. What do you all think?

 

yep something is up. its a sender or the gauge. anyway of calibrating it?
olddragger

 

The gauge has a self calibrating cycle each time it is turned on.

 

I just spoke with cory at autometer and he believes it's the sender as well. He gave me the voltage #s I should see and I'm supposed to call him back after I check them.

 

I took my voltage readings and called autometer back. They verified that I have a bad sending unit and are sending me a new one, no questions asked. Excellent customer service! I'll take some pics of the Nexus gauges after I have everything working. Thank you all for your input.

 

Here's the update, I got the new sensor/sending unit and installed it. THE SAME THING HAPPENS! I took some voltage reading and got the same thing as well. Since I now have two sensors, I thought I'd see what it says when the sensor isn't even installed. It still reads 80 psi. I played around with the wires to see if maybe during the assembly process, they were keyed wrong in the harness, but that definately isn't it. So, now it has to either be the gauge itself or the sensor module. Autometer's tech dept. isn't open on the weekends so I guess I'll see what they say when I call them tomorrow. I'm assuming that they're going to want me to send the guage and sensor module to them for troubleshooting.

 

What a PITA! Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble.

 

jskup... wazup!

 

Just got everything back from Autometer. The guage, sensor module, and remote all tested out okay. They sent me new wiring harness and antother sender. After swapping out the wiring harness between the sender and sensor module, it works. It kind of wierd as I ohmed out all the wires and everything checked out okay. But here's some pics.

 

i just got my RB pod the other day and ordered the autometer cf boost, A/F and oil pressure...

Im wondering how flush the gauges are supposed to be after you put them in the pod....
mine seem to have a little bit of a gap...
anyone else have this???

 

Yeah, there is definately a gap. I don't think that there is anyway to avoid it.

 

cool....thanks....i just wanted to make sure that it wasnt the pod..i know that RB uses autometer gauges so i shouldnt make any difference especially since the size is the same...

were u able to anchor the gauge at all...and if so, how?
my gauges came with black brackets which dont fit the RB pod...

 

The way racing beat fits them is that they use one of those black brackets trimmed down in the middle for the center gauge, then they have a custom metal bracket they attach behind it to anchor the other two gauges. You can see a pic of this bracket in this thread. I bought the metal bracket from Racing Beat for $7 and used a dremel to trim down the black bracket. It wasn't pretty, but it is functional. Also, since the sides of the gauge beneath the bezel are whitish and the gauges stick out of the pod a little bit, I wrapped black electrical tape around the gauge so it's not so noticable.

 

nice touch....with the tape....i hadnt thought of that...i will check out the bracket on their website...
thanks again for the info!

 

the bracket's not for sale on their website, I called them directly to order it.

 

thanks.. I'll give em a call!!

 

got my gauge today.

It looks pretty damn nice, installtion is pretty fool-proof looking, everything is bundled and marked off nicely.

Except for the fact that they did not include the fittings for my oil pressure gauge. ouch.

 

Okay, just a few notes to add to the thread.

1) If you are going to use the packaged nylon line, you need to tighten the gauge end. Mine was only semi-tight from racing beat. Upon first inspection of the gauge cluster, it looks like RB did a good job of screwing everything in. They didnt. The semi-tight line will leak eventually, if you dont inspect tightness before installing you will have problems.

2) Make sure that you install both oil temp and press line on the sandwich plate before installing on the mount. If you try and install while already set on the mount, then you will most likely cross-thread the connections as the sandwich plate is very soft aluminum.

3) And the greatest and most important thing to remember when installing this: Is to very liberally apply oil or grease to the sealing ring of the oil filter. Since the plate metal is so new and not soaked with oil from previous oil changes, if you do a half-assed job of lubing the filter, it will be virtually impossible to remove upon your next oil change. And with the rise of 3/4 inch or so that the plate moves the filter up, you lose a lot of valuable working room when trying to remove a stuck filter.

 

Just got the gauge kit. Don't like the idea of going down by the transmission as suggested in their instuctions. Am thinking I'll look for a access hole through the firewall. Any one gone that route? If there's nothing available, I guess I'll drill.

Tom.

 

Olddragger drilled but later in a conversation with MSTYLES discovered there IS a passagway. Don't know where it is myself but I'm sure one of them can tell you.

I'm having a real problem with my oil pressure gauge fluttering and making rattling sound so I think I will have to replace it. The face has dropped down about 1/8" inside the gauge. I called SUMMIT Racing to see if they have a replacement gauge in a liquid filled but they do not have 2 1/16" one. Do any of you know where I can get one?