Photos from inside an oil pressure sender
 

My new "VDO" oil pressure sender went fer****zen after just two year's service. Never having seen the insides of one of these, I thought I'd take it apart. Then I figured, someone else might like to see too. So here are my photos. BTW, senders are double crimped, once apart, they won't go back together. This one failed because oil made it past the gasket.

Wow. Who designs these things?

Great photos. Thanks for sharing!

May be subject to vibration. Perhaps the more present the lower the lifespan.

On the other hand many parts are just made as cheap as possible at the manufacturing end today. The retailers demand this.

Possibly better to just get a used original sender from a pick and pull. You know they were pretty good. I can think of many used parts that are perhaps superior to the newer ones that replace them. Especially on these old buggies.

I wonder if a more modern pressure sender could be retrofitted into that same mounting spot?

Nice pics! Was the failure due to the oil completely filling the other side of the copper diaphragm, thus equalizing pressure, such that the diaphragm cannot push on the piston? Oil should not have any effect on the electrical contacts.

Not sure. It never completely failed, it just had erratic readings, and always low. There are a lot of mechanical components that could have been affected. The back of the case was leaking, and a lot of oil came out when I opened it. So the aneroid could have been restricted by oil.

My 87 had one that leaked and was always showing 3 on the gauge no matter what.

Didn't dissect it but I'm sure the failure mode was similar to yours. Oil was seeping out the seam when I removed it.