Quote:
Originally Posted by lietuviai
OTH, the 87 300D that I once had, had a fluctuating oil pressure gauge. The first time when I noticed the oil pressure gauge was at 0, I nearly had a heart attack. I was on the freeway after just picking it up from the guy I bought it from. It wasn't making any noise. I almost thought about turning around and returning the car. The next exit was over a mile. So I also watched the temp gauge at the same time and it showed normally. I was thinking the temp would go up too if there was something so catastrophic as lost oil pressure. No odd odors either. So I was hoping it was only a bad gauge which it was.
You can't always trust gauges.
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I would say you lucked out. Disregarding gage readings is a bad practice. Read the lessons learned from Three Mile Island. One was to always act based on believing the gage readings, and, if you question them, once you have made the conditions safe, check the sensors, lines and gages to verify they are working correctly. To disregard them without specific, equally valid data that proves the readings are not correct is a formula for disaster. And engine water temperature rise will not tell you about main and connecting rod bearing temperatures in time to allow you to save the engine if in fact you have low oil pressure.
I prefer gages to idiot lights. While the idiot light draws your attention to the problem if you happen to be an inattentive type, they give you no more and likely less time to react. A really meaningful feature would be one that compares load to oil pressure and oil temperature and shuts down after giving a warning that undesirable conditions in the engine exist and counts down to shutdown.
Jim
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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles
Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)
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