Ginny's (imagesinthewind) current saga today re oil leaks and Randy Leo's daughter's oil pump failure got me to thinking again about a vulnerable area on our cars, oil, more specifically, oil pressure.

We have the very real issue of oil cooler hoses that fail on our cars. And all we have is seconds to react to a gauge

I had an oil line pop off on my VW Rabbit years ago. I was able to save the thing because VW has an idiot light that comes on at 7psi.

I have wanted to add a "T" to the oil pressure port and plumb in a VW sender (same metric thread, I think) and add a light in a "belt and suspenders" approach.

Has anyone already done something like this? If so, does anyone know the kit of parts needed ( sizes, sources). I think this would be a worthwhile peace of mind addition to any of our cars and probably can be done for less than $20 (even $10 if you swipe the sender from a boneyard

Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Kaiser used to make an engine alarm that monitored: oil pressure, water temperature, and water level. It would alarm when any exceeded the alarm point with a light and buzzer. I'm not sure if Kaiser is still in business and making these.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Engine alarms are common on marine engines, even small diesel gen sets, so I would call a marine supply. A guy I worked for had a wife that had blown up two cars because of loosing oil pressure. He found an alarm system for the next car. After all he had them on his tugboat engines.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=135438&highlight=oil+pressure+fittings

See post #5

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The Golden Rule

1984 300SD (bought new, sold it in 1988, bought it back 13 yrs. later)

One day i will do something like this on both my car. Instead of a buzzer though I would add a superbright led into the cluster somewhere (probably in one of the blank light areas near the bottom) so if it did come one, I would definelty see it but not have to hear it everytime the car starts

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1981 300SD 512k OM603

Thanks jbaj007-

I didn't think I had an original thought but I couldn't find it in a search. I'll be hunting for some fittings. I think I have a VW sender or two lying around and I don't want a buzzer. Is the factory output oil line fitting on the 300SD different from the 300D?

Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

I had a 1972 Opel Manta years ago that had a VDO sender that had both gauge & idiot light functions (2 seperate terminals). Being VDO, the resistance could be the same as the one in the MB's. Might be worth looking into.

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82 300SD 202K
82 300SD 233K
83 300TD 340K
82 300TD 98k euro (parts on the hoof)
85 300TD 282K
83 300TD 197K

Might work on a 300SD, but the 300D and W116 300SD have mechanical (? - I guess that what you would have to call it) stock gauges whereas the W126 has an electrical sender.

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Nice work. You mentioned that the alarm buzzed during 'glow" time. On marine systems I've seen, there is a "reset" button so when the systems on but the engines not running (no oil pressure) you don't have to listen to the "buz".

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

The alarm on our boat is a large bell,that can be heard at least 1/2 block away,the OP switch to activate it is a Caterpillar one that activates if the oil pressure drops below 25psi its also connected to a lower pressure switch as a backup.there are also 2 temperature switches in the cooling system and one in the transmission.Belt & Suspenders system,You Bet!!! when you wander far from home with a single engine boat with a 1969 Ford Diesel its imperative to be warned
when something is developing,not after the bad already happened.Would probably need about a 12psi switch for the MB as it drops to the middle of the gauge at hot idle.
Don

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Red Green "This is only temporary,Unless it works!"

97 E300D 157000 miles
87 300TD ?141k? miles