Oil Pressure too high?

[RadiclDreamer]

I drive almost 100 miles round trip to work each day and noticed on monday that my usually normal oil pressure is now going nuts. It starts out fine but after 15 minutes of driving its pegged to the highest reading on the needle. It flies around as I accelerate and slow down. What could cause this and is it dangerous?

 

[thirdeye]

Are you leaking oil? What kind of car?

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Did you recently have an oil change? have you checked the level?

If the oil level isn't in spec, and your sensor is in just right place, then weird things can happen when the oil sloshes around.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

I dont think its leaking, its an older 94 pontiac bonneville (yeah I know its old but im not buying a new car to put this many miles a dya on it) I need to get an oil change. I actually have it scheduled for this evening but wanted to make sure it was safe to drive

 

[mooseracing]

could be a faulty connection somewhere betwwen teh gauge to the sender. The sending unit could be on its way out. Something could be clogging the filter and then the pressure gets low and the filter is slightly bypassed. Last time your oil was changed? YOu didn't say what vehicle, but alot of newer Auto manufactures just use a gauge like a dummy light. When a certain value is presented it just stays in the "normal" part of the gauge . I would say your sending unit is more than likely taking a crap but hard to say without actually seeing the condition


edit: the old year has nothing to do with it, and honestly its not really old. anyway yes change the oil then see what is happening

 

[RadiclDreamer]

So what exactly is a sending unit?

 

[thirdeye]

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
So what exactly is a sending unit?

Sending unit is what plugs into your engine somewhere and sends the appropriate (or probably in your case inappropriate) voltages for your gauge to interpret as a readout for oil pressure

 

[RadiclDreamer]

So as long as I get my oil and filter changed this evening the high pressure reading shouldnt be an isssue?

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
So as long as I get my oil and filter changed this evening the high pressure reading shouldnt be an isssue?

Impossible to say for sure. Most likely is just a faulty sender, but you do want to get that checked out because if it's somehow not the sender, then you do have a problem.

ZV

 

[Christobevii3]

Unless it is going upto like 100 on the guage i wouldn't worry.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Its going to the end of the gauge, I believe its 120

 

[pnad]

Oddly enough, there is a Bonneville club!
I have a 1992 Bonneville beater/commuter.

Check them out: http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum

The opinion there is that this is probably your sensor going bad. Eventually the sensor will fail completly and you will read zero oil pressure. Bad news; these cars have a cool feature that cuts fuel if the computer senses zero oil pressure.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Ouch! Wonder how much that sensor is and how hard it is to change

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
Ouch! Wonder how much that sensor is and how hard it is to change

It looks like the sensor is about $25. The hardest part about changing them is just getting to it - sometimes they're in hard to reach places. Other than that, you just unscrew the old one, put some teflon tape around the threads on the new one, and screw it back in.