Dug a couple of pine stumps today in 95 degree weather. The old C is pretty rough, and has untold amount of hours on her, but she's a valiant old gal. When I rewired and built the new dash, I added an oil pressure gauge and used the old sensor via a tee to have both an idiot light and a gauge. I worked it pretty hard, but the water temp never got over 190, however the oil light came on, and flickered with the pressure gauge showing 50psi. Granted, the pressure drops way down at an idle, and I would expect to see the light on, but shouldn't if be off at 50psi? Today is the first day I've seen that. I've got shell 15w40 in it. I stopped and checked the oil, and it was full but looked awfully thin to me. Would I be better off to just put 40 wt in it? Is there an additive that would help? I know chemicals won't rebld a worn out engine, but somebody might know something.
Instead of looking at the oil I would be looking at the oil pressure switch & it's related wiring. Were new wires run when you fitted the dash, or is the wire to the switch the original? Maybe some bare wires somewhere ... I would think the light should be off at 5-10psi.
I replaced all the wiring in the rbld, but I used the old pressure switch. Time to find a new one. I'll check it out today. What do you think about using single grade oil vs multi grade? I think I'll change the oil again, it probably has 25 hrs, but was changed when machine was purchased. Looks good but looks thin. How do you check to see if its fuel diluted?
The old Case engines were originaly designed to run mono grade oil - but a very high percentage of them would be running on multi-grade for sure. The easiest way to check for fuel dilution of engine oil is to pull the dipstick & put a drop of oil on to a paper hand towel. If there is diesel in the oil, there will be a ring appear around the oil drip, as the fuel is drawn out of oil. The more diesel in the the oil, the bigger the ring around the oil drip. This will happen in 5-10 seconds. The technical way to do it of course, is oil sampling & analysis.
Can you post a picture of how your T'd in the oil switch and gauge? I was thinking of doing something like this, but hadn't figured out how to do it... Thanks.
Airman thanks for the tip on the diesel ring - I didn't know that. Outbackrider, the way I wired it, you cant see much, but all I did was remove the old sending unit, add a 1/8th inch close nipple and a tee. I used an analogue oil pressure gauge, so the capillary tube threaded into the end of the tee, and the switch into the bullhead.
new pressure switch fixed it!
Thanks for the description. Glad to hear she's fixed...