Churchlady
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Bath, Maine
As I was taking my '96 to the mechanic who put in a new cat/02 sensor/muffler/tailpipe today, a strange thing happened.
The car was not cold; temp here was in the high 70s & I'd driven a couple of miles already. As I went up the fairly steep ramp onto the hwy. in my normal firm-but-gentle accelleration mode, I thought I heard (or felt) a strange pulsing--oooOOOOM/ooOOOOm/ooOOOOM/ooOOOOM, as if someone were revving the engine up & down..
I looked at my gauges & saw that the oil pressure needle--which has always been exactly where it should be--had topped out as far to the right as it can go. It scarcely moved til I pulled in the mechanic's driveway. I told him what had just happened; he revved it a few times & though the needle twitched very slightly, it didn't move as it should. He said he'd look at it & I came home & started searching the forum for anything similar. I came up with clean plug & connectors first/check for clogged oil filter/replace sending unit.
He did the first two, found them apparently fine, called 2 places for prices on new senders; called me when the cheapest he found was not the "$6 & change"/"$15 at Autozone" I've seen posted here--& had mentioned to him, but $58!!! I got on the phone & found them from $25.95 (VIP) to $38.95 (CarQuest); dealer MOPAR is $33.75.
But it was too late in the day to do anything about it right now, & I'd like to pick up the car tonight because I have an unbreakable appt. at noon tomorrow. (He's going to change my oil out for synthetic next week & can install a new sending unit at the same time.)
My chief concern is that strange pulsing before the oil pressure gauge spike. Can anyone think of what that might have been, & any harm I might do to my car by driving it for a few days with the needle that high? (That pulsing, BTW, stopped as soon as the car shifted to HI at the top of the ramp.)
And I'm totally confused by the strange range of prices. In the first place I don't think for a minute that my mechanic or his parts supplier are gouging me with that $58 price; I know them both & they're honest & reasonable. Could they be thinking of another part entirely--a sensor instead of a sender, maybe?
And are the $6-$15 senders some of you guys mention a different type than my '96 has--for oil light instead of gauge, maybe? And is this sender one of those parts I'd do well to keep MOPAR? The dealership price was right in the middle.
The car was not cold; temp here was in the high 70s & I'd driven a couple of miles already. As I went up the fairly steep ramp onto the hwy. in my normal firm-but-gentle accelleration mode, I thought I heard (or felt) a strange pulsing--oooOOOOM/ooOOOOm/ooOOOOM/ooOOOOM, as if someone were revving the engine up & down..
I looked at my gauges & saw that the oil pressure needle--which has always been exactly where it should be--had topped out as far to the right as it can go. It scarcely moved til I pulled in the mechanic's driveway. I told him what had just happened; he revved it a few times & though the needle twitched very slightly, it didn't move as it should. He said he'd look at it & I came home & started searching the forum for anything similar. I came up with clean plug & connectors first/check for clogged oil filter/replace sending unit.
He did the first two, found them apparently fine, called 2 places for prices on new senders; called me when the cheapest he found was not the "$6 & change"/"$15 at Autozone" I've seen posted here--& had mentioned to him, but $58!!! I got on the phone & found them from $25.95 (VIP) to $38.95 (CarQuest); dealer MOPAR is $33.75.
But it was too late in the day to do anything about it right now, & I'd like to pick up the car tonight because I have an unbreakable appt. at noon tomorrow. (He's going to change my oil out for synthetic next week & can install a new sending unit at the same time.)
My chief concern is that strange pulsing before the oil pressure gauge spike. Can anyone think of what that might have been, & any harm I might do to my car by driving it for a few days with the needle that high? (That pulsing, BTW, stopped as soon as the car shifted to HI at the top of the ramp.)
And I'm totally confused by the strange range of prices. In the first place I don't think for a minute that my mechanic or his parts supplier are gouging me with that $58 price; I know them both & they're honest & reasonable. Could they be thinking of another part entirely--a sensor instead of a sender, maybe?
And are the $6-$15 senders some of you guys mention a different type than my '96 has--for oil light instead of gauge, maybe? And is this sender one of those parts I'd do well to keep MOPAR? The dealership price was right in the middle.