Date:         Tue, 18 Jul 1995 17:11:07 -0500 (CDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         dakhlia@wuecona.wustl.edu (Sami Dakhlia)
Subject:      Re: Problem w/temp gauge

Gary Clayton said:

>When I come to a stoplight, or am sitting idling, the guage reading drops 
>to 5-10psi and the dummy light comes on.  I believe this is due to the 6 
>inch nipple I had to use - at idle the oil is not getting up there !?
>If I tap the accel. the gauge goes back up. 

Since you have a freshly rebuilt engine (and a warranty :) , let's assume
that your oil pressure really is adequate. Now, I don't think that the 6
inch nipple should affect your reading; this is a closed system and the
pressure should be the same everywhere, whether the oil actually "gets up"
there or not. IMHO, the problem must be electrical. Did you by any chance
use teflon tape on the threads? Teflon tape is not necessary for VDO
gauges since the threads are tapered, but you may need it for the 6 inch
piece that you got from the hardware store. So try grounding the sender by
some other means.

I suspect you have the same problem with the oil temp sender. However, as
you said, putting the sender at the end of the T will lower your readings
regardless, simply because it's slightly cooler up there. But the gauge
should move at least a little bit. 

(Just waiting for you to tell me you didn't use teflon tape and me eating
my words... :)

Sami ('75 Westf.)
dakhlia@wuecona.wustl.edu
http://wuecon.wustl.edu/~samid/