I just got back from a short trip to the west coast. I got to my Spit that I left in the airport garage here in Savannah early Friday evening. It was 75 degrees and clear as I drove home. Nothing sweeter.
Everything was fine with the car. I was worried a bit that I had to leave the Spit unprotected for 3 days in a public parking deck. I got home with no problems. As I walked out the garage, I saw a series of worrisome drops of oil, a string of drop, just a few inches apart. I looked outside to see (to my horror) a steady line of oil that was in line of my entry into the driveway. How much oil did I lose? What was leaking? Well, I checked the dipstick to find that I was down only a little over a quart. I cranked the engine and saw a steady stream of oil shooting (yes, shooting) downward out of the three pronged oil pressure sending unit. I installed a t fitting to keep the stock oil light as well as the fitting for the Smiths dual oil/temp gage. I had plenty of oil and oil pressure, so I figured that I made it home ok because it must have just failed. On the way home, I had noted that the oil pressure gauge was reading 50 psi at highway speed, and 25 psi at idle. I had no clue that there was a significant oil leak. The last time I had a oil pressure sending unit fail, it was in a 1970 Toyota Carina. The sending unit blew out, and we went from "what's that ticking noise?" to "clink-clink-CLUNK" in about 5 seconds. I had to replace the engine with a junkyard unit back when I was still in college. I think that I dodged a bullet here. So here's my question. If I had lost oil to the point that my oil pressure fell and my oil pressure "Idiot" light came on, and if I immediately shut down the engine, would the loss of oil pressure would have already caused significant damage? Dan Parrott Savannah Ga. Your messages not reaching the list? Check out http://www.team.net/posting.html === This list supported in part by The Vintage Triumph Register === http://www.vtr.org === Help keep Team.Net on the air === http://www.team.net/donate.html === unsubscribe/change address requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or try === http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool === Other lists available at === http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo === Archives at http://www.team.net/archive === http://www.team.net/the-local === Edit your replies!
