clio williams f7r low oil pressure reading

[robbo200]

just woundered if any one had any ideas what could be causing a low oil pressure reading or any things i could check/change?

bottom end was rebuilt 10,000 miles ago using forged pistons etc at a cost of £2,100 to previous owner
oil pressure reading strong when i last took the car out before christmas,took it out other day and was reading approx 2 bar when excellerating and started it today and pressure gauge was reading 1 bar at cold which seemed low?
could it be a sensor/electrical fault?
also would it be a good idea to fit an oil cooler as intend to use it on the track if so which one would anyone recommend?

any advice would be much appreciated

 

[sideways danny]

standard gauge? they're terrible for accuracy, get something new before you panic too much

 

[robbo200]

yeah it is might get a couple stack guages and make up a replacement holder.how do you wire in the new sensors or can you just join them too the origonal sensors?oil temp and pressure

 

[Yanoo]

Try to measure the oil pressure with an oil pressure measuring kit, if you can. If this displays the right values (min. 1,2 bar @ 1000 rpm, min 3,5 bar @3000 rpm at 80 C degree) than you oil pressure gauge is wrong (or its wire). They are not too accurate intsruments. Or particularly the bearing of the oil pump auxiliary shaft may be worn. It may getting worn fast if the timing belt is overtighted.
In that case if measuring kit shows low pressure your oil pump is really worn. Don't panic if your oil pressure had been really low the red oil lamp would have lighted on the dashboard. To tell the truth, F7R has a stupid oil pressure gauge system... there is a pressure sensor in the main oil channel this controls the red light on the dash. It's a common setup, it's right. But where from the oil pressure gauge gets the pressure sign that's really a stupid French solution because that place is after main bearings/big end bearings/piston oil jets etc... so the displayed pressure value is only an approximate one not an accurate one (pressure loss at main bearings/big end bearings/jet etc. the displayed value is less than the real at the crankchsaft). You do not know the correct pressure value at the most important place in the engine :S. In extreme case (the bearing of the oil pump auxiliary shaft is pretty worn for example) the displayed pressure is only 1 bar @ 4000 rpm (at 80 C oil temp), but in real the oil pressure is more than 4 bar in the engine.