Wiring up an Oil Sender Gauge correctly!

[joel]

He is the answer that has been puzzling people for ages!

To successfully wire up you oil gauge so that it works on an executive VL (tacho swap) this is what you need to do:

1. Take the hood off, which sits on top of the cluster.
2. Pull the 17-pin plug (female) off the back off the cluster and pull it up towards you.
3. Pins are as follows: (this is the layout when viewed from the drivers seat)

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

4. Get a piece of 3inch insulated wire, strip both ends and then plug one end into the back of pin 14 (dark blue wire - W/L low oil pressure switch) and then the other end into the spare pin 2 (Sender Oil).
5. Now plug the female plug back into the male port on the back of the cluster. Your oil sender gauge will now be working.
6. Also must replace the oil low switch with an oil sender unit in the engine block. (Sits next to the oil filter) They cost about $25.00 from a wrecker. The slide connector wire (dark blue/black) for this sender will also be located next to the closest wiring loom to the oil filter.

Thus, there is no need to run a wire from the engine bay or even buy a VL Berlina wiring harness. All up the job took me 5 minutes and cost me nothing.

[kramer]

this is correct. you need to remove pin 14 and put it where pin 2 goes.

there's 2 connectors under the engine bay, they are both connected to eachother.

i was figuring the **** out tonight, and the problem is the pin 2( on the back of the instrument cluster harness) which the guage gets the reading from has no ****ing pin in it.

i don't know how many people have said, just change the cluster to berlina, and change the sender. it's a load of ****.

you will need to change pin 14 to pin 2.
i've just put up discussion about how to remove that damn pin because i can't figure it out.

i'm no auto electrician, but i'm damn sure that's the problem

can a moderator please put this topic as sticky, as it's correct?


now the issue is how to get the pin out...

[Psi_Wagon]

you should be able to get the pin out with a small jewelers flat blade screwdriver. if that doesnt work i can get you the proper tool to extract the pins?

[kramer]

i cut the wire and stripped it back, and jammed it in pin 2 spot. works fine.
sticky this thread!

[SirGeo]

Moved to Technical articles section.

[VLRB20DET]

i know on my N/A VL executive i had all i did was swap the dash over and replace the oil switch on the block with a VL sender unit that was it....

[Midz]

6. Also must replace the oil low switch with an oil sender unit in the engine block. (Sits next to the oil filter) They cost about $25.00 from a wrecker. The slide connector wire (dark blue/black) for this sender will also be located next to the closest wiring loom to the oil filter.

I don't get this part.... wat do u mean ?

I have a slider connection and i also have 2 wires going to the switch.

[VLishes]

Damn, and I just thought once you replace the dash from a SL to a Calais you just had to replace the oil switch to the Calais one.

[kramer]

midz - he means there's 2 wires that go to the oil sender switch / unit.
one fits the exec low oil switch light, the other fits the oil pressure switch. they are both the same wire.

and vlishes you gotta change the pin from 14 to 2 in the back of the dash.

[VLishes]

Does anyone know how much volts run to the light bulbs for the dash? I thought of changing the bulbs to blue LEDS but if volts are 12v then I would somehow have to fit a resistor into each brown plug which holds the bulb, or maybe it's easier just to rubber blue condoms for the bulbs, anyone have a idea on where to these from?

[VL_Nick]

i tried this and it didnt work, the gauge goes right to the top when i turn the ignition on, can only put it down to a faulty sender unit.

[Waughy]

Did you change the wire over? If you don't it will go full scale and stay there.

[VL_Nick]

yes, changed the wire, no difference

[kramer]

check the wire for continuity. it does and will work.

i didn't use the proper pin, i jammed it in there REAL good, and checked it. took me a few goes, and then it worked.
check the wiring guy. not very often a sender breaks i think, but if you need one, i have one for $15 + postage for you.

[VL_Nick]

thanks, i will check the wire and see how i go. and clean up the connection too.

[Midz]

Where can u get a replacement pin/connector of it ?

pin/connector that is in the harness i mean

[VL_Nick]

jaycar maybe

[kramer]

off a wrecked vl

[VLishes]

I just changed 14 to 2 pin today and everything is cool, tho it's near impossible to pull out the pin from socket, I also think that the Ford oil pressure switch is identical to the VL one because I saw a engine at my mates workshop, it was a XF EFI engine and the switch looked the same, tho the internals might be different.

[Sixes350]

Originally Posted by Waughy

Did you change the wire over? If you don't it will go full scale and stay there.

Thanks for the article!!! I changed to a calais dash and changed the sender unit. Still no joy . . Full scale reading!

Will do the wiring trick this weekend, THANKS AGAIN

[Sixes350]

Not impossible to pull the pin out, I did the lot in under 10 minutes from start to finish. Gauge now works like it should.

I used a pair of really small needle nose pliers and a jewllers flat tip screwdriver. As you look at the connector, Slide the flat tip under the bottom of the pin. Pull on the back of the wire and give it a wiggle and should come out with some pressure. A small amount of rebuilding of the pin and I put it in the right spot.

PERFECT working oil pressure gauge!!

[davo_rulz]

Does anybody have a pic of where the oil pressure sender goes? All I should have to do is to unscrew the old switch one and screw in the pressure sender? Plugs into the same plug? I'm not real good with mechanics, but I want to learn how to do stuff myself :S LOL. I just need to know what I'm removing/swapping over. Oh, what tools do I need to make the swap?

Also the tacho should just work when I plug in the new cluster, correct?

[wkd]

nevermind

[VLHERO]

Originally Posted by davo_rulz

Also the tacho should just work when I plug in the new cluster, correct?

I was wondering this too. Can anyone shed some light on this?

[VL_Nick]

yes the tacho will work. I put a Berlina Series 1 dash in my Series 1 SL and it works fine. The oil gauge will not work without the berlina gauge cluster harness. The oil gauge is located just to the left of the oil filter and needs a spannes to remove (not sure what size) if you feel in where the sender screws into the block you will find where the spanner goes. From memory you need to remove the starter and maybe the oil filter but it was a while ago I did it and cant remember for sure.