1978 C3 Oil Pressure Gauge

[Tim D.]

I have a 1978 C3 pace car with 5200 miles and I'm looking for some help.
The oil pressure gauge never goes to Zero. When the engine is not running it reads about 40# and when it is running it will peg all the way to the right. Connections seem to be good and I wanted to seek some more opinions before we went further. Thanks in Advacne.

[John H.]

Re: 1978 C3 Oil Pressure Gauge

I have a 1978 C3 pace car with 5200 miles and I'm looking for some help.
The oil pressure gauge never goes to Zero. When the engine is not running it reads about 40# and when it is running it will peg all the way to the right. Connections seem to be good and I wanted to seek some more opinions before we went further. Thanks in Advacne.

Tim -

I'm not a C3 guy, but it sounds like a gauge calibration issue; that oil pressure gauge uses an electric sending unit (it's not a direct mechanical gauge), and when the ignition is off, there's no power to the gauge. I'd remove the sending unit and install a temporary mechanical gauge fitting in the port, see what it registers, and go from there.