[spitedge]

Flying up the beach today at 500ft and noticed low oil pressure warning light and 25psi on the gauge.... Toggled the switch to temp which was steady 180 deg. When i flipped the switch back to pressure it went straight back to 76psi and stayed there. Needless to say it got my heart racing!!! Got back to the field and checked over the engine with no signs of leaks and quantity was 7.5 qtz.

Suspect the gauge however wondering if anyone had this before?

 

[tim2542]

Suspect the gauge

If the warning light and gauge are independent units with independent sendors then you probably had low oil pressure for some reason. You need to figure out what you have there and how it works.
I'm just guessing that the light and gauge on your plane are an integrated unit, with one sendor, in which case I would be suspect of the gauge over the engine. Oil presure doesn't normally fluctuate like that in normal flight with a full sump. It is possible the pressure regulator injested some foreign object, but that's not likely either as it's all downstream of the filter.
Tim

 

[spitedge]

Oil pressure

Thanks for your comments. The warning light and guage are one of the same and are not independent. Though having experienced this i am giving serious consideration into putting another pressure sensor warning light to confirm.

Just want to be sure it is an instrument issue and not something more serious.

Thx

 

[turbo]

a mechanical op gauge is worth it weight in gold. only needs oil pressure to work. rock solid. if it is going down then you are going down.

 

[spitedge]

Oil pressure

Agreed!! Aircraft grounded unt new pressure light fitted!