Re:Oil pressure warning light

[ggrunwald@domain.elided]

As one of the responses on this subject mentioned, it is very difficult to
see the oil light when the top is down and the sun is shining on the
dashboard.  I feel you would first notice the oil light when you scanned
your instruments to see what was causing the funny knocking noises your
bearings were making as they self-destructed.

My solution has been to fit a small piezo-electric buzzer across (in
parallel with) the oil light.  This is easily done by dropping the dash,
peeling back the insulation on the two correct wires (to the oil light and
the supply) and splicing the buzzer wires to them, then carefully taping
the bare wire with insulation tape.  You can find a buzzer which runs from
approx. 3 - 30 volts DC and is worth about 5 AUS dollars at any electronics
shop.  The job takes about 20 minutes.

The downside is that each time you start the car the buzzer noise drives
you crazy till the engine fires and the oil pressure comes up, only about 2
seconds.  Muffling the buzzer with some more tape helps keep the noise
level reasonable.  The up side is that you will never accidentally leave
your ignition in the run position without the engine running.  I'm sure a
small circuit could be built to delay the buzzer for say 5 seconds after
power was applied thereby removing the annoying noise.  Personally I find
the short 'buzz' useful as at least this way I know the thing is working.


Guy Grunwald