Troubleshooting oil level gauge

[smiles11]

I know to never trust the oil level gauge on an early 911. However, my gauge recently started acting up. Hoping someone can help diagnose the issue.

The oil level gauge bounces from empty to full rapidly. It can happen at random, but seems most prevalent when letting off the throttle. The gauge will bounce to max full; then drops rapidly as I accelerate. You can even hear the ticking of the needle hitting the limiter top & bottom. I’m afraid it’s going to damage it.

Thoughts on what I can do to fix it? Or can I disconnect the sensor so the gauge stops bouncing to avoid damage?

[HughH]

I think that is most likely to be a sender issue from the sensor in the oil tank
Mine was very erratic a number of years ago - not as much as you describe but similar. i replaced the sender and it was stable (and has remained so ever since)

[John912]

I would make sure you first have a good ground and that all connections to the sender and gauge are solid

[ejboyd5]

Extremely rapid gauge motions are often the result of electrical connection malfunctions rather than problems with the gauges or sending units. Check the simple stuff first.

[smiles11]

I started with the connections. Wiped them down & the gauge is still flicking up & down. I’m going to try doing a deeper clean on both connections before I look into pulling the potentiometer out. What’s the safest method to deep clean the connections? Brakleen or any other recommendation?







I’m scheduled for a dry ice cleaning next week. So I might just wait until after that’s done. In the meantime, I disconnected the ground so the gauge won’t get damaged.

[Haasman]

On a side bar- let us know how the dry ice cleaning went.