linkovich

After driving a little, the oil pressure guage goes down to zero, and the battery guage goes up to 16+. When I come to a stop, it goes back to normal. Sometimes I'm driving and it just does this, then goes back to normal a second later. Sometimes it's fluctuating up and down rapidly.

Also, I've been having electrical issues lately with what resembles the voltage regulator going out. But not consistent enough to confirm and I've had no time to take it in to get looked at or fixed. Now this started happening and I want to confirm. I checked the oil the other day and it was low, which made me now worry it's not electrical.

I searched the internet with no exact match, most said the opposite, oil pressure up and battery down is an indicator of the voltage regulator going out on the alternator.

Anyone know for sure what this is??? I'm going to try to find time to fix it, but thinking about driving it about 50 miles this weekend and worried.

rogerz

first thing check your fusible links for loose or corroded connections. Look at your battery cables for loose or corroded terminals. Z's don't like voltage fluctuations makes them do funny things. if you got one size fit all clamp on crappy terminals a very likely problem. Does your negative cable ground FIRST to the frame and then to the starter. Trying to get a good ground thru the bell housing is not reliable.
take the car to a battery shop (hint not Walmart). Have them load test the battery and check the charging system. this is usually a free service as they would like to sell you a new battery but a reputable shop won't do that unless you need it.

linkovich

@rogerz here's my reply to the electrical below, however I'm asking about the guages about whether they are related to this electrical issue, not about how to test and fix. I'm pretty sure the alternator is going out (see below), but wondering about the oil guage thing because I may drive the car some distances before I can get the alternator fixed (see my comments about why in my initial post).


Now to answer the electrical stuff how it's likely the alternator....
All connections and terminals look good. Had battery tested and it said passed but was low. The alternator failed the test. So I charged the battery and then retested at another place, to rule out the battery being really low and causing the then minor problems. Battery checked out great, alternator didn't show failed. :/ Not sure how accurate those tests are????

After driving a bit more, then I got some dimming on the dash, radio sometimes working sometimes not and sometimes going nuts, car alarm malfunctioning, radio antenna randomly going up and down. Yeah sounds like an alternator going out! Or voltage regulator on the alternator. I'm ready to replace it now, just haven't had the time. Didn't say all that before because this post is about the guages.

linkovich

Answers I'm looking for:

1) yep, it's your alternator for sure, no worries driving it around a bit more

2) could be a sign of ________ too, don't drive it anymore!

rogerz

here is a hint the gages work by electricity which is why I told you to look at that.

linkovich

Yes I know that, but like I said I'm trying to ask if anyone knows if that's the "for sure" reason or if something else could cause it as well. Anyone else know?