my 1991 bird 6 cyl. runs fine, has a medium oil leak (from where i dont know) but my oil pressure guage reads the maximum, way past 80, is this a sensor problem or am i in big trouble?

 

if it reads 80 psi most of the time Id suspect the sensor or gauge or the connecting wires are broken or shorted or defective, the oil pump has a bypass circuit that may be jammed but even if that were true, low rpms produce low pressure readings
personally Id replace the sensor and check with a differant gauge, if I still got those reading the pump would get replaced

 

thank you for responding

 

i had the exact same problem. Turned out to be the sending unit......just a few bucks

 

thanks,where is that to replace it?. does the sending unit send the signal to the guage?

 

yup. The sending unit is right by the oil filter on the V-6. I think that if you look from above you should be able to see a cylinder looking thing with wries coming out of it. Also, i hear that these things have a tendency to crack and leak some oil when they get old. Perhaps your leak is coming from there?

 

thanks for the info, and thats exactly where my puddle of oil is. i will check it soon.

i appreciate the responces and this site!

 

ive run into this problom 2 times befor....the first time was on a 86 300zx, it read 0 all the time it was the sender and the 2ed was on my brothers turbo honda, it hade a knock and what it was is he spun a crank bearing and just befor the motor died the oil psi shot to 100 and then the oil pump bisted its seals....