Oil & Tempature sending unit locations

[Eyegore]

on a 454. Help I'm not sure which is which, can someone please help? This is for my 78 camper special w/ tthe 454, they were disconnected and I cannot make out where the sending unit is.

Thanks

Tom

[Albatrossian]

Oil should be next to the dist, temp should be on the side of the block or the water neck.. I have a similar problem trying to find out where to relocate the temp sender since I have headers on my small block and they're in the way now..

[Eyegore]

Thank you. I found the temp and it's working, and now I'll go search under the air cleaner.

[manimal]

oil pressure should be down by the oil filter on a big block.
-Lance

[Eyegore]

Originally Posted by manimal

oil pressure should be down by the oil filter on a big block.
-Lance

I found a plug just above the filter and nothing at by the distributor, so I guess I need to pull the plug and put the sending unit in. Can anyone tell me the color or wire that conects to the sending unit. Mine has gauge, not a warning light so I need to know the correct color. Better yet does anyone have the chassis electrical diagram for it? 1978 Chevy c-20, 3/4 ton camper special.

[87Lowrider]

on my diagram it was brown... mine is an '87 though.

and manimal is correct... that's the only place to install a sending unit (that I've found) on the BBC.

www.alldatadiy.com has all the diagrams and their subscription is cheap.


Kenny

[Eyegore]

Originally Posted by 87Lowrider

on my diagram it was brown... mine is an '87 though.

and manimal is correct... that's the only place to install a sending unit (that I've found) on the BBC.

www.alldatadiy.com has all the diagrams and their subscription is cheap.


Kenny

That's what I figured out, the problem though is that there is now a plug in the case, so I'm looking for the electrical schematic to determine which color wire is correct. My Chiltons manual shows brown also but that is for a warning light according to the manual and i'm not sure if there the same color wire for gauges.

[87Lowrider]

Originally Posted by Eyegore

That's what I figured out, the problem though is that there is now a plug in the case, so I'm looking for the electrical schematic to determine which color wire is correct. My Chiltons manual shows brown also but that is for a warning light according to the manual and i'm not sure if there the same color wire for gauges.

What kind of gauge are you going to use? I used the existing TAN wire, snipped both ends, connected it to the sending unit and to the control box (dakota digital) and my oil gauge works great.

You may have to run a new wire up to the dash to hook up your gauge and use the tan wire for the ID-10-T light.

Ken

[Eyegore]

Originally Posted by 87Lowrider

What kind of gauge are you going to use? I used the existing TAN wire, snipped both ends, connected it to the sending unit and to the control box (dakota digital) and my oil gauge works great.

You may have to run a new wire up to the dash to hook up your gauge and use the tan wire for the ID-10-T light.

Ken

I want to use the stock gauge, previous owner had the after-market type with the vinyl tubing under the dash. Ikept knocking the dang thing off with my knee, so I took it off, well my son did. So now I'm trying to cnnect it back to the stock gauge which I guess would be the instrument cluster in this case, so I need to locate the correct wire somewhere inside the wiring harnees - I hope I'm making sense.

[87Lowrider]

Originally Posted by Eyegore

I want to use the stock gauge, previous owner had the after-market type with the vinyl tubing under the dash. Ikept knocking the dang thing off with my knee, so I took it off, well my son did. So now I'm trying to cnnect it back to the stock gauge which I guess would be the instrument cluster in this case, so I need to locate the correct wire somewhere inside the wiring harnees - I hope I'm making sense.

Oh yea... perfect sense.

I'm still not convinced that haynes or chiltons has the best diagrams. They're pretty generic for your specific year schematic to see which wires are best. Since yours is older than mine, I'd say check with alldatadiy.com. It's the same service that a bunch of car dealerships use (alldatapro.com) for them. I have access to both and they're nearly identical.

The TAN wire is the only one related to OIL pressure on the '87 (that I've found).

[Eyegore]

Finally, I found the sending unit, left side just behind the power steering box. I cannot tell the wire color though, some dark color with a grey stripe I believe, but i'm color blind, so it could be about anything.
So what would be the reasons the gauge would not be working? Is there a way to test the lead to make sure it is sending properly? Is there a way to test the sending unit?

Thanks ahead of time.


Tom

[manimal]

try grounding the wire to see if the guage works.
-Lance

[Eyegore]

Originally Posted by manimal

try grounding the wire to see if the guage works.
-Lance

Thanks Lance.

[davepl]

Old thread, but in case someone comes here looking for the info:

On my harness the wire is blue. On my '69 passenger cars its blue in both cases. Shop manual says "20DBL" which I'm going to assume is 20 gauge dark blue.

I can't get sensor I bought from LMC to screw into the block (BBC small port by filter). It LOOKS like it should. Maybe it's metric :-(