grats on the accidental startup! Your an inspiration to us all

Any update on the oil pressure problem?

I just finished install of my FMII kit and DIYPNP and am experiencing the same problem on my '90. The gauge is reading no pressure but if I take the oil feed line off the turbo I have oil flowing.

Thanks, I'll take the compliment for the first 32 pages, anything after with tuning wiring I'd ignore due to my own ignorance at it.


Small update on oil pressure, I got the gauge to move a little. It still isn't making the huge jump in oil pressure like it was originally but it is reading some pressure.

So this makes me concerned that maybe my oil pump relay is bad? I have an extra from the 1.6 motor that I may pull just for the process of elimination.

I replaced the oil gauge receiver(?) in the instrument panel and replaced it with the original one in the car(car came with 2 instrument panels)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1397351465

Pulled the oil pump relay wire and the wire slipped out of the cable sheathing, that was fault #1.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1397351465

Found a spare connector off the old harness and soldered on a new wire and ran it from the relay to the instrument panel, checked for continuity and it is fine.

Also wire brushed the relay terminal to pull off any corrosion.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1397351465

I'll have a video done uploading in just a few showing the engine starting up and where the oil pressure gauge is sitting while running.

Not sure why it isn't responding very well. It is moving on its own accord, it just isn't show +60 oil pressure like normal. Not sure HOW the relay could have been damaged since it was working fine prior to it being stolen and after, maybe 5 months of sitting there did something to it? I'm not sure.

I don't want to replace the relay since it seems like it will be a total BITCH to remove.

Also after playing with the new TPS wires I finally got 5v and ground in the right place so that it is reading positive input on the throttle rather than negative.

When in Tunerstudio I calibrated the low TPS and it came out at around 500. When the engine is running it seems to want to stall when the throttle is pushed down though, so I'm not sure what other setting I need to adjust to make throttle input smoother.

Here is the video I need to adjust the idle settings, but I still haven't researched what settings are needed.




Also for those who want to test if their oil gauge actually works or not Revlimiter has a good guide on checking.

I used a D-cell battery with a couple wires to test mine.

http://revlimiter.net/blog/2014/03/m...-real-vs-fake/

So did yours test out ok or not?

If it did, I'd bypass the relay with 12v or 5v or whatever it takes and see if it reads better. If that doesn't work, don't run the engine any more.

Did you check your oil level? KISS, check the easy stuff first.

I didn't test the big relay on the engine block but the gauge relay works perfectly.

I'm not sure how one would bypass the relay on the block...I need to read up on that.

Oil level is solid, pulled the turbo oil feed again and it is still puking oil consistently.

I ran the wire directly from the engine to the gauge, so it makes me wonder if the pin contact with the instrument paper isn't solid. Do you think maybe putting a ring terminal on the 5v connection to the gauge would be more consistent?

I agree, the engine won't be started until I can get starter oil pressure priming running properly.

For god's sake stop now. Don't run your engine without proper oil pressure. If you get oil puking out the turbo oil feed it doesn't mean that the oil pressure is good and you are lubricating other parts of the engine.

If you gauge has any movement it's fine. I'm 99% sure that the problem is in your oil pump losing its prime.

Sorry if I'm not up to speed but do you still have the oil pressure "switch" instead of an actual gauge? Any room for an aftermarket pressure gauge? Also, what oil filter do you have? Some don't utilize an anti drain back flap so you'll see a loss in pressure for the first few seconds of running as the oil pump fills the system back up.

Not familiar with the switch. I have the larger wix filter I bought from TSE. The gauge is a genuine working 90-93 and I tested it so it isn't bad.

Weird that it would lose its prime like this though right? I'm going to try a direct wire of the gauge to the 5v and see if that gives me a better reading.

This is so annoying.

The earlier Miata had an oil pressure switch. It would read nothing or perfect oil pressure. It's been called an idiot gauge with only two possible positions. I believe it's a big grey sending unit.

And Wix filters do have anti drain back flaps. Where is the pump from again?

Hmm I'll check it out.

Not sure who the pump is from but it has billet gears.

lower TPS value of 500 sounds odd - mine is at 120 or something like that, high is at 760...

The stumble when you push the throttle could be related to this or the AE settings are of or your VEtable needs a lot of tuning or... well at least 10 other things... ;-)

Except that it's the other way around:noob:

Early miata had the full sweep gauge that is actually useful, the 95+ (or whatever the switchpoint was) had the yay or doom gauge.

The big grey sender is the proper sender. The idiot gauge sender is a small thing.

They certainly made the oil relay hard to remove once the engine is in. it would be easy but my wrench is too long so it hits the relay, and being right behind the oil filter I can't get the angle I need.

So accounting for that, tomorrow I'll drain the oil, remove the filter, and replace the relay with the 1.6 motor's relay. If that doesn't do it, I read you can use a vacuum pump and tap a barb into a cheap oil filter and prime it that way.

I tried priming it by hooking my shop vac up to the turbo oil feed line, but since I was already getting oil flowing there, it didn't really do anything. Most people I've seen who have had problems aren't actually getting any oil to the turbo oil feed line, they can't get any oil to move through the system at all, so I'm hoping replacing the relay will be the final solution.

Getting awfully frustrated with this, but I've done the process of elimination on everything BUT the relay itself, so god willing, that is the fault in the system. I really don't want to drop the oil pan and check the oil pump itself.

Shoot some compressed air into the sender with the key on, it should make the gauge jump. I could probably try it on mine tomorrow if you want a comparison.

Good catch. You'd think they wouldn't take steps backwards with something like that. I like the "yay or doom" description better too.

I tries this and got no movement.

I also read that if you disconnect the sender unit and turn the key to the ON position, the gauge should read max pressure. This is due to the sender being grounded at 0 pressure.

When I tried this my needle did not move at all. Does that indicate a wiring problem up stream?

Sounds like wiring. Did you check all of your grounds and make sure everything is plugged in correctly? I accidentally mixed up the sensor connector with the starter connector once. Good times.