alternative oil pressure sender for $30?

[auditude at get.net]

Hi,

I know I'm posting up a small storm again, but I just found that Autotech goes so far as to call the sender
an 80psi/5bar with warning light.  Very interesting.

http://www.autotech.com/gauge.htm#senders

"80psi/5bar with warn light 99.919.360.006 $41.00"

Nah, could it be?

This page lists the ohm range for two different VDO gauges, an 80psi one and a 5 bar one.  Both are 10-
180 ohms.  This looks promising.  Here's the page:

http://www.lspeedo.com/vdo10.htm

I know that VDO is the OEM for the Audi gauges.  I wonder if Audi would've spec'ed specifically (ha!) for
their applications (ohm range, etc.)?

Here someone speculates on a Volvo application, that the stock sender on his car is the same as the
VDO sender, at the huge savings I'm beginning to suspect is available.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/6776/othermod.html

Apparently these senders are available from Summit too, but their online catalog is down at the moment.

Anyhow, I have enough info to fall asleep thinking I can get away with using a cheaper VDO sensor.  If
anyone has any knowledge on this, let me know.  Likewise, if I give it a shot, I'll post the results.

I realized while doing these searches that my gauge is functional, and it's only the warning buzzer circuit
that is flaky.  So, it won't be difficult to determine if the VDO sensor works the same.  I'll just be able to
swap it and see if the gauges reads the same as before, at idle and on throttle and such.  Very cool.

The email below was still in my outgoing queue for whatever reason, so I just deleted it and am including it
here.  I guess it's not such a posting storm after all.

Thanks,

Ken

On 6 Jul 2002 at 0:39, quattro list <quattro at audifan wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Rapid Parts lists an 80psi, dual post, oil pressure gauge for use
> with 80psi VDO Vision gauges.  This sender is only $29.95.  It
> apparently allows the retention of the stock (VW?) oil warning light.
>
> It is listed here:
>
> http://rapidparts.com/Pages/vwc006m.html
>
> The stock sender seems to be listed everywhere as a 0-5/1.8bar
> sender.  This seems to me to mean that the output to the gauge is for
> the range of 0-5 bar, and the warning light output is at/below/over
> 1.8 bar.
>
> If I convert from 80psi to bar by dividing by 14.7, I get 5.44~.
>
> Am I dreaming an impossible dream to think that I can use this $30
> sender in place of the $100 one?
>
> If I am to use actual data to determine the compatibility, what is
> the correct method?  Maybe I need two good senders of each type to
> measure the resistance of at specific pressures?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ken