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What Oil Pressure Sender Do I Have?

ArVeeNiner

Well Known Member
I suspect that my VDO oil pressure sender finally went haywire after 10 years of flying. It’s showing high oil pressure.

Anyway, I’ve been spending way too much time trying to figure out the part number so that I can buy a new one. I just can’t see a part number in it.

I have an O-320 and the VDO feeds to a Dynon D-180.

I’d like to replace this with another single wire sensor so no need to suggest those multi wire ones I’ve been reading about. I’m also fine with going with VDO. A 10 year run is totally acceptable. I would also like to know if there is an acceptable automotive version of the same quality.

Thanks!
 

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The pressure range is stamped on the hex apparently, and you need to know what yours is before ordering a new one. A quick search showed 0-100 and 0-150 psi versions available.

vdo-oil.jpg
 
Be careful...

VDO 360-004

Just fyi. Be careful when ordering. I ordered (you can probably guess the source) what I thought was this part recently--a manual gauge had confirmed that high pressures being displayed on my EFIS were erroneous. The part I received was stamped "VDO" and "Made in Germany" on the housing, but the box was clearly not from VDO. I installed and tested it anyway. A known pressure of just under 60 psi (pre-oiler) displayed 33 psi. Found, ordered and installed the genuine article from another supplier. No harm done, but I lost a few days in the process.
 
Just fyi. Be careful when ordering. I ordered (you can probably guess the source) what I thought was this part recently--a manual gauge had confirmed that high pressures being displayed on my EFIS were erroneous. The part I received was stamped "VDO" and "Made in Germany" on the housing, but the box was clearly not from VDO. I installed and tested it anyway. A known pressure of just under 60 psi (pre-oiler) displayed 33 psi. Found, ordered and installed the genuine article from another supplier. No harm done, but I lost a few days in the process.

No desire for vendor bashing, but it would be VERY helpful to the rest of us to know which vendors are shipping counterfeit parts, so that we can avoid purchasing from them. I don't think it serves anyone but the irresponsible vendor by hiding this information. As consumers, we need to share our experiences so that we patronize those companies that care about us and are transparent in their practices. Heck, it is even possible the vendor doesn't know this (i.e. the middlemam is the bad actor) and even the vendor will benefit from this. I think that MANY companies have difficulty in avoiding counterfeit products and very much want to know when their supply chain is compromised. Unfortunately others just take the extra profit and look the other way.

FYI, I am unable to guess the source and seems unfair for us to possibly guess the wrong one and inappropriately penalize them.
 
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This would be my guess...
sender bad.JPG

Looks like this product may have a problem. It has a 2 star rating
on Spruce website. Many low hour failures.
 
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Maybe swap in the two wire version (less likely to be counterfit?)...
Just need one of the terminals run to ground, the other connected as before.
 
My 2-wire VDO sender had the standard variable resistor pressure sensor on one terminal and the other was a switch for an oil pressure "idiot" light. I've never seen one with floating ground.
 
Vendor

No desire for vendor bashing, but it would be VERY helpful to the rest of us to know which vendors are shipping counterfeit parts, so that we can avoid purchasing from them. I don't think it serves anyone but the irresponsible vendor by hiding this information. As consumers, we need to share our experiences so that we patronize those companies that care about us and are transparent in their practices. Heck, it is even possible the vendor doesn't know this (i.e. the middlemam is the bad actor) and even the vendor will benefit from this. I think that MANY companies have difficulty in avoiding counterfeit products and very much want to know when their supply chain is compromised. Unfortunately others just take the extra profit and look the other way.

FYI, I am unable to guess the source and seems unfair for us to possibly guess the wrong one and inappropriately penalize them.

Larry--

I understand and don't really disagree. However, the first bullet speaking to "posts that will be deleted..." in Doug's posting rules seems pretty clear, and naming the vendor would have either violated that or come perilously close. The information on this site is extremely valuable to me and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that. I read your posts often, and given the amount of time, effort and expertise that you put into them I'm sure that you feel the same way. Perhaps a moderator would have flagged mention of the vendor's name, perhaps not. I didn't want to intentionally test that.

Suffice it to say that the vendor for my first purchase was neither an aircraft supply house, nor (as VDO is really an automotive electronics company) a a supplier specializing in auto parts. Rather, it was a large company, that sells a wide variety of merchandise, often ships quickly, and deliveries come with a "smile". In this case at least, it was easy to see from the packaging that the part in question wasn't genuine, but that isn't always so. I could have saved myself some time by going to a trusted source in the first place, or at least doing so as soon as the first part was received (rather that installing/testing it first).

As an aside for gasman, the original sender failed at just under 500h. Time will tell how long the new (genuine) sender will last.
 
My 2-wire VDO sender had the standard variable resistor pressure sensor on one terminal and the other was a switch for an oil pressure "idiot" light. I've never seen one with floating ground.

The floating ground models are used on the RMI MicroMonitor and are intended for boats (i.e. fiberglass structure). Part 360-430
Also usable on another very popular engine monitor instead of their $268 unit.
 
Larry--

I understand and don't really disagree. However, the first bullet speaking to "posts that will be deleted..." in Doug's posting rules seems pretty clear, and naming the vendor would have either violated that or come perilously close. The information on this site is extremely valuable to me and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that. I read your posts often, and given the amount of time, effort and expertise that you put into them I'm sure that you feel the same way. Perhaps a moderator would have flagged mention of the vendor's name, perhaps not. I didn't want to intentionally test that.

Suffice it to say that the vendor for my first purchase was neither an aircraft supply house, nor (as VDO is really an automotive electronics company) a a supplier specializing in auto parts. Rather, it was a large company, that sells a wide variety of merchandise, often ships quickly, and deliveries come with a "smile". In this case at least, it was easy to see from the packaging that the part in question wasn't genuine, but that isn't always so. I could have saved myself some time by going to a trusted source in the first place, or at least doing so as soon as the first part was received (rather that installing/testing it first).

As an aside for gasman, the original sender failed at just under 500h. Time will tell how long the new (genuine) sender will last.

Thanks. This was helpfull. Glad to hear that it was not one of our typical aviation supply houses. I have used the vendor that I speculate you are referring to and counterfeit parts are a real issue with them and one we must be cautious of. I also have been burned, but they happily took them back for refund.
 
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