Oil Pressure Gauge Line Failed And Barfed Oil

Last night I went to go on a date with the wifey and the jeep decided to puke oil all over the garage floor and driveway before I realized the oil pressure gauge hose/line had come off. What a giant mess that was. The oil looked great though because I just changed it lol. I got it shut down before it lost all its oil and the motor never made any interesting noises thankfully.

It's an old Stewart Warner gauge, I'll be fixing that tonight. Hopefully I can just reuse the compression fitting and trim the hose?

 

that's why I do electric gauges . except it was floor in jeep

 

Depending on the condition of the rest of the tubing, yes. The ferrule is a standard compression fitting ferrule available at most hardware stores or FLAPS.

 

Plastic or copper line that broke? There has been debate here on the relative benefits.

If plastic, it may need an inner sleeve also, at the fitting. But I'm not sure if they are made for the smaller tube diameters.

As an aside, speaking of messes, I blew the oil filter off an M-715 one time. "Undercoated" most of the vehicle in about 5 seconds.

 

Hey guys thanks
@PeteL It is a plastic hose, I am considering switching to copper maybe I need to search the forum and see what's been talked about. Here are a couple of photos showing the type of gauge, mess and the fitting.

The plastic hose only appears to be single wall.

Does anyone know if the copper line will work with the Stewart Warner gauge?

 

SW oil gauges used to come with coiled copper line. Mine did but that was many years ago.

 

As recently discussed here, I have had no luck with plastic. I prefer copper, with coiled loops to absorb vibration.

In your case they should be interchangeable, probably ⅛" OD.

 

Be SURE to do this, or your problem will repeat itself.
DAMHIK...

 

Yep, the SW gauges don't care if it's nylon or copper. Those are the same style SW's that I use.

 

i used a SW mechanical gauge and was worried about the nylon line failing and read that the copper line can fatigue over time and break so i used a stainless braided line with AN fittings. it should be alot more durable that the cheap line that comes with the gauge.
Braided Pressure Gauge Line Kit

 

That's by far the best way to do it...and a very good price! For that money I wouldn't mess with copper or nylon line.

 

Been there, done that. I changed over to copper line and so far, so good.

 

What is under the braiding?
Braided Pressure Gauge Line Kit

 

Generally for oil lines it is Teflon tubing, we use these at work on certain tools.

If you guys are having problems with the plastic tubing theres something wrong with your technique or the quality of your tubing. My autometer replaced my SW gauge back in 1993 and has had the plastic tubing since then with no leaks or failure. Ran the same in my old Duster and Mustang in the early 80's.

 

Thanks for the feedback everybody. At this point I have put the tubing back in the compression fitting and it is holding fast. I tested it by tugging fairly hard on it and it won't budge. I think this is something I will keep my eye on and check as part of maintenance. I also may look to source a copper or braided line.

 

I was able to re use the old one. I would be open to advice, it looked fine. Are these considered one time use? It didn't appear crushed if you will.

On second thought the nylon tubing didn't go thought the little ferrule it stopped when I inserted it. Are these designed to have the tubing go through the ferrule and then "crush " down?

I was thinking about something like this:
JEGS Mechanical Oil Pressure Gauge Installation Kits | JEGS High Performance