Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Is there a generic/ over the counter oil pressure sender unit available or do we have to buy a Packard 6V specific unit to work with the stock dashboard oil pressure gauge?

THANKS!!!

In spite of several trying, to the best of my knowledge nothing modern has been found that will work properly with the fuel, temp and oil gauges used in the 22 and 23 series models. Those gauges use senders having bimetal strips warmed by heater coils to open and close a contact at a rate and duration proportional to the external forces oil pressure, fuel level or temperature apply to the bimetal units. The gauges in turn get constant pulses of full voltage or no voltage to control another heater working a bimetal strip to move the needle.

All modern gauges and those Packard used before and after the 22-23 series use a varying resistance change to provide a constant but changing voltage to control a magnetic field in earlier gauges or another bimetal strip in the later gauges which moves the needles.

EDIT: I believe Ford and maybe some other cars of that era used a similar King-Seeley gauge system. As mentioned above, that early system is different from the later King-Seeley gauges Packard used. Possibly one of the Ford vendors would know if anything has been repro'd or found to work. No idea if anything Ford used would fit or be appropriate for our cars and if there is I cannot recall any mention of it on the forums.