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Hi guys, this question may have already been covered but I couldn't find an answer for the SE.

Anyways, just wondering what would be the normal oil pressure reading for a turbo SE. Mine hovers at slightly right of the centre, if you get what I mean. I'm not confident that the owner did oil/filter changes often enough from the log book numbers so naturally slightly worried there maybe too much dirt/sludge in the engine.

Cheers thanks.

The OEM gauge is in an "idiot" gauge in that it reads normal (what you are seeing) or zero. If it reads zero with the engine running - big trouble

Change the oil and filter and your worries are over...most likely.

Oh I see, haha shame on Mazda for putting in a digital oil pressure gauge.

Yeah the car will only be dríven on the weekends so I'll be able to take really great care of it from now on. I now have now have doubts if the previous owner really 'loved' the car before trading it in. But it seems to be in decent enough condition.

yjs wrote:Oh I see, haha shame on Mazda for putting in a digital oil pressure gauge.

Ha, you should see the one in the NC - it sort of behaves much like a real OPG but is still an idiot gauge. The last MX-5 to have a real OPG was in 1994 IIRC. Folklore has it that Mazda changed to an idiot gauge because certain people in the northern hemisphere could not figure out why low oil pressure at idle was normal.

I hate the fake oil pressure gauge - what a waste of space. At least if a red light comes on it is immediately obvious something is wrong, whereas it might take some time to notice a fake gauge reading 0 if you're not paying close attention.

I mean, even the fuel gauge comes with a warning light now, and at least running out of fuel isn't (usually) catastrophic.

I would love to put a red oil pressure warning light somewhere else and then use the wasted space of the fake gauge for something useful, such as a Boost gauge or one showing air-fuel mixture ratio.

On the other hand, how many cars have you owned that have actually suffered oil pressure failure?

I've never sat in an NC, but most cars have an oil pressure light which blinks on start up and disappears if pressure is OK (or is it just my Suss-suki which does that as it doesn't have a gauge).

zombie wrote:I hate the fake oil pressure gauge - what a waste of space. At least if a red light comes on it is immediately obvious something is wrong, whereas it might take some time to notice a fake gauge reading 0 if you're not paying close attention.

A few years ago I was driving along in my MX listening to Led Zeppelin quite loudly (loud for me, not obnoxiously loud to anyone outside the car) when I looked down and noticed the oil pressure had dropped to nothing!

Pulled over and shut down the engine as quickly as I could, I could hear it was running very roughly when I killed the CD. Turns out the rubber ring on the filter had split, and I had >3L of oil all over the engine bay Fortunately no damage to the engine, lucky for me I saw the gauge pretty soon after the problem occurred...