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Hey guys,

Anyone here have a oil pressure sender for a DA20? I'm looking for one and Diamond only sells a kit with the gauge included and they have a backlog of more than 1 month for the part. Any help much appreciated.

Low oil pressure indication.. Could it be the oil filter instead of the sender? Any experience?

Thanks!

According to the IPC for the C1, the gauge and sender are from:

Forster Instruments Ltd.
7141 Edwards Blvd.
Mississauga, Ontario
Canada L5S 1Z2
Tel: 905-795-0555 FAX: 905-795-0570

They are a VDO distributor, so I suspect that the pressure sensor is a standard VDO sender. If it were me, I would get the part number off the sender (probably a part number 360-something) and go online and buy one. If the part number matches, there is no requirement to buy it from Diamond or frankly, any aviation parts supplier. You can likely find it at Summit Racing, Jegs, or one of the many VDO dealers.

We probably have bought all the oil pressure kits available for our fleet. New or old they are not the most accurate gauges made and often fail new right out of the box. Diamond has an SB out to modify to newer gauges for a small price.
The oil pressure relief valve is susceptible to pieces of metal damaging the seat and creating a low pressure indication. If the aircraft had a starter problem or double start it may have damaged the starter and starter gear creating metal in the system (a common issue for us). If you have someone pull the starter and make sure you have no issues there.
The IPC lists the gauge and sender as 360-086SB and the indicator as 350-905B (Forster) as noted by Keith.

Hi, I was able to get the VDO sender but that was not the issue. The pressure relief valve was cleaned and that worked for a few hours and now it is happening again. It is marking a pressure of 10-15 on the gauge. If there is metal in the system, how do I get it out and how do I know if that is the problem? Mechanic said the pressure relief valve has a spring which feels weak and might need to be replaced. Hoping this works..

I also have a flat tire while on the taxiway. The jack plate for that wing has fallen off and I am waiting for diamond to ship it. Have any of you used a Bogert flat spring jack pad on a single wheel to replace a flat? Can the other spring and tire take on all that load? How do you change a tire without jacking up the entire airplane?

Thanks in advance for the help. Your comments are always extremely helpful.

Oil Pressure: I would pull starter and make sure the gears are not damaged. That we found is usually a cause of metal in the system especially if you have a regular starter switch rather than a push in to start. A new spring and plunger for oil pressure may help but also have a good hard look at the plunger seat for damage. If not done already you may need to gently resurface the seat. Continental SIL04-8 talks about starters and starter gear etc.
Tires: if that is the pad that bolts on the gear spring to jack it up then heck ya that works the easiest. Make sure that you chock the nose and other main before jacking. If you are not in a hangar then I would suggest having someone stabilize the tail. The advantage of this jack pad is that you don't have to use a tail weight to hold the aircraft stable. Don't tell anyone but in my younger days I got under the wing by the tie down and lifted the wing to change the tire. Not a recommended method but in an emergency (middle of the runway) it works.

Thanks for the input Spinner! Yes, it's the jack pad that bolts on to the gear spring. Do you know if the tail will drop when I do this? It will be done in a hangar and thanks for the tip on chocks on main and nose wheels before starting to work.

Do you know about how much is the cost of the push to start switch?

Spinner wrote:Oil Pressure: I would pull starter and make sure the gears are not damaged. That we found is usually a cause of metal in the system especially if you have a regular starter switch rather than a push in to start. A new spring and plunger for oil pressure may help but also have a good hard look at the plunger seat for damage. If not done already you may need to gently resurface the seat. Continental SIL04-8 talks about starters and starter gear etc.
Tires: if that is the pad that bolts on the gear spring to jack it up then heck ya that works the easiest. Make sure that you chock the nose and other main before jacking. If you are not in a hangar then I would suggest having someone stabilize the tail. The advantage of this jack pad is that you don't have to use a tail weight to hold the aircraft stable. Don't tell anyone but in my younger days I got under the wing by the tie down and lifted the wing to change the tire. Not a recommended method but in an emergency (middle of the runway) it works.

The tail will not drop with one gear leg jacked up. Have done it many times using a home made jack attachment which is similar to the bogert jack pad.

the last price I see that we had bought would have been around 600 dollars. The SB for the install is available on Diamonds website. Aircraft Spruce among others sells the switches.

https://www.diamondaircraft.com/wp-cont ... -Rev-2.pdf

Hey guys, so I am having the same problem in my DA-20 with the low pressure.. Have tried two gauges and both do the same thing.. measured the pressure and it is reading 20 low on the gauge.. I know this thread is old but did you ever figure out what the problem was?

YCCA, I'm trying to understand. Are you getting low oil pressure indication but the oil pressure is fine - or are you getting low oil pressure? My only oil pressure experience was a broken spring in the oil pump - i.e. actual low oil pressure. I was actually not around for this event. Attached picture taken by my A&P - he was on the ground getting ready to fly when he observed the oil pressure only getting up to 10 psi. He aborted going flying and taxied back to the hangar and took apart the oil pump. Attached picture was what he found - one spring was broken thus the pump was not developing full oil pressure.

This was not a Diamond part or fix - simply a quick trip to the local engine shop to get the Continental Engine part. Replaced spring and my oil pressure has been problem-free since. Note the IO-240B oil pump has two springs that provide redundancy - one spring still gives you oil pressure but not at the normal oil pressure. Supposedly gives you the ability to divert and get on the ground without destroying the engine if one spring breaks. So if you are seeing low oil pressure then maybe one of these springs need to be replaced.

Per oil pressure indication - at the time I had the VM 1000 Engine Management System which I've since replaced with the JPI EDM-900. Both systems have always reported accurate oil pressures. When I developed a problem with the VM-1000 it was the fuel pressure that went NMC. Oil pressure indication has been solid for me with both systems.

Turns out it was the pressure relief valve. Thanks for the input though, this is good to know