Hello! I have a '77 124 Spider (Spyder) with the 1800cc engine. After about 15-20min of driving I have low oil pressure and the light comes on/stays on. I have checked the oil, replaced it, and it is clean (no metal shavings), so I figure the main bearings arent going, maybe it is an oil sending unit problem? I have yet to replace that. Any common problems or troubleshooting advice? Thanks!!

rusty124 said:

Hello! I have a '77 124 Spider (Spyder) with the 1800cc engine. After about 15-20min of driving I have low oil pressure and the light comes on/stays on. I have checked the oil, replaced it, and it is clean (no metal shavings), so I figure the main bearings arent going, maybe it is an oil sending unit problem? I have yet to replace that. Any common problems or troubleshooting advice? Thanks!!

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you could have a pressure relief valve problem and/ or a sender problem.fit a new oil pump and sender.

Do you have an oil pressure gauge and an oil pressure warning light? If so, does the gauge read low too?

These have both already been suggested however I would add the following

My first action (based on just having a light) would be to change out the sender unit. These however are usually very reliable but it's a lot less hassle and cheaper as a starting point than the next step.

The next is to do with the oil pressure relief valve which is a part of the pump. My X1/9 suddenly lost oil pressure at idle and that was a tiny (and I mean tiny!) bit of debris under the pressure relief valve. I could have just cleaned out the debris however changed the oil pump whilst I was in there anyway.

If you do both of these and still have low oil pressure it's probably going to get expensive.

Thanks for the replies! I am hoping it is the pressure release valve - or just a faulty sending unit.