I think I agree here that not knowing the specifics of the guage is less important than just noticing the “something is different” .
This is how my “go drive my truck” wife operates, and this is by my direction.
I’ve told her not to be so concerned that she doesn’t know the mechanics nor what the guages mean.
She DOES know the truck,
she drives it every day,
she knows what normal is,
so when ANYTHING is off normal to let me know and I take it from there.
I like all of those useless gauges. I even use a vacuum gauge to help with fuel economy!
I always thought most of the instrument panel lights and gauges made little sense anyway. Remember the “Oil/Choke” light in 80’s GM cars? It let you know that either you have no oil pressure or your choke is on. Great idea combining that light…
Recently my “Brake” light went on. That told me either:
A: The emergency brake didn’t release all the way or the switch was bad
B: I had a pressure problem in the brake system
C: My brake fluid was low
It would have been nice to know which one was the issue immediately.
And I always loved the cars with automatic transmissions that came with tachometers.
Sigh.
I can almost hear Pavlov ringing the bell.
Agreed. Here in Michigan, regular maintenance includes getting deer damage repaired.
Does the oil pressure gauge actually seem to work like gauges you have seen in other cars? Does the pressure quickly jump to a reasonably high level when started cold and slowly fall as the engine heats up? Several Fords have gauges that are no more than idiot lights.The sending unit closes the circuit when pressure reaches 10 psi and the gauge moves to a predetermined position and remains there untill the pressure drops.
Toyota Prius solves the problem of useless gauges by having no gauges at all. The car does not have a normal dashboard.
You can see the consumption or energy management screens but the fact that there’s a gasoline engine with stats is totally hidden. There’s no pressure, temperature, voltage (is that 12V or 300V?), or RPM meters at all. Forget a vacuum gauge: what good is that in a fly-by-wire scheme?
Prius cars do not “start”, they “boot up”. The gasoline engine is not the most important thing any more.
Speaking of gauges. I have never owned nor shopped for luxury cars, but was wondering if the high end cars have humidistats in them for cross country drivers without access to local weather stations? When the locals say, “It’s not the heat but the HUMDITY!”?
Gauges serve a purpose and they will tell you information if you know how to read them. I like gauges.
At least she’s watching the gauges, which is better than most people do. So many people will even ignore a bright red warning light.
It could also be the oil filter is somewhat clogged or defective, resulting in lower than normal oil pressure. Or if the vehicle was driven on a hot day, that will tend to make the oil pressure slightly lower at idle, as the oil will be a little thinner.