John,

I would consider mouting a permanent oil pressure sender along with a gauge on
your dash.  That's one of the first things I did to my '87 and I'm very glad I
did.  You can see a picture of the gauge at:

http://www.enter.net/~bloss/vw/dash.jpg

There's also a write-up (such as it is) on my web page:

http://www.enter.net/~bloss/vw/oilpress.html

which is mirrored on vanagon.com.  I used a dual sender from VDO with an
extender hose since the dual sender is too fat to fit in the original sender
hole between #3 and #4 pushrod tubes.  Ran a wire up front to the gauge and
presto, oil pressure any time.  The hardest part is positioning the sender so
it's not in the way of moving or hot exhaust parts and has a place to mount
with electrical ground.  I mounted mine to the engine tin with the tubing
underneath the tin to protect from elements and road snags.

Also, Ken Wilford at www.vanagain.com has a different setup with rigid tubes.
I'm not a fan or running lots of tubing rigid, so I liked my approach with the
tube and a single signal wire running up front, but I'm sure Ken's approach
works.

Ken probably can probably get the parts and Ron at the Bus Depot
(www.busdepot.com) has them as well (I bought the gauge and sender from TBD,
but needed to get the hose elsewhere...he may have them now).

I think the whole shebang cost me around $50, but certainly less than
$100...can't remember, it's been too long.

Let me know if you decide to pursue this route and want to know more.

-Karl

> Is there a tool available that can be used to measure oil pressure?  For
> example, unscrewing the oil pressure sensor, hooking up a guage to read
> the pressure?  If so, how much, and where to purchase?
>

Karl and Kristina Bloss, Trexlertown, PA
'87 Westfalia Weekender  "Beverley" - 194K miles
http://www.enter.net/~bloss/vw/
PA/NJ Vanagon owner's mailing list: http://www.enter.net/~bloss/vw/pavanagon/