What would happen is the heated element gets bent from too much travel. When the needle hits the top peg hard, it bends the element down, and the gauge reads 0 forever (since at true zero it wants to point straight down, but the bottom peg stops it at zero).
You mean this would happen if you short it out (IE - use the dummy gauge)?
If you short it, it goes up to the H position. Don't short it. I did it, but I did it through a bulb, so I was limiting current and wanted to check the gauge.
Mine measures 44ohms also.
I just switched in a sr5 gauge cluster.
I replaced the sender with one from a local auto store.
Problem is, most auto stores (and toyota) show 2 different senders for the SR5. The sender seems to work (resistance changes with oil pressure), but I can't get it to work with the gauge. I just orded another sender from NAPA (another $45) - no refunds on these parts, so it's a bit of a bummer.
If you didn't switch the sender you may have shorted the gauge. If you're still reading 44 ohms, that's a good indication that you didn't short it, but don't press your luck. If you want to check it, make sure you go through a bulb of some type to limit current. From what I've read some shorted gauges survive just fine, some do not.
Basically: you need the correct SR5 sender. I haven't found anyone that can tell me which of the 2 possible senders you should use. FSM only mentions one method of testing it (using a test light or bulb) - FSM mentions that the bulb should FLASH (faster for more oil pressure) which makes no sense to me if the sender functions as a variable resistor.
email me directly, I'm sorting this out too:
d_ginther@hotmail.com
