Early oil pressure light

[midlandoak]

I’ve noticed that there were green and red early oil pressure lights
Which came first a red filter or a green one?
The parts book tells you when they changed but gives no indication of colour



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[msm80]

As far as I know I think it was red then green but I'm not sure of the change points.
M

[midlandoak]

That was my thought the parts book shows a change during the 51 model year but is not definitive don’t know what the instruction book says ?


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[fifty seven]

That was my thought the parts book shows a change during the 51 model year but is not definitive don’t know what the instruction book says ?

The generic 1948-58 instruction book is not much help... " The green warning light at the bottom left- hand corner of the panel glows when the engine oil pressure drops below a safe figure..."   There is more detail on page E 22 but this does not add to lens colour wisdom.

[fifty seven]

The early 1948 -52 parts book shows an asterisk against this oil lamp unit  . This asterisk suggests vehicles up to 16101655, 16133213 16161501 and so on ..eg 16230080 etc    were the last to have the early light.

[antarmike]

P A Blanchard list the lamp 234997 as being green,  The other lamp in my parts book 238019 is the later green lamp without the "oil" lettering.

there does not seem to be a listing in the parts book for any Red lamp.

Was there both a sript lamp in red and in green lens?

I am guessing that whatever the part number number for the red lamp was, they were issued in such limited numbers, Rover did not consider it worth including them in the parts list (4051).  I therefore assume that there is no reference in the parts list to two different script lamps  because  unlike 238019, which required a different panel aperture,  the red?? and green script lamps shared the same hole diameter and were therefore interchangeable. 

If anyone wanted to replace an earlier script red lamp, they would be offered the green script lamp 234997 listed in the parts catalogue?

Not my field of expertise so I am making a lot of guesses.... treat me gerntly if |I am wrong.

[Rangie]

487 has a red lamp with the OIL script.

I'm sure the gurus will be along to advise when they chopped & changed.

Alec.

[Chriswilderspin]

In James Taylor's "Original Land Rover" book he states that there were both green and red oil lamps with the "OIL"  disc BUT in his latest book "Factory Original Land Rover Series 1" he says 

"There were also three types of warning light, the first type used on 1.6-litre modela up to the middle of the 1951 model year, the second type on the late 1.6-litres and on early 2-litres,and a third from late in the 1952 season until the end of 80" production.

The first type had a metal body and bezel and a plastic lens; some lenses were flat, others were domed. The oil warning light had a disc inserted behind its red lens with the word OIL punched out of it"

No mention of a green lens with "OIL"

He goes on to say that these changed at chassis 1610-1656 (and other models) to a lucas WL3/1 with lens and bezel moulded as a single plastic part (no mention of OIL). The third type (again made of plastic but with separate glass lens) was introduced at 2610-5067 (and other models).Again no mention of OIL.

So - more info but not sure if it really answers the question? It infers that up until 1610-1655 it would have been a red lens with OIL and after that a green lens with no OIL but..........

[Chriswilderspin]

and, from our Club Archives, the excellent 'Basic Model Changes - 1951" put together by Michael Bishop -

16101656 Despatched In 22/01/1951

16161502; 16661477; 16133214; 16630043
The dash panel warning lights (Choke & Ignition) are now all coloured plastic end to end. The oil pressure warning light is now green instead from being red with “OIL” on it. The dash panel changed slightly to suit the new warning lights The wiring harness changed to suit the new warning lights. In the sequence Ignition, choke & oil the earlier part numbers were 238018, 238020 & 217645 and changed to 234995, 234996 & 234997. Wiring harness changed to suit the warning light changes. The dash panel warning lights changed again on the 1952 model chassis No. 26105067.

[gertie]

I believe the green oil script lens is on some of the pre pro’s.

[Bjornung]

Interesting, but why change from red to green at all?
Something must have prompted this change.

I would have thought red as a standard colour for warnings was already well established at the time?
Or maybe not?

Bjørnung

[antarmike]

Interesting, but why change from red to green at all?
Something must have prompted this change.

I would have thought red as a standard colour for warnings was already well established at the time?
Or maybe not?

Bjørnung

Because red was being used as the colour of the charge  the light warning.  If you also use the same colour for a different type of warning it gets confusing.

If a red light comes on, you would not know, without looking for wording or position on the instrument panel, whther your dynamo charging circuit had packed up, or whether you were low on oil pressure.

This to me suggests the change was made red to green script lamps, not the other way around.   You would surely change things to make them less confusing not more..... no wait we are talking about land-Rover.... 

Alternatively could the lamp manufacturer simply have dropped the choice of lens colour from their range?

[midlandoak]

The Parts manual certainly refers to the Oil pressure glass for the 52 MY as being green
Is it possible it changed with the introduction of the 2ltr Siamese engine or standardisation as having two red warning lights was considered confusing ?
Possibly driven by export markets or MOS contracts
While both would cause you to stop one could result in catastrophic consequences !!!
Finally Joe Lucas ran out of red filters ha ha !!


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[Bjornung]

Did Land Rover get many customer complaints about the green light for the oil pressure did not show when driving? 

Bjørnung

[Chriswilderspin]

The Parts manual certainly refers to the Oil pressure glass for the 52 MY as being green
Is it possible it changed with the introduction of the 2ltr Siamese engine or standardisation as having two red warning lights was considered confusing ?
Possibly driven by export markets or MOS contracts
While both would cause you to stop one could result in catastrophic consequences !!!
Finally Joe Lucas ran out of red filters ha ha !!


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According to the experts (see above) it changed from red to green and dropped the OIL script at 1610-1656, fairly early in the 1951 model year.

[nickuk]

I am reasonably sure the earlier warning light types went out of production and so the last of the three options was the then current production by Lucas.

The Red to Green change with the earlier metal rimmed lights seems to be in the parts book as changing at the 1610xxxx  sort of point as described above. Several other cars ceased to use that type of lamp about then as pre-war models went out of production, MG, I think, used a green unit pre-war and just post war. The first two types were designed for thick wooden dashboards and the later ones for the "more modern" metal ones.

At the 1610xxxx point the choke warning light also changed from 2.5 volt torch bulb with swamp resistance to 12v bulb.

Very many parts (nearly all the ones bought in)  on the early Land Rovers was of pre-war origin and tooling.

Nick.

[midlandoak]

Interesting thread guys thanks for the input
Is it reasonable assume that the light up to chassis no 16101656 was red and then changed to green  ?


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[fifty seven]

Interesting thread guys thanks for the input
Is it reasonable assume that the light up to chassis no 16101656 was red and then changed to green  ?

Why not just  Keep the oil level up     then you never will need to reveal it  ...ever 

[715GC]

Interesting thread guys thanks for the input
Is it reasonable assume that the light up to chassis no 16101656 was red and then changed to green  ?


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This is exactly right,

with the only exception of the pre pros having a green Oil light.

[antarmike]

Why not just  Keep the oil level up     then you never will need to reveal it  ...ever 

But it lights up when you turn the ignition on and stays on until the engine has ben running long enough to build up enough pressure to extinguish it.....

[antarmike]

I am sorry to keep this thread trundling along but I cannot fully connect the dots...

In the 48-51 section of the parts catalogue it lists two lamps 234997 for the early vehicles and 238019 for the later 1600 vehicles.

Am I correct that these need different sized holes in the panel?

If so why is there only one part number for the panel 302437?  Surley the panel itself should also change at 16101656?

In the 52-53 section it still lists the same two types of lamp 234997 and 238019 (for 238019 it list spare glass as green)

The note below say that 234997 was fitted to vehicles numbered 26100001 to 2610566. 

It says 238019 was fitted to vehicles from 26105067.....

It lists a different instrument panel 238027, but this is the only panel listed in this section ebven though the parts book says for 52 and 53 models two different lamps where fitted.

So according to the parts catalogue exactly the same two lamps where fitted to different age of chassis building in both the 1.6 Litre and the 2 litre models?

This is not as straightforward as saying there was a definite change over at chassis number 16101656.

Is the parts book wrong? 

Can anybody attribute  difinitive part numbers to particular lamps? 

Part Number for red script lamp??

Part number for Red one piece plastic lamp 2.5Volt bulb lamp with wire wound resistor??

Part Number for Red glass 12 volt lamp??

What is the difference between Instrument panels and 238027 302437?    And why does the earlier panel have a higher Land-Rover part number than the later version?   

[fifty seven]

But it lights up when you turn the ignition on and stays on until the engine has ben running long enough to build up enough pressure to extinguish it.....

Why not just  Keep the oil level up     then you never will need to reveal it  ...ever 

This hopefully was to be seen as a joke ....

[antarmike]

In the 52-53 section it still lists the same two types of lamp 234997 and 238019 (for 238019 it list spare glass as green)

The note below say that 234997 was fitted to vehicles numbered 2610001 to 2610566. 

It says 238019 was fitted to vehicles from 26105067.....

this should read "The note below say that 234997 was fitted to vehicles numbered 26100001 to 26105066."

Again overly short time for editing meant this thread locked befor I spotted and corrected my Typo.

[antarmike]

But it lights up when you turn the ignition on and stays on until the engine has ben running long enough to build up enough pressure to extinguish it.....

This hopefully was to be seen as a joke ....

Hopefully this was seen as a gentle leg pull amongst friends.

[715GC]

Am I correct that these need different sized holes in the panel?

Yes the panels are different.