all gauges seem to be off where they should be

[72chevman]

I just bought this car for my teen to start driving this summer. The oil pressure gauge goes past 80 when car is running, the fuel gauge is past full after I filled it up, the voltage gauge reads almost 18 when the car is running but with a volt meter on the batter is reads 14.2 and the coolant needle is on second line from bottom when the cool ant temp is 200. I have a scan gauge that shows temp.

Where should I start? Are these normal Beretta issues?

I can't imagine what the temp would be when the needle actually hit the red.

1996 3.1 with 84K miles.

[Money pit Beretta]

The fuel gauge is normal. My coolant temp is the same way, I was thinking about changing it, but I have many other things to work on. Well, there is a friend of mine on here that had a newer car and now has and older one. He asked me if it was normal for the temp gauge on the older cars to read at the half mark(which it is) because his newer car was always at the second mark. Your oil pressure gauge is too high. My charge is the same as yours and that was after I put on a new alt(the regulator was going out on the old one).

[6r8ph1X]

said friend reporting for duty, there is a possibility of your teen's beretta having a 180 degree t-stat installed in it. My 96 ran around where your talking about when it had a 180 in it. My 93 ran at about half constantly untill i put in a 180 this past few weekends ago. Now it runs at about 1/4 and i love it. I don't even have to turn on my cooling fan(i have a modded in switch to turn it on or off manually). the gas gauge, i second the opinion of that being normal. The problem of the oil pressure is that you need a new oil pressure sending unit, one for a 96 Z26 beretta. not the base one. MAKE SURE IT IS THE ONE FOR A GAUGE AND NOT A DUMMY LIGHT. if it is the correct one, it will be the longer of the two available sensors. The sensor is located above the starter on 96's. It's real easy to get to and get off once you take out the two bolts for the starter and let it hang. also the voltage reading isn't ALL that accurate, thats why i put in a digital one on a gauge pod.

If you have any more questions, just ask, i'm always willing to help

[72chevman]

It does not have a 180 T-stat as the car runs at 198-200 degrees according to my scangauge. I have a factory service manual that I have been looking at, so I was planning to swap in a new oil pressure sending unit.

I need to ohm out the coolant temp sensor to see if that is bad or the gauge.

Right now the alternator is charging a little low 14.0-14.2 but that is not bad. I swapped batteries between it and my grand prix and the numbers were the same so I know it is not the battery. Both batteries charged at 14.5 in my grand prix.