Oil Pressure gauge on the fritz

[FiatFan15]

I recently purchased a 1976 Fiat Spider, 1800 cc engine. The previous owner told me that the oil pressure gauge was acting funny. The gauge reads around the 6 O'clock position or lower most of the time. However, sometimes it goes right to zero and stays there for a bit, but the light in the instrument does not come on. Should I be concerned that my oil pump is failing, or is this an electrical issue? Any thoughts would be appreciated! Thanks!

~George

[vandor]

You can only be sure by temporarily hooking up a mechanical gauge, but likely the electrical sending unit has failed.

[fiat218]

Do they even register ,seems mine are running low pressure when the engine is warm