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Becuase it is electric. As the voltage to the guage changes the needle moves. OR.... Someone replaced the Oil Pressure Sending unit with a real one. If the sending unit is about 1" across it is the fake one. If it is 2 inches across or so, it is a real one.
There is a big thread on this (I think it is called Fake oil pressure switch), but in short....
The Oil Pressure Guage shows normal when there is more than 5psi of oil pressure. Under 5psi and it shows no pressure (not positive on the 5psi, but it is a low number).
I don't know if the 2nd Gen explorers have this, but I know the first Gen does. The thread I metioned above talks about changing the sending unit AND shorting a resister in the dash (if you don't short the resister it will always read a little low & slow)
Yep, second generation also- or at least up to 99s. The guage is just a fancy idiot light like Maniak says. No easy drop in replacements that I know of.
I converted the one in my old '95 to be a real guage. Was very simple to do (not counting taking apart the dash to get to the gauge cluster) and worked just fine afterwards. When I find time I'm gonna do the same to my '97 also.
Do a search for fake oil guage. You'll find a thread with all the info you need.