Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Performance Upgrades - Maintenance - Modifications - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street Trucks. Covering the Explorer, ST, Sport, Lincoln Aviator, Sport Trac, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Aerostar. Featuring H.I. - Human Intelligence.
1994 Explorer Limited. So I noticed this on the way in this morning; both Temp and Oil reading high. Temp normally in 1st quarter of gauge. Oil normally in center. Oil was just below white line before 'H' and temp was middle and climbing. Put the heater on full and got it to stay in the middle. After getting to work, checked the fan clutch and it's loosey-goosey so need to replace. But while I was driving I saw the oil gauge suddenly (not like the stepping of the fake gauge) 'drift' back to middle at the same time the Temp drifted back to bottom quarter (the normal positions). WTH. Bad regulator? Bad cluster? I know the oil gauge is an actual gauge as it varies and doesn't 'snap-to' like on my old 97 Mounty. The fact that both were in concert leads me to think is there a regulator for the gauges or a problem with a reference voltage for them or something? Anyone else have this happen?
Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year. Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,. Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!.
As someone who converted his oil gauge to a real one; don't trust it that much. It's way better than stock, but its far from perfect. One problem is it has a dampening effect that seems to make the Guage appear to jump around.
If your cluster hasn't been removed, your oil gauge is a dummy gauge and is likely drifting from a bad sensor, wiring, ground or failing gauge. Just make sure it does move after starting, it's a vauge indication of SOME oil pressure so you're not running the engine dry. Aside from that, ignore it.
The temp gauge is usually pretty reliable. You might test the single-wire sensor or just outright replace it and see if that fixes issues.
How was your fan clutch loose? The fan is supposed to be able to spin with some resistance.
The 'lock up' for lack of a better term on the fan clutch was almost non-existent. I know it should have some slip, but this seemed way too much. The air coming out the engine side was not very energetic. I also realized I no longer hear the fan once the motor is warmed up. And I do ride around with the windows down and the radio off. It may have been a coincidence, but the two gauges did change in parallel while I watched. I'll watch again on the way home tonight. You bet your bippy. I've had fan clutches go before. My Toyota used to eat them every three years or so; crappy after market parts. This is actually the second one on this truck. I replaced it about 6/7 years ago when I rebuilt the engine. The Temp gauge did a swift drop separate from the time it did it with the oil gauge. I was not looking at the oil gauge at the time, so I do not know if it also did a swift drop. I'll get two new sensors tonight as well. Cheap insurance. Might have to modify the oil gauge to not be just a fancy idiot light. Pet peeve. Like air scoops should scoop air or be nonexistent.
So on the way home, I watched the Oil and Temp gauges carefully. They track. When the Oil is right around the white line at 'H', the Temp is almost on 'H'. When the Oil gauge is about 3/4, the Temp is about 1/2. They varied between these two positions all the way home, and always together. So the gauges are lying. When I got home, I cut the engine and then turned the key back on (KOEO) and the temp gauge was in its normal location after warm (slightly under 1/4) and the Oil was L because there was no oil pressure. Start the truck and they both shoot to 3/4 (Oil) and 1/2 (Temp). There were also sudden 'cooling' events on the way home. Both about into the 'H' and then suddenly back to 1/2 (T) and 3/4 (O). One is affecting the other or one is dragging down the supply exaggerating the reading on the other. Since it is most likely the Oil, I bought one of those and will install. I'm also going to yank the wire off the Oil sensor and see if the Temp reads like normal again. If I'm right, it should.
The harness under the hood has seen better days. Maybe time to find a better condition one. I'm still going to replace the fan clutch as the temp was creeping up every time I stopped at a light, but I'm going to take this step by step because I think there is more than one issue at play.
So yesterday I noticed that the volt meter was dipping to the left of middle when the gauges were pegging and when it came back to 2/3, everything was fine. Must be an intermittent short or load somewhere. Today, everything ran as normal both to and from work. As soon as it stops raining here (next week, ...maybe) I'll get a better look in the engine bay and see if I can't identify the errant wire.
Update:
Well I got in the truck Wednesday morning and I had dash lights but no starter action. At least it stranded me in my own driveway. Thought it might be the starting solenoid as that was what it was 7 or so years ago. Got a replacement and put it in. Nothing. Decided to do a bit more troubleshooting. Also swapped out the alternator with another one I had, which incidentally is the original one to the truck. Had the wife turn the key while I was under hood. No clicking in the starter solenoid. Got a jumper and put the 'S' terminal to +12 with the key in the run position and it started right up. After looking at the wiring diagram I decided it must be the Ignition Switch. Messed with that this afternoon. Now I can drop a column in two minutes, but it was the IS. I bought a new one before dis-assembly. Now it fires right up and the gauges act correctly, so I think it was the IS the whole time. I'm going to get the other alt checked out as long as it's removed, but it was intermittent so a better test would be to re-install it. Since that's pretty easy, it's on the list.
Well, spoke too soon. Just stranded me at the grocery store. Good thing I still had the jumper wire in the glove box. The NSS is next.
Ok. Solved. It was the wire loom that feeds those signals back. It got up against the lowest portion of the DFPE riser tube, burned through the loom, burned a chunk out of the Starter Relay and mostly roasted the oil pressure sender wire. Repaired and back in business. Zip tied away from danger. Must have lost the retainer that held it away. Another 21YO vehicle issue.
Great that you found it, and thanks for letting us know. I inspect the under-hood wiring at least every month since all it takes is one of the plastic retainers to fail and a wire can drop on something hot.
Another Update; Replaced the battery cables. Do this!
So Connie stranded me again. This time at the dump in the rain. Talk about embarrassing. Had to be towed home. The gauges were back to doing their weird spiking and I hadn't had the inclination to figure out why. So I put it up on jack stands and started investigating the starter cable. I had click at the starter and at the fender solenoid but no starter action. Wiggled the cables a bit and she started right up. Enough of that BS, so I ordered an NOS Positive cable assembly off Ebay and the general replacement one from Rockauto. I had to graft on the two pin plug on the negative cable. Glad I got them both, as they are siamesed in their routing. Do yourself a favor and pull the inner fender on the passenger side if you ever replace these. Got it installed and then the starter didn't work. Replaced the starter and it still didn't work. Finally replaced the solenoid on the inner fender and everything came to life, and waaaaaaay better than it has in years! I know the cables were bad, and that the starter actually did fail (tested at the parts store. must have broke the wire to the faston tab or something). Totally did not expect my two month old solenoid to crap the bed. Good thing I still had its predecessor.
What changing the battery cables fixed:
1. No more random stranding.
2. Starter spins much faster and motor catches quicker.
3. Gauges are back to working perfectly.
4. This one I did not expect; the key fob has awesome distance now. I used to have to get right next to the truck to get them to work (even with a new battery in the fob) now it works across a parking lot!
5. Locks work with some vigor. They seemed to be a little lazy before.
Other discoveries: Time to replace the water pump. Dang it.
So Connie stranded me again. This time at the dump in the rain. Talk about embarrassing. Had to be towed home. The gauges were back to doing their weird spiking and I hadn't had the inclination to figure out why. So I put it up on jack stands and started investigating the starter cable. I had click at the starter and at the fender solenoid but no starter action. Wiggled the cables a bit and she started right up. Enough of that BS, so I ordered an NOS Positive cable assembly off Ebay and the general replacement one from Rockauto. I had to graft on the two pin plug on the negative cable. Glad I got them both, as they are siamesed in their routing. Do yourself a favor and pull the inner fender on the passenger side if you ever replace these. Got it installed and then the starter didn't work. Replaced the starter and it still didn't work. Finally replaced the solenoid on the inner fender and everything came to life, and waaaaaaay better than it has in years! I know the cables were bad, and that the starter actually did fail (tested at the parts store. must have broke the wire to the faston tab or something). Totally did not expect my two month old solenoid to crap the bed. Good thing I still had its predecessor.
What changing the battery cables fixed:
1. No more random stranding.
2. Starter spins much faster and motor catches quicker.
3. Gauges are back to working perfectly.
4. This one I did not expect; the key fob has awesome distance now. I used to have to get right next to the truck to get them to work (even with a new battery in the fob) now it works across a parking lot!
5. Locks work with some vigor. They seemed to be a little lazy before.
Other discoveries: Time to replace the water pump. Dang it.
Old age creeps up on us with these trucks. Can be fun work but often not so much.
Good job finding your culprit. My experience is that the main electrical cables coming form the batteries commonly migrate corrosion up the cables form the battery terminals and cause all sorts of issues. I replaced both positive and negative cables and made new 4 gauge grounds from the engine block to chassis and body to help with things and this helped a lot as well.
Sounds like the voltage regulator to me too.
