Low oil pressure.

[Gimpy117]

I bought a sweet little boat today: google Luger seabreeze 16

anyways, it's a 900 pound boat and on the way back i meas reading low oil pressure, not none, there was no light...the needle was just in the bottom of the "normal range". it's a 1995 with the 4.0 pushrod

how concerned should I be? has oil...no rod knock....yet

 

[J_C]

I'd keep an eye on it and be concerned if it stays low. I assume you've changed the oil on a good schedule as well as the filter. How many miles on it? Might there be sludge buildup or a bad oil pressure sensor? How fast were you going?

Otherwise, was it showing signs of overheating? The added stress of towing plus an overheating condition could thin oil too much. If you find no other problems and are using 5W-20 or lower, I'd switch to 10W-30 synthetic in summer.

Make sure the fan clutch is operational, see if the thermostat seems to be opening with pressure in the top radiator hose.

 

[Mr. Alligator]

Gimpy,

Also, consider that your oil pressure "gauge" is not really a gauge... It is a glorified idiot light. If your oil pressure is above a certain level (I do not recall the specified pressure), it will show pressure; if the specified reading is not present, it will not read oil pressure. So keeping a close eye on the fake "gauge" is not what you might think. There are other write ups on this issue.

Good luck, and have fun with the boat.


Mr. Alligator
1997 Explorer/ 432,xxxx miles

 

[SWIGIN]

Like stated above, move up to a thicker oil. My old 400 in my 79 Bronco would do the same thing and it helped but the real problem is worn bearings. In my case a rebuilt 460 solved that problem.

 

[Gimpy117]

I crawled under the truck and I can tell im leaking oil. it's not to the oil change interval yet according to the sticker. I knew about the sorry state of ford oil pressure gauges and the all or nothing...which makes me feel weird if it shows more than nothing (lower ranger of the H---->l)...hence why i drove it 6 miles home and immediately parked it

i saw a lot of oil around the oil pan region and some metal lines around the engine, any good ideas where those oil lines go? im wondering if one ofmthose might be to blame. have a new oil sender...will put it in tomorrow.

but on a good nother we got about $200 bucks+ of free stuff with the boat and the 3HP sears 2 stroke runs

 

[J_C]

Old truck, some oil loss might be acceptable but keep it topped off and determine the oil loss rate and go from there.

 

[koda2000]

Yes you should be concerned, especially if you begin hearing the lifters clicking.

I find running a single viscosity oil (like straight 30 weight) for the summer also helps old worn out engines maintain better oil pressure. During the winter you can use a 10W30 to help with starting if you live where it gets cold. I have no idea where Traverse City is. You can also replace your stupid Ford oil pressure gauge with a real one quite inexpensively. Rule of thumb is 10 PSI of oil pressure for every 1000 RPM up to about 40 PSI when at normal operating temperature.

 

[J_C]

Are you sure those metal lines have oil on them, that they're not brake lines and it's brake fluid? If in doubt a picture might help, I'm trying to guess what metal lines would have oil leaking onto them.

 

[koda2000]

Are you sure those metal lines have oil on them, that they're not brake lines and it's brake fluid? If in doubt a picture might help, I'm trying to guess what metal lines would have oil leaking onto them.

Transmission lines maybe?

 

[J_C]

^ That makes sense, I was only thinking in terms of visible from the top.

 

[Gimpy117]

well, looks like it was a failed sender throwing the low pressure, put the new one in and it snapped right back to the middle of the range. im still gonna degrease the engine and start looking for where it's dripping. thanks for your help guys. and those lines might be trans lines. ill trace them back

and if you take your hand and hold it up to look like Michigan traverse city is right where your pinky and ring finger meed. got good beer and whine up here. if one of you guys ever make it here on vacation i owe you one!

 

[Turdle]

Just a suggestion,
You might get a new PCV valve, if they are clogged or restricted the excess crank case pressure will cause seals to weep more than they would if the crank case were breathing well. Also, excessive blow-by will cause oil to find it's way out. I suspect that when you were towing the boat you were applying more throttle than normal, which would cause even more of this.

 

[Gimpy117]

Just a suggestion,
You might get a new PCV valve, if they are clogged or restricted the excess crank case pressure will cause seals to weep more than they would if the crank case were breathing well. Also, excessive blow-by will cause oil to find it's way out. I suspect that when you were towing the boat you were applying more throttle than normal, which would cause even more of this.

ill try that. i work at an auto parts store. where is the darn pcv plumed into the vaccum?

 

[Turdle]

ill try that. i work at an auto parts store. where is the darn pcv plumed into the vaccum?

The pcv valve plugs right into the center rear of the lower intake manifold.

This is looking from the rear of the engine

 

[Gimpy117]

thanks, ill work at getting at it

 

[Maniak]

Since you have a 1995 with a 4.0 ohv, you have a fake oil pressure gauge. If you ground the wire to the oil pressure gauge you'll get a reading in the middle of the gauge.. That is unless someone change the sending unit already AND jumped the resistor on the back of the gauge..

If you have a small oil pressure gauge (about 1" across) then it's the fake one. If its the larger bell style then it's a real oil pressure gauge...


Here's the thread about it and how to convert it (It's been converted for well over 100k miles on our X.. possibly 200k miles now).

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums...pressure-gauge-perform-like-real-gauge.14894/

~Mark

 

[Dave98XLT]

Does this gauge trick work on all year models or is it only certain years?

How to: Make Oil pressure gauge perform like "real" gauge

This post seems to say this mod is not for all 2nd gens...