Odd Oil Pressure Problem (Gauge?)

[Ranger379]

hey guys, i got a new explorer now, wrecked the last one lol. 99 OHV auto. since i bought it i noticed the oil pressure shoots up to normal as soon as it starts. my 96 climbed up in aboue 3 seconds. the other day i started it up and NO OIL PRESSURE!!!!. waited 15 seconds and shut it down. waited a minute and tried again. went up to normal. this morning (cold like in the twentys) started it up, no OP. shut it off. tired again. nothing!!!! did this like 3 times, waiting about 20 -30 seconds to see if it went up. 4th try it bounced its way to normal and then dropped to nothing. the next try took about 10 seconds and went to normal and stayed there.

on way home from work today it did the same thing. it only does it when u first start it. doesnt do it when its warm.

do i have an oil pressure problem or would this just be the gauge?

i changed the oil shortly after buying it, mobil one synthetic 5w30. and mobil one filter. any ideas as greatly appreciated!!!

 

[James909]

I think the problem is most likely a faulty/dirty oil pressure sender. You can verify this with a mechanical gauge. If the engine's oil pressure was indeed low I think it would remain low and not be intermittent like this. There is a how-to on the forum on how to replace the sender. And I think the writer of the thread had the same issue and the sender fixed the problem. Or if you would like there is also a how-to on how to make the gauge a "real" oil pressure gauge if you wanted to do that.

 

[Ranger379]

thats what i was thinking. i remember reading on that a long time ago. never did it to my last one b/c it seemed to work just fine. if i do anything i will probably just add an aftermarket oil pressure guarge. since u can buy those 2 or 3 gauge pods for the a-pillar ill probably do and tranny oil temp, and water temp as well.

should i keep restarting it untill it reads normal? just drive it even if it says theres no oil pressure?

thanks for the info

 

[Ranger379]

sorry...double post. im reading up on oil pressure gauges now....

 

[aldive]

My money is on the oil pressure sender also.

Good luck ....

 

[Ranger379]

OOOO. just thought of this. might not matter but...

when i did that first oil change it was some cheapo filter and it was on WAY TOOOO TIGHT. had to use a filter wrech to get it off and bent the filter wrench. last person tightended it so had taht it rotated the oil filter sender unit thing lol. well the new filter would not go on b/c it would not line up straight. i put a rag on a pipe wrench and moved the whole unit back enough to get a new filter one. not the whole way back so the filter would be completely up and down...

i know im not leaking or using oil either.... just want to be completley sure its a gauge problem, hate to burn the motor up

 

[James909]

As long as it's not leaking I don't think that the oil filter mount issue is causing the problem. I doubt that the engine actually has an oil pressure problem. So it should be safe to drive even if no oil pressure is registering. But that is not a chance that I would want to take so I would say if you want to wait until you put in a real oil pressure gauge just verify that the oil pressure is normal with a mechanical gauge.

 

[my98nnj]

Clean the electrical connection at the sending unit.
If that doesn't help, change the sending unit.

 

[96eb96]

hey guys, i got a new explorer now, wrecked the last one lol. 99 OHV auto. since i bought it i noticed the oil pressure shoots up to normal as soon as it starts. my 96 climbed up in aboue 3 seconds. the other day i started it up and NO OIL PRESSURE!!!!. waited 15 seconds and shut it down. waited a minute and tried again. went up to normal. this morning (cold like in the twentys) started it up, no OP. shut it off. tired again. nothing!!!! did this like 3 times, waiting about 20 -30 seconds to see if it went up. 4th try it bounced its way to normal and then dropped to nothing. the next try took about 10 seconds and went to normal and stayed there.

on way home from work today it did the same thing. it only does it when u first start it. doesnt do it when its warm.

do i have an oil pressure problem or would this just be the gauge?

i changed the oil shortly after buying it, mobil one synthetic 5w30. and mobil one filter. any ideas as greatly appreciated!!!

haha...mine did that a few times and I beat on the top of the dash and it came right up. I think its the gauge. Worth a try.

 

[Willard]

You would know if the engine had no oil pressure, it undoubtedly would be making all sorts of interesting noises. If it sounds fine, runs fine, don't worry about it.

My '94 used to do this, then I put better oil in and overtime stopped doing it. It may still do it once in awhile, I don't pay attention to that gauge anyways, I'm smart enough to know if it has pressure or not without a dummy gauge telling me.