Oil gauge issue when hot & Moose call noise at Intake duct when hot, help !!!!!!!!

[chuyalmaraz]

I need help, my 99 XLS V6 OHV Ford explorer oil I am afraid to drive it around the gauge goes flat when engine is hot and check gauge light goes ON (not check Engine Light is on), I am driving in Texas, the temp is horrible hot right now , I changed the oil to a Synthetic few days before to 10-30W oil then this issue came up almost right after driving it for 200 miles, I added a oil stabilizer but nothing, questions:
1.- Should I change the oil and filter again and see what happens?
2.- May be the oil filter is bad ? or the oil pump is bad ?
3.- how should I know if the Is oil pump is working well or not or is good or bad ? when is cold the gauge is normal and no red light check engine cones on.

I drove it for a little while about 5 miles until gauge went flat again when is hot but nothing is wrong with the truck, but I am afraid driving it, how should I know all is well?

4.-lastly when the truck is hot, the intake makes a horn loud moose call noise. Intake idle valve went bad may be?

Help I need to fix it before I go home I have 10 hrs. ahead of me.

 

[swetrid]

Try replacing the oil pressure sendng unit first they tend to go bad and the iac valve is the hoot/moose noise.

 

[chuyalmaraz]

I just changed the new synthetic quacker state oil I put few days ago it was 10-30 w oil, I switched to a 5 -30w high millage with seal, GOOD NEWS the gauge is normal now I tried to heat the vehicle as much as i could, I am waiting until it get hoter during the day and run it longer and see what happens, looks like my truck does not like synthetic oil at all.

the Idle air intake valve I just oreder it, I will pick it up in one hour. is it hard to replace?

 

[ERUSH97XLT]

the Idle air intake valve I just oreder it, I will pick it up in one hour. is it hard to replace?

Two bolts and an electrical connector. Ten minutes, tops. You won't even break a sweat, even in the Texas heat.

Glad to hear you're running better.

Best,

ERUSH

 

[chuyalmaraz]

ERUSH,
Thank you amigo, I hope this thread help´others. I will drive around if anything changes for worse I will post again.

Gracias one more time.

 

[chuyalmaraz]

Swetrid,
Thank you to you also, gauge is normal now, no check gauge light either after my oil change, I have the valve I will install it in the morning tomorrow to get rid of the moose noise , I will let you know how that went.

 

[chuyalmaraz]

UP date

OK guys,
This is what happened, in deed the bulb or sensor was indicating something was wrong with the oil preassure, during my 14 hour travel the indicator went crazy few times, I stoped to see 2 road mechanics yesterday Sunday (all this in Mexico) both told me something was wrong with the bulb, nothing bad with the Engine, I heard cople a times a little knocking sound like diesel engine kind of noise so I stoped until the engine rested for 20 min then oil preasure indicator got back to normal, I saw a 3rd mechanic he agreed with the other two, so I thought with no shadow if a doubut I was able to drive like that the rest of the trip ahead of me, so I drove it for 30 min the indicator went crazy then down flat as before but I heard a loud knocking sound I stoped inmediatly, before turning the Engine off, the Temp on the engine was normal not overheated at all, then like before I let the engine to rest again, I started the Engine all normal again, I got towed all the way home, I did not want to creat any further damage to anything.

I started it this morning for a split second give me the knocking noise but them the indicator goes in the middle range and no noises all normal ( looks like the pump when kicks in the noise is gone), I turn it off immeditaly then on again after a few seconds, all normal, this is wired, no noises at all. no smoke, oil level and rest of fluids are normal.

Is the Motor bad or just the oil pump? the sound comes from the bottom of the vehicle when happens.

 

[joecrna]

My guess is the knocking is a rod starved for oil. The gauge may be working fine and telling you there is no oil pressure intermittently. Could be bad oil pump or possibly something is blocking an oil passage. Considering this happens only after engine gets hot, that points to oil pump issue.

 

[chuyalmaraz]

Final Update, Yes the oil pump was bad, The Engine was good it looked intact, My mechanic changed few metals from the Engine due to the normal wear so it can have a longer life, No damage was made due to the oil pump failure, he flushed the engine with Diesel and clean it very well, since he was doing the Engine job I told him to change the water pump and gas pump plus a real oil pressure gauge, Total bill 550 bucks labor and parts, Engine compression it is at 100 not bad for a 99MY with 155K miles in it, My Explorer is running very well right now, The Engine sounds less noisy, it does not scream's as much as before.

Happy ending. Thank you all for your advice

 

[joecrna]

Thanks for the update.