OIl Gauge Problem

[tjhott]

HI, I noticed that my oil gauge has been acting funny lately. There are no oil leaks on the truck and i always change my oil frequently. The problem is i have to drive the truck a good 3 miles or so before the gauge moves up to center. Then sometimes it goes back down and comes back up again. The needle should not be acting this way. This is a 2001 Ford Explorer 4x4. If anyone knows what could be causing this please let me know. Thanks

 

[96eb96]

HI, I noticed that my oil gauge has been acting funny lately. There are no oil leaks on the truck and i always change my oil frequently. The problem is i have to drive the truck a good 3 miles or so before the gauge moves up to center. Then sometimes it goes back down and comes back up again. The needle should not be acting this way. This is a 2001 Ford Explorer 4x4. If anyone knows what could be causing this please let me know. Thanks

bang on the top of the dash when you start the car and see if the gauge moves. Believe it or not this worked for me... I've seen others solve it this way too. I think its a loose connection somewhere or the gauge.

 

[DonAlexander]

I had similar problems. It was cured by changing out the oil pressure sending unit. I read here of several other people experiencing the same problem with the same solution.

A bit worrisome when the oil gauge doesn't move...........
Don

 

[Cobraguy]

oil pressure gauge is a glorified idiot light. It does NOT read oil pressure. It only tells you if it has pressure above a certain threshold...and it's pretty low. You can try a new sender since they are cheap. But anytime I see anything funny with the oil pressure, I check it with a manual gauge just to be sure nothing funny is going on. The results can be VERY expensive if you guess wrong.

 

[gmanpaint]

HI, I noticed that my oil gauge has been acting funny lately. There are no oil leaks on the truck and i always change my oil frequently. The problem is i have to drive the truck a good 3 miles or so before the gauge moves up to center. Then sometimes it goes back down and comes back up again. The needle should not be acting this way. This is a 2001 Ford Explorer 4x4. If anyone knows what could be causing this please let me know. Thanks

I had the exact same problem. It scared me half to death on the highway, 200 miles from home! The gauge went so low the red check gage light came on! It turned out that the sending unit was just old and had crusted up. A brand new one was installed, (threw the drivers side wheel well) and the reading on the dash gauge was as good as new! The connector for the sending unit wire is just a slip on, its threaded like some coaxial connectors are. Just a little tip!