Oil Pressure Gauge Twitching

[ba1960]

I don't know if this is a bonafide emergency, but it is to me because I'm afraid to drive my vehicle until I have an idea of what is going on.

Just this morning, after driving nearly 10 miles to work, I happened to glance at the dash and notice that the oil pressure gauge needle was "twitching". Not making any dramatic movements up and/or down, but twitching back and forth none the less. Of course, prior to this it has always been rock steady, with no movement other than at start up and turning off.

I honestly do not know if it started just occurring when I noticed it, or earlier in the trip in or if it has been going on for awhile and just not caught my eye until now.

The vehicle (98 explorer) is running fine, making no unusual noises and the oil light is not on.

Any idea what would cause the needle to twitch like this? All of the other gauges are steady in their normal positions. From all the posts I've read, could it be a sender related problem.....maybe a loose connection?

Thanks for any advice.
Bev

 

[CobraSix]

It could be temperature related. The sensor may be going bad. it's a $5 part IIRC. Since it is still showing pressure though, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Slade

 

[F14CRAZY]

Check the wire running to the sensor. My '92 wire had got shorted because it strayed too close to the headers, and had an erratic movement.

 

[monkeypothrower]

alright.. check all of that before you drive it. Mine started out with that. THen it went to no oil pressure at stop lights and the tempature would rise right before gettin to hot. then it would cool back down. I replaced the oil sensor, thermastat and finally replaced the oil filter. Supposedly my filter collapsed and caused that problem. Only after changed the oil and filter did it resume back to normal. Since i caught it to late, i ended up warping my heads and blowing a head gasket. (didnt help that the idiot before me put the head gaskets on backwards either) hope this helps. Not to scare you or anything but i couldnt find anywhere a solution to my problem, till the hard way. -TJ

 

[F14CRAZY]

This is all true. It's safer to assume the worse first.

But then I wouldn't mind if my engine in my XL blew up. Burning at least half a quart a day. Then my dad could buy me a new engine

 

[monkeypothrower]

haha.. luckily it was christmas. my dad paid for the warped heads and we replaced a lot of stuff. he said he would pay for it all. Ended up being over 400 bucks. took us abuot 2 weeks to replace everything. the gaskets only cost like 107 for all of them. Everything else was just replacing old stuff. (water pump, tensioner, idler etc.) wish my dad would buy me a new engine. -TJ

 

[Eneurb]

Ford has updated the oil pressure sending unit. Don't buy an aftermarket one, they are not that expensive.

 

[Bwana Bob]

So a search. The sender is just a switch and the gauge functions like an idiot light: go or no go. Twitching could be caused by a poor connection at the sender or an intermittent sender. Wiggle the connector at the sensor. Unplug it and shoot it with some contact cleaner.
If it just twitches randomly or at idle, its probably the sensor or the wire. However, I had an Audi (1979 Fox) and when the oil got low, the gauge would drop when decelerating. The oil pump was sucking air! Not good, so also make sure you have proper oil flow.

A number of guys have replaced the idiot sensor with a real proportional one.

Bob