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Oil pressure gauge?

1992fordgreen

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Inside the Rehabilitation Center
Year, Model & Trim Level
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Hello SE
Have a 96 Explorer eddie, and the oil pressure gauge doesn't work. It reads nothing. The engine is fine, has 197k. This would be the oil pressure gauge, correct? And if so, how difficult is it to repair?
Thanks in advance
 



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Hello SE
Have a 96 Explorer eddie, and the oil pressure gauge doesn't work. It reads nothing. The engine is fine, has 197k. This would be the oil pressure gauge, correct? And if so, how difficult is it to repair?
Thanks in advance

most likely the sender (and I hesitate to call it a sender, as it's really a switch) is bad. to test the gauge, ground the wire to the sender with the key on. the oil gauge should go to full HIGH. if it does, your sender is bad. if it does not, your wire or gauge is bad.
 






most likely the sender (and I hesitate to call it a sender, as it's really a switch) is bad. to test the gauge, ground the wire to the sender with the key on. the oil gauge should go to full HIGH. if it does, your sender is bad. if it does not, your wire or gauge is bad.
Very helpful, thank you. This requires me to take apart the cluster, correct?
<lol, i've taken about everything there is to take apart on this explorer...
 






most likely the sender (and I hesitate to call it a sender, as it's really a switch) is bad. to test the gauge, ground the wire to the sender with the key on. the oil gauge should go to full HIGH. if it does, your sender is bad. if it does not, your wire or gauge is bad.


If the sender is bad, watch this video. Not the best quality, but it describes where the switch is located.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Vj85Ioj48
 






Dora, thank you. Will watch it.
 






Very helpful, thank you. This requires me to take apart the cluster, correct?
<lol, i've taken about everything there is to take apart on this explorer...

no. you don't need to touch the cluster. the sender is on the engine. the wire just pulls off the post on the sender. then shove a piece of scrap wire into the sender wire and ground it to the battery neg post. if the oil gauge pegs out on HIGH. the gauge is working.
 






no. you don't need to touch the cluster. the sender is on the engine. the wire just pulls off the post on the sender. then shove a piece of scrap wire into the sender wire and ground it to the battery neg post. if the oil gauge pegs out on HIGH. the gauge is working.
Watched the vid, it helped. I hope this is the problem, as is seems to be a popular problem. Will hopefully get it done during the weekend...
 






When grounded, it will not peg to 'high', it will show 'normal' pressure.
Besides the sender being broken, the connection to the cluster might be defective (broke wire?).
 






When grounded, it will not peg to 'high', it will show 'normal' pressure.
Besides the sender being broken, the connection to the cluster might be defective (broke wire?).

That's kind of weird that the OIL gauge wont go all the way to HIGH if the wire is grounded. You're basically saying the OIL gauge needle would never go past 1/2 way, or below 1/2 way (as long as you have adequate oil pressure). I know it's not a real oil pressure gauge, but I know for a fact the TEMP gauge will peg to full HIGH if grounded. I guess the TEMP gauge is more of a gauge then the OIL gauge. At any rate OP, the needle should go up (apparently 1/2 way) if the sender wire is grounded. if it doesn't the wire/connection or the gauge is not functioning.
 






As many have explained, the 'sender' in newer Ford vehicles is just a pressure-controlled switch. A switch, by its very nature has only two positions: ON and OFF. When the pressure exceeds about 5 psi, the switch is ON; when below that, it's OFF. The gauge is actually real, and the needle position shows the current in the circuit. The OFF position opens the circuit, resulting in zero current, so the needle drops to zero. In the ON position, the switch connects to ground, and the current is set by the resistance in the circuit. The resistor that Ford installed in series with the gauge was selected to read 'Normal' or about half scale. The result is that this arrangement can only provide two readings: zero and half scale. Hope this helps.

PS: the reasons for this obvious engineering nonsense have been discussed here many times before, so I won't repeat them.

That's kind of weird that the OIL gauge wont go all the way to HIGH if the wire is grounded. You're basically saying the OIL gauge needle would never go past 1/2 way, or below 1/2 way (as long as you have adequate oil pressure). I know it's not a real oil pressure gauge, but I know for a fact the TEMP gauge will peg to full HIGH if grounded. I guess the TEMP gauge is more of a gauge then the OIL gauge. At any rate OP, the needle should go up (apparently 1/2 way) if the sender wire is grounded. if it doesn't the wire/connection or the gauge is not functioning.
 






The older (up to 1987) F150's with V8 5.0L had an analog sender. It was bad publicity that owner could see the pressure drop from 60psi to 10psi when engine was warming up. Better to show "normal" all the way to 5psi :)
I have installed a 'T' in the pressure port to allow the use of a mechanical pressure gauge, to read the real pressure. Results, in my case, are sad...
 






It is understandable that the manufacturer would make a "dummy" gauge in this day and age. Most people don't have any understanding about what they are looking at. Me, personally I would much rather see what is actually going on with the engine. That's why I don't get excited when I see the temp gauge fluctuate. By the way, I have just never gotten around to installing a mechanical oil pressure gauge. It's kinda like out of sight out of mind.
 






The older (up to 1987) F150's with V8 5.0L had an analog sender. It was bad publicity that owner could see the pressure drop from 60psi to 10psi when engine was warming up. Better to show "normal" all the way to 5psi :)
I have installed a 'T' in the pressure port to allow the use of a mechanical pressure gauge, to read the real pressure. Results, in my case, are sad...

I completely agreed with the results being "sad" . They sure don't make trucks like they use to!
 












No problem.. Have you gotten a chance to test the sender out yet?
Unfortunately not. Transmission is being installed. Complications force me to withhold doing that till I am able.
;)
 






Unfortunately not. Transmission is being installed. Complications force me to withhold doing that till I am able.
;)

Sounds about right. Two options there... You can finish putting the transmission back in, or fix a little switch that doesn't say much anyway.

I think you're making the right choice with putting the trans in!

Hope it goes as painless as possible.
 






Sounds about right. Two options there... You can finish putting the transmission back in, or fix a little switch that doesn't say much anyway.

I think you're making the right choice with putting the trans in!

Hope it goes as painless as possible.
Understand this, the trans IS much more important then a sender. Heck, the Explorer can't even drive right now. :roll:

And lamentably, the tranny isn't going in without a fight. Stinkin exhaust...lol

Thanks for the little bite-size encouragement...:)
 






Sorry for the old thread bump. I don't like leaving threads hanging, to help people with the same problem out.

The issue ended up being the wire was slashed in half that connects to the sender. Used a butt connector and spliced the wires and now it works fine.
 






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