Oil Pressure Issues | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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FixMyTruck

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City, State
Kentucky
Year, Model & Trim Level
92 ford explorer 4x4
My oil pressure gauge is dropping to low while driving down the street. the truck is still running fine (doesn't bog down or anything). we changed the sending unit and the oil... not sure what to look at passed that....I have been told if the pressure was actually low though that the vehicle would bog down or there would be a change in performance but there is none. and I really don't want to have to pull the motor to get the pan off if it isn't necessary.
 



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Welcome to the site dude. Just FYI double posting is frowned upon. When I started out working on cars I bought myself a cheap little pressure gauge and have used that thing many many times. Get a cheap gauge and hook it up. Tape it to your windshield with the handyman's secret weapon and go for a drive. Then report back. Motors have been known to get gunked up, there are a couple things that you can do to clean them out without pulling them out but you should make sure this is the problem.
 






Did you change the Oil Filter as well when oil was changed ? Only asking as it Does not say in the Original post .
 






With low oil pressure you are more likely to hear the lifters clacking than a bogging down.
Your oil pressure gauge is really an "idiot gauge", unless you've modified it.
The gauge will read around mid scale at pressure over 5 psi and zero below that.
Like wood1 said get a cheap oil pressure gauge to test with and find out what the pressure is really doing.
The pressure should be around 10-15 at idle and climb to 35-45 at speed.
 






One thing to know is that, as stock, they use a pressure switch, rather than a sender. The instrument gauge, as such will show only two states: Normal or Low. If your sender is small, like a cubic inch, then it is a switch only. A true sender is more of a container shape, a couple of inches long. There is a procedure to install a proper sender and a modification to the gauge cluster to give you true oil pressure. It is not hard, there are a few articles here on the subject.

So, assuming your Exp has not had this modification, your oil pressure is crossing the 5 PSI line, which is what the original pressure switch flips at.

Which means your oil pressure is low. In my mind, there is really nothing preventative to deal with this. If you are in a warmer climate, I might go to a heavier oil. In a colder climate, you will starve your engine with thicker oil, so you need to stay on spec.

What makes low oil pressure? Sometimes it's the pump, but rarely. It can be in the cam, up in the heads, but you would hear it. Probably the issue is... damn, sorry, this is not pretty. Probably, it is loose main bearings. Main bearings are just about as deep as you can get into an engine.

There are some oddities. A clogged oil return from the top end, but you would get a low oil light.

IMHO, go a grade deeper in your oil. And, understand that your engine is near the end of it's life. It may be time to move on.
 






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