Oil pressure problems.

[adm1981]

Hi all I have a 01 sport trac 4x4 4.0L I'm having problems with the oil pressure after the truck sits for 8hrs or so it seems all the oil drains back down to the oil pan. I know the oil filter has a (ADBV) and I have tried 3 different filters the latest being a motorcraft. When I start it in the morning I have no oil psi on the gauge for a min or two i know i have oil psi i can see oil on the cam through the oil spout. Its just taking a few mins for the psi to build up due to all the oil draining back down. With this last filter I added a qt of Lucas oil treatment and that has stopped the metal to metal dry starts. Im really at a stand still of what to check next any recommendations anyone!!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread to the stock 95-01 section. Your sending unit might be bad. Connect a test gauge to the place where the sending unit goes, and check the oil pressure.

 

[ranger7ltr]

How dirty is your oil been when you drain it?

With the sending unit you are depending on to provide info to the dash "gauge", I would start at with replacing the sending unit especially since you can see oil flowing when the engine is running...

If the oil looks extremely dirty when you change it, you might want to continue monitoring the oil pressure with a proper gauge of either electrical or mechanical means... And start changing the oil more often to remove the sludge...

And oil with drainback into the pan when the engine is not running...The drainback valve doesn't keep the engine oil galleries filled with oil when the engine is off..If your pressure is not registering on a proper gauge for "a minute or 2" then I would start looking at a problem with the oil pump...

 

[bpopp]

Is it a SOHC engine? Before my first SOHC engine slipped its timing chain, my oil pressure light would stay on for 5-10 seconds after I cranked the engine. I didn't know this then, but my plastic tensioner was breaking up and dropping pieces of metal and plastic into the oil pan which were clogging up the uptake.

 

[TheJackal]

If it doesn't bother you, you could try removing the oil pan to visually inspect the pickup tube or see if there's a lot of gunk or sediment plugging things up. Otherwise you might need to replace the oil pump.

 

[kitra]

If your Explorer is like our 1999 Mountaineer, the oil pressure gauge is a glorified idiot light. If you notice, the gauge will always stay in the middle, hot, cold, idle or wide-open. Oil pressure doesn't work that way in an engine. Hot idle you could see as low as 15-20 PSI in some engines and 50-60 PSI at speed. The sending unit is just a dumb switch. The one on our rig hangs up when it's cold and we've been showing no oil pressure for as long as 2-3 minutes but really we have oil pressure. I've just delayed replacing the sending unit (switch). Wondering if yours is doing something similar?

 

[my98nnj]

If you really had no oil pressure the engine would be very loud, plus you can see oil on the cams even when the light is on. That points to a bad sensor or gauge.