Oil Pressure Concern

Last week, i was driving my bronco home on the way home from purchasing it, and the oil pressure dropped to zero, and the CEL light came on.

The previous owner had installed a 2 pod gauge on the floor, one of which was an oil pressure, so the one on the floor was at zero pressure along with the one in the cluster.

I had it towed and after several tests they decided to pull the motor (partially) and replace the pump, screen, pan and pan rails(rusted). to the price of around $1500. They said the pickup screen was almost totally clogged, and there was alot of crap in the oil. I trust them because they accually showed it to me.

They gave it a thorough test drive before returning it to me, and said everything was fine, but the gauge on the cluster/dash was inaccurate-reading too low, but the mechanical one in the pod was reading just fine.

Today i was driving and now the one in the cluster/dash will go to zero, and the CEL will come on but the one in the pod is reading fine, just as it was. 35-40 at low idle, warm, in gear. as soon as i tap the gas it goes to around 60 or more. but the other gauge will come back every once in a while to L(randomly while driving).

I am not really concerned becuase the motor is running fine, no knocking or anything. The only thing im am concerned with is for some reason i have it in my mind that if the computer thinks there is no oil pressure it will **** the motor eventually, becuase it cant read the mechanical gauge in the pod on the floor just the one on the dash/cluster. I just remember reading that somewhere it will **** itself becuase of no pressure for a period of time. Any ideas? True?

Plus i followed the tube that goes directly into the mechanical gauge to the side of the block and its fine. I cant even find where the one on the dash is hooked up to.

Thanks for reading and helpng me out. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Try replacing your oil pressure sensor/switch

They are only $5-10.00

IT may be as clogged, or may be faulty

It should be here:

Under hood, driver side, lower engine area, rear of oil filter, mounted in block

BroncoJoe19 said:

Try replacing your oil pressure sensor/switchThey are only $5-10.00

IT may be as clogged, or may be faulty

It should be here:

Under hood, driver side, lower engine area, rear of oil filter, mounted in block

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are you saying there are two sensors, one for the one in in the dash and one for the pod? becuase the pod is working perfect its the one in the dash acting up.

90windsor said:

are you saying there are two sensors, one for the one in in the dash and one for the pod? becuase the pod is working perfect its the one in the dash acting up.

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Yes.. absolutely /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

The one in the pod is mechanical and has an actual oil line going to it (so it does not include a sensor, but rather oil rigth to the guage). IT is much more reliable than the sensor that sends an electrical signal to the in dash guage.

goto www.autozone.com and enter your trucks specs. Then you can search for "oil pressure switch"

They'll have a picture of it, and a sensor locator section for you.

BroncoJoe19 said:

Yes.. absolutely /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />
The one in the pod is mechanical and has an actual oil line going to it. IT is much more reliable than the sensor that send an electical signal to the in dash guage.

goto www.autozone.com and enter your trucks specs. Then you can search for "oil pressure switch"

They'll have a picture of it, and a sensor locator section for you.

Click to expand...

so is there a T bracket on the hole in the block? such as the hole where the normal one goes got split into two so the mechanical one cold have the nylon tube run to it and the stock electric one could have the sensor hooked up to it?

i will take a picture tomarrow after i get home from work. of what everything looks like

thanks for your help

I don't know exactly how it is, but it sounds like you got the right idea.

Now that you know what to look for, you probably won't have to post pictures to ask questions, but It MAY be good to post them to show... this is how it is done!

i drove it over 50 miles strait today and the guage was on zero the whole time(the one in the dash) oneon the floor in the pod was fine. so im thinking its a loose connection or a bad sensor for the dash gauge.

It does sound like a bad sender for the stock gauge, which cannot accurately read the pressure below 20 psi. It's great that the previous owner installed a mechaincal gauge and it appears to be reading actual oil pressure. I think you may have added a few more miles to your motor by replacing the pump and pick-up tube before that starved the oil pump. That's a very common problem and a major cause of engine failure. The crankshaft bearings will not get enough oil, and small chunks or filings wear off of the bearings, get into your oil and **** the pump. Keep a very close eye on your oil level, color, and that mech press gauge. Next time you change the oil and filter, cut open the filter to check for metal filings trapped in the paper element. Think about getting a magnetic drain plug for the oil pan, if oyu don't have one already. If you have around 150,000 miles or more on your engine, you likely already have some bearing wear problems. When you hear one knocking, that's about it. The oil pump maker, which is likely to be Melling (Clevite Co.), will not warranty failure of your new oil pump if it's compromised by metal filings from worn main bearings or other internal parts. The P.O. went through this exact same process on my 84 Bronco, and had to replace the engine at 170K miles. JSM84

I had the same concern. My stock guage would read low, not quite zero but lower than I thought was right. I've owned old fords all me life so I've had experience with the stock senders going bad. I pulled the old sensor out and installed a mechanical guage, and viola the problem was fixed. I have a good 60 lbs of oil pressure cold @ idle and about 25 lbs hot @ idle. I was gonna "T' the line and install a new electonic sender so the guage in my dash would operate, but it is such a pain to get at and install, I decided I'd put it off for a few days, probably permanently. lol. But that is likely your problem. It's common, every old ford I've ever owned I've replaced it at least twice.

eddie bauer said:

I had the same concern. My stock guage would read low, not quite zero but lower than I thought was right. I've owned old fords all me life so I've had experience with the stock senders going bad. I pulled the old sensor out and installed a mechanical guage, and viola the problem was fixed. I have a good 60 lbs of oil pressure cold @ idle and about 25 lbs hot @ idle. I was gonna "T' the line and install a new electonic sender so the guage in my dash would operate, but it is such a pain to get at and install, I decided I'd put it off for a few days, probably permanently. lol. But that is likely your problem. It's common, every old ford I've ever owned I've replaced it at least twice.

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yeah i got at it today and it is a t on the original hole. the mechanical sender is easier to get to than the electric one and i cant even get my hand fasr enough in to get it off. its only one wire connector. any idea if i ground that wire or hook it up to a 12-volt source it will show medium pressure and make the light go off?

90windsor said:

yeah i got at it today and it is a t on the original hole. the mechanical sender is easier to get to than the electric one and i cant even get my hand fasr enough in to get it off. its only one wire connector. any idea if i ground that wire or hook it up to a 12-volt source it will show medium pressure and make the light go off?

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YES!

It is my understanding that if you grounded the wire, that the oil pressure guage would read high.

IF you inserted a resistor between the wire and the ground it would read somewhere inbetween depending upon the amount of resistance. I'm guessing 15 to 30 ohms would be a good working range. You can get the resistors from RadioShack. Check the line voltage, I think it might be 5 volts.

I garnered this information from posts number 2 and 3 from this thread on fuel guages.

http://broncozone.com/forums/index.php?s=&...ost&p=29198

BroncoJoe19 said:

YES!It is my understanding that if you grounded the wire, that the oil pressure guage would read high.

IF you inserted a resistor between the wire and the ground it would read somewhere inbetween depending upon the amount of resistance. I'm guessing 15 to 30 ohms would be a good working range. You can get the resistors from RadioShack. Check the line voltage, I think it might be 5 volts.

I garnered this information from posts number 2 and 3 from this thread on fuel guages.

http://broncozone.com/forums/index.php?s=&...ost&p=29198

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sounds good thanks ill try it out. ill try grounding it directly first. u mean grounding it to frame not a positive (+) 12volt connection correct? i just want to make sure im not gonna fry anything.

90windsor said:

sounds good thanks ill try it out. ill try grounding it directly first. u mean grounding it to frame not a positive (+) 12volt connection correct? i just want to make sure im not gonna fry anything.

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Damn... I don't know why that link didn't work, because it was excellent! I am going to write the admin to ask.

The answer to your question is YES. According to that thread, both SeaBronc, and BladesUs286 explained how it worked. Ground it to the block or some other ground.

joe

Yes thats the easiest way to see if its the sender or the wiring . Ground that wire and the guage will sweep high same with the temp guage . I wouldnt put 12V to it though bad things may happen . /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

BladesUs286 ????? LOL /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />