Oil Pressure Gauge All Over The Place

[mustangdave357]

Hello all,

Just recently my oil pressure gauge is acting funny. At idle it flickers a little towards the low side but when driving and accelerating it is flickering very badly. It is mostly on the low side of normal or even maxed all the way to the left. It is almost acting like someone is flicking it with their finger. There doesnt seem to be any pattern to the behavior other than it does it less while I am in park or at a stoplight. I have had the truck for 5 years and the oil pressure gauge never moved a 1/16 of an inch from the normal range. I checked the oil in the crankcase and it is full and I checked the oil in the HPOP and it is full too. Could it be the 1 wire sensor that is screwed into the HPOP resevoir?

Thanks, Dave

[fordF250]

my truck did this to me once. I freaked out because I just bought the truck and was like its dying already. I took it to a garage, and he popped off the cover above the fuel filter. He had me watch the gauge and I notice him wiggling stuff and the gauge started acting goofy. He said a wire was loose. I cant tell you exactly which one. but sorry i cant help more.

[mustangdave357]

Under the cover for the fuel filter is a sensor that screws into the HPOP. I have no clue what this does, maybe the sensor is bad and causing the gauge to not work properly. The wire could be loose too. Not sure what is causing the gauge to act different than normal. Thanks for the suggestion, I will check it out tonight.

[metallitera]

The oil pressure gauge sensor is on the HPOP resevior lid, the wire just slips on a threaded stud on the top. check the wire and connection to the sensor.

[mustangdave357]

Would a faulty gauge sensor cause the needle to jump around evrywhere?

[metallitera]

Originally Posted by mustangdave357

Would a faulty gauge sensor cause the needle to jump around evrywhere?

I dont believe so. I think if they are going out or gone out, they peg out one way or another. Thats the way they have done me in the past anyway. not oil pressure but cheap fuel pressure sending units.

[mustangdave357]

I will check the connection and hope that its just loose. If that doesnt fix it I dont know what to do. The new sending unit from advance or autozone with a guage rather than a light is about 25.00. I have no problem buying it if I knew it was going to fix the problem.

[Cratos]

put a meter on it and see if it is jumping around.

[mustangdave357]

I really doubted the "loose wire" theory since the wire pushes pretty tightly over a threaded stud but I gave it a shot anyway. I pulled the wire off, sprayed contact cleaner on the stud, and put the wire back on. To my suprise its back to working perfectly. I guess I learned my lesson, try the simple things first even if they dont make any sense. Thanks to all!

[metallitera]

Originally Posted by mustangdave357

I really doubted the "loose wire" theory since the wire pushes pretty tightly over a threaded stud but I gave it a shot anyway. I pulled the wire off, sprayed contact cleaner on the stud, and put the wire back on. To my suprise its back to working perfectly. I guess I learned my lesson, try the simple things first even if they dont make any sense. Thanks to all!

Yuup. Try the free and easy possabilities first before yo start throwing parts at the thing.