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Oil pressure gauge issues.


jefferzbooboo

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I was going down the road the other day and heard a tick. I looked down and my oil pressure gauge bounced a couple more times off the bottom pin. I shut the key off and got a tow home.
My oil was about an 1/8th of an inch below low on the dipstick. I topped my oil off and decided to try to start it.
It started right up, no ticks or bangs. But my oil gauge went to the normal position. Then it started fluctuating in the middle 3rd for a 6-7 seconds, then hit zero.
Is this signs of the sensor going or am I looking towards something worse?
 


RonD

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The noise means there could be an actual oil pressure issue.

The "sensor" is an on/off switch, trigger point is about 6psi, so above 6psi switch is closed and oil gauge is grounded, so it will move up to normal position, any movement of needle after that would be electrical voltage changes.
Below 6psi and switch will be open, no ground, so gauge would show no pressure.

If oil pressure is hoovering around 6psi then gauge could go up and down, switch is opening and closing.

The switch is on the passenger side rear top of engine, behind passenger side head on block by bellhousing.

The oil pump is driven by the Cam Position sensor synchronizer, the synchronizers on the 3.0l engines do wear out and need to be changed every 80k-100k miles.

So yes replace the switch first they are not expensive.
But the ticking noise at lower RPM could mean there really is low oil pressure which would mean a physical problem not instrument problem.
 

jefferzbooboo

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I should have worded the noise better. The tick was the gauge hitting the bottom peg, not the motor.
 
pjtoledo

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the oil gauge on my 2000 3.0 has been flakey for years.
at startup it reads no pressure, a mile or so later it clicks up to normal.
always 5-30 synthetic oil, in the past a Mobil -1 filter, about to switch to FL400s.
 

Desertrunner33

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Screw the unreliable stock gauges. Install a mechanical oil pressure gauge. Easy to do and will give an actual psi reading so you truly know what's going on

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
 

RonD

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jefferzbooboo said:
I should have worded the noise better. The tick was the gauge hitting the bottom peg, not the motor.
Click to expand...
Then first thing would be to check the wire on the oil pressure switch, make sure it is clean and tight.
Replace switch if wire looks OK.
This switch is a Sender type, so uses its threads as the Ground for the circuit.
So when installing make sure to leave a few bare metal threads at the bottom of the switch, don't over use sealing tape if you use it at all.

A "real" oil pressure gauge would serve no purpose for 99% of vehicle owners.
The "Idiot Light" approach gauge, on/off, is, IMO, better suited to all but a few drivers because 0 oil pressure means something to them, 0 is bad, 100% would know, or at least suspect, that, lol.

Low pressure on the other hand is a judgement call, some may notice it and check it out, but most wouldn't.

Not to say that having accurate gauges isn't desired by the 1%, it is.
Coolant/engine temp
Oil pressure
Fuel pressure
Transmission fluid temp
All are good to have if you know and like to have that info, 99% don't care

An example of the don't care would be that most people can easily check their blood pressure and blood sugar levels daily, but don't care too.
Unless there is a problem.
Your life is alot more valuable than any engine, so you can't blame the 99% that don't care to see "real" oil pressure, just human nature.
 

jefferzbooboo

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Thanks everyone. I changed out the sensor and installed a mechanical gauge also. I haven't tried to turn it over yet. I have someone coming out on Wednesday to change the camshaft synchronizer.
The vehicle has 130k miles on it so I figured it should do it now just to be safe.
 
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