Ford Ranger 3.0 Oil Gauge

[LBCRanger]

Does Anybody have any idea what would be causing the oil gauge to be going up and down while idleing like its going crazy? then when i rev it up it stops.Maybe its a short or something? anybody have any clue?

 

[Ranger4657]

id truble shoot it, probably a short. theres tests you can run on your oil pressure switch as well , or you could just spend the 20 or whatever bucks for a mechanical one =]

 

[Earl43P]

The oil pressure sender is a switch.
Above 8 psi, the gage reads mid-scale.

You should replace your sender or investigate why your idle is too low.

My $$ is on the sender being bad. It is located on the back of the PS head/block. It's hard to see without a mirror. Its wire should be DG/W (dark green wire with a white stripe).

 

[TomB1269]

2nd on sender......their know to have issues

 

[funkingonutz]

replace ur sender......then tell us how goes it

 

[oldfordman]

Agreed- most likely a bad sending unit. While you are at it, you could consider changing your gauge to read actual pressure, not just act as an idiot light. I found this link through another posting on The Ranger Station-
http://rogueperformance.com/oilsw.html
I have not tried this yet, but plan to do so when I get a chance. When I do it, before I screw in the sending unit, I will hook it up to a compressed air line with a gauge, ground the sender to the block with a wire, and do a quick run up in pressure to see what pressures correspond to what positions on the gauge. Still won't have numbers, but I'll know about how many PSI is in the middle, etc. Maybe I'll get real ambitious and pull the dash panel apart and put the numbers on the gauge face.

 

[davidg25]

Ditto sensor replacement.

I've had the same problem on my 2000 with the oil sender. One didn't last a month, but my new one is stable.