Looking to convert my 99 oil pressure DUMMY guage to a variable pressure guage

[I support common sense]

I’ve read the articles on converting your oil pressure guage so that it provides active data, but when it comes down to bypassing the resistor it grinds to a halt. My 99’ cluster w/ tach has no resistor on the board. When I took out the guage and put 12volts to the sensor pins and the power pins, the needle only went half way up the guage. This leads me to believe the guage itself was changed sometime between 99’ and 95’ to have a buoy in resistor or bias. I think it was 98’ it changed. My question is, am I correct in my discovery? If so, can I get a guage from a pre 98’ cluster and use that along with a variable oil pressure sending unit?

Just as a bonus, has anyone added numbers to their guage for an estimated amount of pressure?

Thread 'Oil pressure'

Dec 27, 2015

I've got a 94 ranger and every time I start the truck the oil gage doesn't come up as far as it did the day before. It to the top of the checkered with valvoline Max life and a Fram tough guard filter. It used to be dead center of the gauge and not its over a quarter of the way to the low pin. Is this normal?

• rangerdestrustion
• Replies: 7
• Forum: 3.0 Liter Forum

Thread 'Variable Oil Pressure Gauge Modifiction'

Jan 3, 2016

Original Poster: Larry Bolan (ratdude747)

Difficulty: 6 out of 10 (depending on soldering ability)

Time to install: 1-2.5 hours

Disclaimer: The Ranger Station.com, The Ranger Station.com Staff, nor the original poster are responsible for you doing this modification to your vehicle. By doing this modification and following this how-to you, the installer, take full responsibility if anything is damaged or messed up. If you have questions, feel free to PM the original poster or ask in the appropriate section of The Ranger Station.com forums.

Brief Explanation: This modification converts...

• ratdude747
• Replies: 25
• Forum: Submission Archive

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[franklin2]

Common sense would say to put aftermarket gauges in with real numbers on them. Voltmeter, temperature and oil pressure. Do you support this idea?

 

[I support common sense]

Huh, you got me there. Has anyone ever placed one so it is aesthetically pleasing?

 

[franklin2]

I put the trio under the dash where they are easily seen. Ford never had any good gauges with numbers on them. You may be a little shocked at what a real oil pressure gauge will tell you during a hot idle, but remember the general rule is at least 10 psi per 1000 rpm. So on a engine with a lot of miles, you may see 6 psi at 600 rpm hot idle. That seems low, but is considered good enough to keep things going.

Or if it worries you, go back to the original Ford gauge. It will read in the middle till the oil pressure gets below 5 psi.

 

[lowspeedpursuit]

We talked about this over the Summer?

'95 is the last year with an external resistor that can be trivially converted to read "real" pressure (since you guys are already talking about the lack of numbers) from a PS-60 sender. That also makes '95 the only year the mod works on the newer-style gauges.

I will say the '95 gauge can be twitchy as hell compared to '93-'94. If I'm in there again, I'll probably replace the resistor with a smoothing capacitor, rather than a jumper wire.