Son took my truck and came back about half hour later and said by the way the check enging lite was on so I go out and start the truck and it sounded normal and then I saw the oil pressure gauge was dead flat at nothing so I quickly shut her down.truck has 100,000 on it and i`ve owned it sice new with regular oil changes at 4,000 miles and I know when I change the oil and fire her back up it clatter for a few seconds the the gauge goes up and it`s quiet again so I`m thinking this must be a gauge or sendoe problem?what do you think? thanks

 

Could be gauge or sender..? is what, where, and when did the CEL come on? A malfunctioning oil gauge or sender wont trip the CEL. An easy way to check if it has oil pressure is to remove the sender from the block, have the son/you sit in the driver seat and have son/yourself put his/your finger over the sender port and start the truck up. If you have oil pressure, one of you will realize quickly!

If you have time, pick up an oil pressure gauge and install it in the engine bay or cab so you can always see without guessing from the idiot light gauge, which only registers @ 7 psi.

 

Thanks for the help it`s not the cel just the enginge lit thats red.wouldn`t it have blew already if it didn`t have oil pressure by now or atleast be making lifter or bearing noise?I am thinking gauge or sendor.

 

I would say so, but every engine is a bit dfferent. Definately run it without oil for just a few mins will do enough damage to hear it.

There could also be something that is blocking the sender, but with your upkeep on the engine, I doubt it.

Hope all is well!

 

thanks I`ll check everything in the morning.

 

Just started it up and did the same tick tick tick for a second on morning start ups and stopped so i`m sure it`s just a gauge or sensor and not the oil pump.how do i test the gauge and sensor to see where my problem is?

 

Pull the wire off the sender and ground it. If the gauge shows full oil pressure with the wire grounded, the sender is bad. If the gauge still shows no pressure with the wire grounded, the problem lies in the wire or the gauge.

 

I pulled the wire and grounded it and it went to the middle of the gauge so that ok.I had a hard time getting at the sender and trying to see what size wrench or socket I need to get it off but just feeling it it seams like you need so kind of special wrech or something to get it off?I have a remote oil filter that I put on years ago and I cracked it alittle and drain out the oil in the filter and then had someone fire it up to see if I had pressure and sure enought it flew out of there like a fire hose so the put is working.Just need to find the tool or size to get this sender off.

 

There's a special socket for the sending unit. Your local auto parts store should carry it.

 

The sender is bad. It will go to the middle if the engine has more than 5psi its really stupid. I would suggest converting to the older style and cutting out the resistor in the cluster so you will see actual pressure. I just did this on my 351 and it was a pain in the *** having to put an extension in the block. If you want to do that get the factory extension it will make life much easier. Places like bronco graveyard, and lmc truck should have it.

 

Thanks for the info Max