I recently got a 1995 F250, 5.8L, 4x2. Its a great solid truck that has been maintained well. My concern is the oil pressure gauge is reading on the N of Normal or maybe just above, yes I know its basically a idiot light with a needle. My concern is should I be worried about driving rt now or is that kind normal for these older Fords to read. Just wondering if anyone could throw me some advice on it?

 

The gauge is equivalent to a light. The oil pressure switch turns on at 5-7 PSI of oil pressure, and the gauge will immediately go to the middle range. If the gauge reads low, it either the gauge, wiring, or the pressure switch is going faulty.

As long as the gauge does go up, you're fine.

 

Good to know, thanks for the advice Ill look into figuring out what exactly I need to fix.

 

I've got an '89 F350 w/ a 351w in it. the truck was previously a plow and was abused heavily- the engine is pretty tired. Anyhow, the oil pressure gauge is all over the place from solid 'normal' (from start up until warmed up, then only with decent RpMs) to no 'pressure' (under load or low RPMs after warmup). I'm sure the bearings are shot and the engine needs to be rebuilt.

As long as the pressure is constant and within normal you should be good. only way to tell for sure is to put a real flow meter on it- I barrowed one from a local parts store. I'd start there- at least you'll know if you have a real problem then...

 

Also, a brand new sender is about $7 I think. But you'll need a special socket to get it on/off wich cost me about $10 bucks as I remember. it's a cheap fix if it is the sender.

 

You can reach that sender from under the front bumper on your back with a vice-grip. I put in the cheap sunpro gauge with copper tubing in under a half hour and you can easily use wrenches and sockets for the install. Bonus is you'll get an actual pressure reading. If replacing the stock sender I would try to find that special socket cause regular deep sockets wont clear the oil cooler.

 

It was pretty easy to get to my sender from the front drivers side from under the hood. It's right next to the oil filter (just in back of it) and that tends to be a pretty nasty area for grime/dirt/grease- hence I chose to reach from the top instead of crawl under.

Also I think you can use a 1-1/4" (or some size like that) to get it in and out- the socket isn't a snug fit, but the sender isn't exactly a high-torque fitting, so you should be fine with that. I'm not sure I'd use the vice-grips though- the stamped metal 'jacket' around the sender isn't exactly sturdy and you might round it over (not sure since I never tried it).

 

The visegrips worked fine for me yesterday after tryin all manner of sockets shallow and deep. Like you say, its low torque, so a few 16th turns and its loose enough to remove by hand. I was not replacing that unit so it didnt matter if it rounded or not, though it didnt. And one thing to note is that if you dont have an oil cooler, you should be fine with a deep socket.

 

An 89 I think still had the "real" gauge and sender. It's the newer ones (91+?) that have the dummy switch. You can convert it though. Easy fix unless you have a late OBS truck like my 96. The last few years had a dummy sender AND dummy gauge. Then, you gotta get an older gauge movement too.

Thankfully, the yard here always has a few OBS trucks for any parts I might need. Shame to see them die, but at least they are giving their lives to save others.