I have a 2002 Explorer EB with a 4.6. I purchased it in August 2005 with 85000 miles on it. I am the 3rd owner.
The truck is in great shape and I love driving it. I travel a lot for my work. The on board message center said it was time for an oil change and I took it to my favorite Quick lane at a Ford dealer for the service. They found some recalls that needed to be performed, just what I wanted to find out. Now the plot thickens.
Since the weather has been cold ( 30's in the morning ) at start up my low oil pressure warning comes on and the gauge reads 0. I check the oil level and its fine, start it again and the pressure is fine for the rest of the day. The problem repeated itself on cold mornings. I checked inside the valve cover while idling at O psi and it seems wet inside, no noise at all. I changed the oil myself thinking the oil filter was pluged or bad. I used a Fram oil filter and Castrol 5W30 with one quart of Castrol sythetic to make up the recomended amount. I now know that I should have used 5W20. I cut apart the old oil filter, nothing to report there, typical findings. I still have the same problem at cold start up.
Could the 5W30 be that much thicker? Is the up take screen plugged ?Is this typical of the 4.6 ? Ive had 2 other 5.4 without any problems at all.
Thanks in advance
Caber

 

I had the same thing happen with my 2000 f-150 (95k) 4.6. It ended up being the oil pressure sending unit. For the price, it really cant hurt to replace it .

 

I had a 2000 explorer and also had to have the oil pressure sending unit, mine fortunately, was still under factory warranty at that time. The same thing happened it read 0 psi on cold starts.

 

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I also vote for the sending unit. And on a side note, you may want to stay away from Fram oil filters and stick with Motorcraft. Fram dosent have the anti drainback valve that these motors need, not to run dry on cold starts.

 

Thanks, I will change the sending unit. This is a first for me. I usually have a problem that cant be solved or no one has heard of.
I like this Explorer, I bought it with 85000 miles and have 96000 on it now.11000 miles in 5 months its a very nice ride.

 

i know that on my 2001 4.6l f150 there is a TSB for the oil pressure sensor which caused the gauge to read low pressure when started cold and stop when it warmed up to normal run temp.