I have a 2010 F-150 Lariat 4X4 and am curious, is the oil pressure sender binary or does it actually monitor oil pressure? I had an older F-150, an 89 and all it had was a binary sender feeding the oil pressure gauge through a resistor.

 

Good question.

It is electrical. Engine oil pressure switch. Part # 14A464. It is mounted on the oil filter adapter (which has the oil filter screwed on to it of course).

Are you saying that only a mechanical oil pressure unit can monitor oil pressure?

Thanks

 

What I am saying is an analog gauge like I have should have an analog sender. The older trucks had an analog gauge and a binary sender. They registered pressure but it was always the same.
an analog sender and gauge gives you real time oil pressure.

 

Switch and binary (at least to me) are the same. ON=1, OFF=0.

I think you're asking if the device is a transducer (converts analog pressure values to analog electrical values).

Since the part is called a switch (thanks for the Service Manual info John), it is binary and the oil pressure guage on the dash is simply displaying a 1 or 0 on an analog guage.

In other words, Ford is leading us to believe we have a transducer when in reality we have a switch.

 

I'm an aviation mechanic and electrics has never been my strong point. So are you saying in your last statement that the oil pressure gauge will always read the same thing no matter what when it is on?

 

A switch can only be on or off. If there is sufficient oil pressure to turn the switch on, the dash gauge will ALWAYS read the same. In other words, the oil pressure gauge is really an idiot light.

In fact, if you buy a Scangauge or other OBDII device, you'll see that oil pressure is not an available analog PID.

CHT, ECT, and TFT are available analog PIDs.

 

hey there Seinor Chief mantta, you did 20 years in the canoe club?

 

I sure did. Mostly on diesel submarines. I hung it up in 1979.

 

congrats to the both of you, hopefully i'll be there in another 15 years!

 

not sure how Ford wires the instrument cluster, but most of the GM stuff is a two wire switch which is turned on at about 6 psi or so. The signal goes to the PCM, not the gauge. The PCM controls the virtual dash oil gauge so when the oil is cold the gauge reads higher, as it does with increased RPM.

 

"In other words, Ford is leading us to believe we have a transducer when in reality we have a switch. "

Or as I like to say... Sure glad I don't have just an idiot light, FORD gave me an idiot gauge.

 

In general speak, it most definitely is a dummy gauge.

 

the CPU does get oil pressure reading from the Cam Sensors - it's not displayed like the gauge but it is reading PSI.

 

There still up to this. This is the only thing i will rat ford on. Fake oil pressure gauges, and temperature gauges that say cold to hot. What the heck does that mean. How hard is it to put temperatures on the gauge, and put an actual oil pressure gauge in that shows psi. All the other manufactures do that why can't ford. I have the same thing in my 91' but its easy to convert to a real gauge. I can imagine you can't do that with these newer trucks.

 

Since it is just an idiot light, I would rather have a battery gauge that gives voltage not just hi/low.