I have a cluster from a 94 Lightning. I would really like to do the oil gauge and sending unit modification. Is it really necessary to swap gauge internals? If so, do I just need a gauge from a 92 or 93 tach cluster or either cluster?

 

I do not know about the 94 Lightning cluster but the 1994 & 1995 clusters are the same so I am guessing the 1994 would need the gauge movement also.

I put a 1992 F-series truck tachometer cluster into my 1995 F53 and the Mod worked right so know the 1992 movement works right.

 

Wanted to add that on my truck, 1988 F250 4x4 460 there is no resistor on the back of the gauge cluster. The resistor is in the engine harness under the hood that goes across the firewall from driver side to pass side. On the wiring loom it is labeled "resistor" cut open the loom and there it is the 20 ohm resistor.

 

Man am I glad that I found this thread. I just did this mod on my 96 F150 (4.9L).

It originally came with a non-tach cluster. I bought a tach cluster from a 96 F150 at the J/Y.

With the tach cluster in, I switched out the oil pressure switch with a new sensor (SW873B). I jumper-ed the resistor on the back of the tach cluster.
However, when I started the truck up, there was absolutely no change. The gauge didn't move at all when I rev'ed the engine. It seemed to act just as it did previously (with the old oil switch installed and resistor un-jumper-ed).

I took apart my 96 non-tach cluster. The oil pressure gauge on the 96 non-tach cluster did NOT look like what dixie460 found on his non-tach cluster.
Instead, my 96 non-tach cluster basically looked like the 96-tach cluster, EXCEPT for the following (sorry, I didn't take pictures).

• 96 non-tach cluster oil gauge had two windings (vs 1 winding)
• 96 non-tach cluster oil gauge had a 92k resistor-type thing (didn't look like a traditional resistor, but it had 92k marked on it) soldered across the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock poles, whereas the 96 tach cluster did not have this.

Basically, it looked like what subford mentioned below on his 95 non-tach cluster.


In summary, I took the oil gauge from my 96 non-tach cluster (with 115k Ohm resistor between pins) and put it into my 96 tach cluster. The result is that the gauge moves when I press the accelerator pedal. The gauge moves from the "R" (at idle) to the "M" when I accelerate to 2,000 RPM. The gauge slowly moves back to "R" when I let it go back to idle.


If I get a chance, I'll try to look for a pre-95 non-tach cluster and report back if it makes my gauge move more.


I certainly don't see the type of movement shown in the video.

 

I hope someone figures it all out one day.

Iʻd like to do this too.

 

I took the oil gauge out of a 1992 non-tachometer cluster and put in my 1995 stock tachometer cluster to get it to work right.
I think 1993 is the last year you can get oil gauge out of to make it work right.

There is a write up about this on this forum someplace.

 

Iʻll keep this in mind, Iʻll JYing for a cluster.

 

The thread I was talking about is page #2 of this thread.

 

Mine does the exact same thing and I thought to myself, "So much for this mod." Now I know there is help as I still have my old gauge cluster sitting around so I can swap the other oil pressure guts into my new tach cluster. Thanks for posting this for us!

 

Oh man... I just read the entire thread again knowing I had posted in it originally and noticed I made some typo's... I certainly didn't mean that a reading of 0.3 ohms meant there was a resistor somewhere... guess I meant NOT a resistor somewhere lol...

I doubt it was a 92,000 ohm resistor... could it have been a diode? Did it have a symbol like ->|- that on it? I don't know what good that would do, either. The three pins are (IIRC) V+, V-, and signal.

 

So, when I made the observation that I posted above, the truck wasn't warmed up. I drove about 100 miles today. And the gauge moves a lot more once the motor is warmed up. Which makes sense as the oil is more "fluid" when at temperature.

With a warm engine at idle, the gauge reads at the "O." When I accelerate, the gauge moves. At about 2,500 RPM the gauge reads at the "M."

However, the gauge never seems to go beyond the "M" even when I'm at 3,000 RPM. So, I guess it works.

If I can find a 92 or 93 non-tach cluster at the J/Y, and the price is reasonable, I'll try to pick it up and steal its oil gauge to see if I can match what dixie460 did.


I'll try to take a photo of it. It definitely does not have 3 pins. It's two pins, dull yellow color and marked with 92k. Looks just like a resistor but without the resistor bands on it. Solid dull yellow color with 92k stamped in black ink.

dixie460, how much does your oil pressure gauge move? Does it seem to never go beyond the "M" even if you run the motor up to 3,000 or 3,500 RPM?

 

Warren561, on a cold start/idle my gauge reads just past the top of the NORM band, almost to the H mark. If I rev the engine any it will go over to H but I generally let her warm up at idle for at least a minute or so, more if it's a cold day.

Warm idle shows around the N in NORM, will go up to around the R with higher RPM's.
Don't remember if that is exactly where it goes... my oil gauge is acting up and probably fixin' to quit altogether. It's been sticking at the low end of the band since I pulled it apart to work on the cluster, although if I tap on it, it'll make it past the sticky spot and then stick again just before 3/4 scale. Need to get to the junkyard and grab another older cluster.

 

I found another twist in the saga I want to add to this thread for posterity. I have a 1988 F250 donor truck that I used the diesel engine out of for my Diesel Bronco project. It's running, but I am working thru several electrical gremlins. One was that the OP gauge would read only halfway when grounded, but this is an '88 cluster (doesn't have a resistor) and '88 wiring that I put into my '91 Bronco. Because the OP did not have a resistor, I assumed this was an old-fashioned gauge. The motor did not have it's original sender as the PO had put in a mechanical gauge. I had a gauge sender laying around so I stuck it in there.

So, I have it running, and it is showing just barely any OP on the gauge. I ground it and it goes to halfway. So I start tracing back the wire, thinking I've got a bad connection somewhere. What I found was that they put the 20 ohm resistor in-line in the engine harness. I have never seen that before. I jumped that and now I have a real gauge, but it took me way too long to find it. I wasted a whole evening on that one thing.

 

I found that resistor too before. Kinda makes you mad at Ford for that one!

 

Bumping an old thread...Does it have to be a Non-Tach Cluster from a 92-93 cluster? Will a Tach cluster gauge work?


--Never mind I just read a post by Subford above and it answered my question....Thanks

This is the gauge out of my 92' Tach cluster..