90 bronco: need some advice
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90 bronco: need some advice
Okay, first post here, and to be completely honest I'm not a car or truck person at all. I'm just learning as I go.
Basically my truck is loosing oil, about a quart every other day. It's not burning it since my exhaust is still white and fairly light. The guage on dash has just stopped working this morning, as has my gas guage. Is this kind of stuff normal for a truck that age with 128,000 miles on it? Should I consider getting rid of it? I've always taken it to the Ford Dealership, but they wanted to replace my gas tank, fuel lines, fuel pump, and sensors in order to fix the gas guage problem... so I don't really want to take it to them.
Basically my truck is loosing oil, about a quart every other day. It's not burning it since my exhaust is still white and fairly light. The guage on dash has just stopped working this morning, as has my gas guage. Is this kind of stuff normal for a truck that age with 128,000 miles on it? Should I consider getting rid of it? I've always taken it to the Ford Dealership, but they wanted to replace my gas tank, fuel lines, fuel pump, and sensors in order to fix the gas guage problem... so I don't really want to take it to them.
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Joined: Jan 2000
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90 bronco: need some advice
128K on a Ford?? It's just getting broken in by now 
Your oil loss problem may or may not be a major thing. You say you are losing a quart every other day- how many miles is an average day?? If it's 50 or so, you would notice it coming out of the tailpipe, but if a day of driving is a couple hundred, the tell-tale blue smoke might be a little more dfficult to recognize.
There are two things you should do first of all-
1) Check the water in the radiator to see if there is oil in it. Just wait until the truck is cool, take off the radiator cap and peek inside. The oil will float on top.
2) Check for leaks- especially from the oil pressure sending unit which is near the oil filter. The sending units can leak a LOT of oil and that would also explain your oil pressure guage not working. If you are leaking 1/2 quart a day you should be able to find where it's coming from fairly easily. Look for spots underneath where the truck is parked, and crawl under and look for where oil has run out. Also- are you letting the truck sit for a while before you check the oil? You have to give it time to run back down into the oil pan to get an accurate reading.
The oil is being lost into the cooling system, through the exhaust, or from a leak. All you need to do is eliminate two of the three.
As far as the gas guage- do you have one tank or two? If you have two, does is work with either tank? What exactly is it doing- not registering at all, or registering full all the time? Have you checked your fuses to be sure there is not a blown one somewhere?
Hopefully some of this will help.
Nate
1964 F-100 Custom Cab 292 V-8 3 spd
1964 F-100 292 V-8 3 spd
1990 F-150 5.8L
Check out http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/fordpickups61to66fseries
Your oil loss problem may or may not be a major thing. You say you are losing a quart every other day- how many miles is an average day?? If it's 50 or so, you would notice it coming out of the tailpipe, but if a day of driving is a couple hundred, the tell-tale blue smoke might be a little more dfficult to recognize.
There are two things you should do first of all-
1) Check the water in the radiator to see if there is oil in it. Just wait until the truck is cool, take off the radiator cap and peek inside. The oil will float on top.
2) Check for leaks- especially from the oil pressure sending unit which is near the oil filter. The sending units can leak a LOT of oil and that would also explain your oil pressure guage not working. If you are leaking 1/2 quart a day you should be able to find where it's coming from fairly easily. Look for spots underneath where the truck is parked, and crawl under and look for where oil has run out. Also- are you letting the truck sit for a while before you check the oil? You have to give it time to run back down into the oil pan to get an accurate reading.
The oil is being lost into the cooling system, through the exhaust, or from a leak. All you need to do is eliminate two of the three.
As far as the gas guage- do you have one tank or two? If you have two, does is work with either tank? What exactly is it doing- not registering at all, or registering full all the time? Have you checked your fuses to be sure there is not a blown one somewhere?
Hopefully some of this will help.
Nate
1964 F-100 Custom Cab 292 V-8 3 spd
1964 F-100 292 V-8 3 spd
1990 F-150 5.8L
Check out http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/fordpickups61to66fseries
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Senior User
Joined: Feb 2001
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90 bronco: need some advice
single 55gallon tank. the needle doens't move at all. The oil guage is fixed (frozen this morning that was all). I drive about 80miles a day, including 5 miles on some rough dirt roads... so no idea what's going on there.
