I just pressure washed my engine free of the leaking oil of 18 years and replaced the valve cover gaskets. All went well and it starts fine and drives fine. BUT now my temperature guage is pegged and the red engine light is on on the dash. After finishing all my work and went to crank it the first time the rear ABS light and temp. guage was on and pegged and stayed that way the first three cranks. Then all of a sudden for no reason the ABS light went out and the Temp. guage went to their normal spots. No problems with these before the work. The engine seems to be quieter now excet that the IP pump gear in the front cover is a little louder than it use to be. What could cause the gear noise?? Poor oil lubrication? And what could cause the guage issues? It drives fine and runs fine. Is the Diesel oil pump different from those of gasoline engines? Reason I ask is b/c my guage fluctuates an aful lot and I worry about poor lubrication. Any help would be appreciated before I start driving it back and forth to work agian ( thats roughly 80 miles a day just to work and back home). Thanks agian for any help you can give.

 

Water gets in the connectors when you pressure wash the engine.

Temp gauge and engine light senders are in the front of the drivers side head, under the AC compressor.
Oil sending unit is against the firewall almost in the center of the engine.
Unplug and then replug the wires, the funny readings should go away.

I hope the engine was cold when you washed the IP, aluminum housing with steel internals don't like to be cooled off real fast.