Oil Pressure Issue, 2000 Expy

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Mar 12, 2008 | 06:20 PM

Blue2000Expy

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4wd Low

Joined: Nov 2007

Posts: 10

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Oil Pressure Issue, 2000 Expy

My 2000 Expedition (4.6L V8), has a little issue when it is first started up on a cold morning, by this I mean 32 degrees or colder. What happens is the oil pressure guage drops and then rises back to normal. This will do this a couple of times until it stays in the normal operating range. Can anyone tell me what could be the issue. Could it be the oil sending unit or the oil pump itself. I am not a mechanic so any expert advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

2000 Expedition
Bellefonte, PA

Mar 13, 2008 | 11:59 AM

heterodox1

Mountain Pass

Joined: Oct 2006

Posts: 133

Likes: 1

My 2000 (5.4) does a similar thing. I have a remote starter and one morning after the car had been running for about 10 minutes, I got in and notice the oil pressure was ZERO. Scared me to death and I shut the engine off right away... Started it back up and - no problem.

Since then, every now and then the reading is zero so I restart it and it's OK. Sometimes I'll have to restart it a few times to get a reading. I assume it's the sending unit or gauge - at least I hope so. Never saw it bounce around the way you describe though. I understand this is just a dummy (on or off reading) and not an actual guage.

If the engine was actually running for 10 minutes without oil pressure, would I have fried it?

Mar 13, 2008 | 01:29 PM

Blue2000Expy

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4wd Low

Joined: Nov 2007

Posts: 10

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Thanks for the reply. Sounds like a dummy reading. Also, if there was a major malfunction I would assume the computer would code out and I would get the message on the instrument panel. To this day I have not received any codes.

Mar 13, 2008 | 03:52 PM

Gage2502

Fleet Mechanic

Joined: Feb 2004

Posts: 1,902

Likes: 9

From: Northern IL

Im going to be adding Auto Meter gauges to my 2000 Expedition this spring.
Oil Press, Voltmeter, Water Temp, and Trans temp.
~Gage~

Mar 13, 2008 | 05:46 PM

madsonp

Moderator

Joined: Dec 2005

Posts: 2,813

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From: Billings, Montana

It's my understanding the gauge is a dummy gauge. If you notice when you turn your key on you'll see an oil light on the instrument cluster, this is what truely gives you an indication of an oil pressure problem. For this reason I don't think I'd worry about it.

Mar 14, 2008 | 04:19 AM

vze2sgxa

Senior User

Joined: Nov 2003

Posts: 467

Likes: 1

From: Where the war is...

Once a week, open the hood and pull out the crankcase dipstick and check the level. Having run marine diesels on ships for years, I learned early on never to trust guages.

Mar 14, 2008 | 07:29 AM

Blue2000Expy

Thread Starter

4wd Low

Joined: Nov 2007

Posts: 10

Likes: 0

Thanks for all of your replies. I have a good feeling that the sending unit is the culprit. I will be replacing this over the weekend or in the coming week and will post whether it works or not.

Thanks again,
Blue2000Expy