Is this common guys?

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Jan 21, 2003 | 03:10 PM

WXboy

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From: Central KY

Is this common guys?

Since it started getting cold this winter, my Ranger has ZERO oil pressure when I first start it up (according to the gage) and then after a few minutes the gage will JUMP to the middle of the "normal" range.

I posted this a week back or so and someone told me a bad sending unit seemed to be the problem. Basically, it's a waste of time to even have an oil pressure gage on this truck anymore, because I'll never be able to trust it again. See what I mean? It's like the story of the little boy who cried wolf. If my sending unit is "crying wolf", then one day if I REALLY loose pressure, I'll just dismiss it as another bad sending unit, and my engine will be toast. On the other hand, if I take the gage seriously every time, I'd be dealing with this problem every day!

So I'm mad at Ford...I don't know what to do. I guess for the sake of trying to repair it, I'm going to put a new sending unit in so at lease I won't have to look at my "check gage" light every morning. But has anyone else on the boards had this problem? Can anyone offer further advice?

Thanks.

Jan 21, 2003 | 03:30 PM

mathelm

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From: W-S

Is this common guys?

Mad at Ford? It dosen't matter what brand you buy, little things are gonna pop up now and again. If you have no oil pressure at crankup you'll know it. The biggest thing will be all those valve rockers going click click. It sounds like you might have smoe gunk in your oil or are running too thick of an oil. You could install (easiest thing in the world) a mechanical guage. They cost less than $10 bucks at the autoparts store. But if the worst thing that ever happens to that truck is a bad sending unit, then you'll have the best truck ever made.

Good Luck

Jan 21, 2003 | 03:47 PM

Ken00

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From: South Jersey

Is this common guys?

They did have a problem with the sendors but I believe they modified them to eliminate the problem. Like mathelm said, your lifters will let you know but thats not the way I would want to find out that I didn't have oil pressure, I would always investigate a no-pressure issue.

Jan 21, 2003 | 11:46 PM

redranger1

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From: Iberia, USA

Is this common guys?

you said that yer check engine light came on? if thats so i would replace the sending unit and see what happens. also check the oil weight as previously posted. you are running 5w-30, right?

-nathan

Jan 22, 2003 | 07:03 AM

tomw

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From: suburban atlanta

Is this common guys?

I *think* that the sending unit is just an on/off switch and it sends juice to the gauge thru a fixed resistor to 'simulate' oil pressure reading on the gauge. The fixed resistance puts the gauge in the middle once it gets some juice.
There is an article on the web, maybe here too, about using a real sending unit and bypassing the resistor on the back of the inst panel.
Please ignore this if FoMoCo didn't do this in '99, as my newest v-hicle is an '87...and I am only repeating what I have seen before.
The one nice feature is that you can ground the sending unit wire, and see that the gauge goes right to the middle on command! whooeee.
tom

Jan 22, 2003 | 07:05 AM

WXboy

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From: Central KY

Is this common guys?

Yes, I just changed my oil last week and went from 10W30 to 5W30 due to the colder temps. outside now. So my oil should be clean. You are saying that the new sending units are updated to eliminate this problem?

And no, it's not like I'm going to sell my Ford just because of this sending unit. But I have a problem with the door ajar light staying on, now this. There are lots of other little things too that just aggravate me. I just think they could have fixed these bugs before the '99 models came out. But anyway, so I'll try one of the "new" sending units and see what happens.