Funky Stock Oil Pressure Guage

[Silver Burner]

So I noticed since I bought my new crew cab that the stock oil pressure guage acts strange. It will come up just to the N of normal on startup and after a while will start to creep down to the first line towards low pressure and then intermittently will wiggle around and jump up to the O and stay there for a while before suddenly making its way back down to that first line again. Always freaks me out when I see it that low too, but it's running AMSOil 10W40 full synthetic and it's reading just a little underneath full on the dipstick. You guys think it might just be a bad OPS?

 

[icanfixall]

Nope... Your factory gauge is fubared... These trucks came with a simple gauge setup... none of them tell anything more than you have pressure and temp... Ask yourself hot hot is your motor when its pointing to the n or a in the word NORMAL... Nothing. Ford will tell you to drive it because anywhere along that set of letters is normal operating perameters... We know better. If you really want to know whats going on install some aftermarket gauges with a 270 degrees sweep. Then you will actually know whats going on.... Most here will tell you this same thing. I run Isspro gauges and when I see 55 lbs on my aftermarket gauge the factory gauge is either high or low.... Its just an idiot lite with a pointer... Just something to look at....Your running fine..... Don't worry too much about the gauge fluxuating... they are what ford felt would do for the lowest bid....

 

[94turboidi]

I would love to get some aftermarket gauges but for right now still using the stock stuff. When I put my motor back in I had to replace the oil pressure sending unit because I broke it. Then when it was all together all the gauges were going screwy. I didn't have the ground wires to both valve covers hooked up yet. I hooked them up and everything is working perfectly now.

 

[Shaguardriver]

My gages are all over the place and it drives me nuts. I will be replacing them with aftermarket ones in the near future. One day they will work fine the next they are all over the place. I have tested it out with mechanical gages to make sure it was the gages.

The one that kills me is when driving loaded as in the avatar picture the oil gage will go to below the N and I will tap on the dash the gage will bounce back to the halfway point.

 

[Jbevs]

My gauge (factory) was acting funny yesterday, slowly falling off the 'normal' then back to the n or o. I shut er down and popped the hood to find the one of the injectors was SOAKED! The dipstick read full enough, and I think the injector system is somewhat reliant on oil pressure, so that is what I attributed the gauge readings to.

 

[Silver Burner]

I thought only PSD's were reliant on oil pressure. These IDI's are pressurized solely by the injector pump, aren't they? If the injector was soaked, it was soaked with diesel, not oil.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

I thought only PSD's were reliant on oil pressure. These IDI's are pressurized solely by the injector pump, aren't they? If the injector was soaked, it was soaked with diesel, not oil.

That is correct.

 

[Jbevs]

The injector was soaked with diesel, correct. My point was that the injector relied on oil pressure to pop. I could be wrong, but I thought I heard that here. My implication was that if he had something weird going on with his fuel system that could be the cause. Though I could be wrong.

 

[icanfixall]

No is your short answer about oil pressure poping open the injectors. The oiling system on these engines have nothing at all to do with the injectors. Only the injection pump can create pressure to open an injector. Watching a factory oil pressure gauge is telling you nothing at all. They tell you some perssure is present but how much.... Installing an aftermarket oil pressure gauge is the only true way to know whats going on. Now a powerstroke, duramax or cummins depend on engine oil pressure to create enough pressure for an injection cycle to take place. Generally that happens around 30,000 lbs of injector pressure at the electronic nozzles. Our mechanical injectors pop open around 1800 to 2100 lbs... We also are not on a common rail injection system either...

 

[Jbevs]

Thank you icanfixall for weighing in and corrrecting my incorrect statement. Please disreguard my posts in this thread as they contributed nothing. My bad.

 

[icanfixall]

Jbevs... We all contribute what we know or believe. I'm so happy when someone corrects my postings. I try to post only what I have experianced and can back up what I know. Your posting is great because you felt it was correct. There isn't anything wrong with that. When I bought my rig in 94 all I knew for sure was it was a diesel with 34,000 miles on it and a new dealership paint job... I learned all the rest from this site and the other site. Many years ago I was invited here by Towcat. I stayed on both sites for a few years because I liked both of them... Till some poor excuse kept dissing my posts just because he felt he was the God of all diesel repairs... It was all over the "proper installation" of factory freeze plugs... I finally left and have never gone back. This site allows much more working togetherness. I personally have traveled 100s of miles in Ca helping others in this forum... I do this because I can and really enjoy helping others. You might feel great fixing your rig by yourself. I feel the same way when I can help you with a question that puts your truck back on the road... Remember this... Most of the old guard here have been there and know whats wrong with these engines or trucks. Usually because we have had the same symtoms and know how these things play out. Advise is given freely here. Thats why so many of us hang out here. Its not a truck... Its a way of life.....

 

[Jbevs]

<------ Me after reading icanfixall's post.

I sure do love this site.

 

[Silver Burner]

Well said, icanfixall. This site has been so incredibly helpful to me and I'm still just reachin around in the dark compared to some of you guys. I definitely won't be going anywhere, that's for sure.