Oil Pressure Gauge reading low

derekhay316

Registered User
After the car has been sitting all winter the oil pressure now reads about half way between low and norm. How would I go about fixing this? Some people say replace the sending unit. Where would I buy this sending unit? Where is it located?
 
Forget about it. The guage is an idiot gauge. The sender is a switch only that closes above 7 PSI (about) and opens again below about 5 PSI. The amount of guage deflection is determined by the current running through the circuit. That can be altered by a worsening electrical connection at the sender, age of the sender (older ones start developing higher and high resistance in the internal switch contacts), state of battery charge (The higher battery voltage the higher the guage tends to read), how fast the battery is being charged (affects battery voltage) and the electrical connections in the entire circuit.

The sender is mounted into a "pipe extension" screwed into the block behind the PS Pump. You can see it looking from the front of the engine between the PS Bracket and front driver's side of the engine.
 
Get a new sending unit from Ford. They are 18.00 Mine started doing the same thing. When I took the old one out, the whole core was loose, indicating it was getting ready to fail.
I have seen two blow apart. One was on a Jeep. The guy just built a brand new garage and it spewed 5L of oil all over the brand new floor. The other one was an Oldsmobile and it broke while driving. Unfortunately, this sensor was for the idiot light (no gage) and therefore the idiot light didn't work once the sensor blew apart. The lady fried the motor.
They are only plastic! 18.00 is cheaper than a new motor. Luckily, the car has a gage though, and you might catch it in time.
 
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