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Oil pressure switch/gauge 96F350

My 96 F350XL was three quarts low the other day and the oil pressure gauge never registered a thing. It's my understanding that there isn't a sender, but a switch with a resistor in it, so that the gauge always reads right in the middle. The gauge is a real one, though, IIRC. Therefore by merely installing a correct sender I could get "real" oil pressure readings. Is this true, and if so, does the Ford sender have to be used? I have a couple Autometer senders and was wondering if I could use one of them. They're the same part number, so I assume the same resistance. Did Ford always use the same resistance range on their senders? Any other suggestions?

Reply to
carl mciver
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Sort of true. You have to pull the cluster and disconnect the resistor too. A gauge wouldn't have a made a difference though. You'll have the same pressure as long as the oil pickup is covered. If it gets low enough to uncover, well, then it's too late. You need to check your oil more often.

Reply to
JimV

Therefore by

The sender is resistive. It is not a switch. The next time you do an oil change, watch the pressure gauge closely the first time you start the engine after the oil change. Even filling the new filter, the pressure will take longer to build than normal and accordingly, the gauge will also be slower to respond. Ford simply sets the resistance so that the gauge will read in the middle of the gauge at normal operating range. The same is true for the temperature gauge.

Reply to
Tyrone

Even if you had a true oil pressure gauge, it would not show any difference when you are low on oil, unless you get low enough that there is not enough oil to keep your oil pick up submerged in oil. If that happens, you have already suffered oil starvation, and started doing damage. Your dip stick is your only oil level indicator, and you have to check it manually.

Reply to
351CJ

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