Sharon K.Cooke

351CJ wrote:
>
> "Sharon K.Cooke" <scooke@cox.net> wrote in message
> news:43F2A9D1.4539A218@cox.net...
> > 351CJ wrote:
> >>
> >> "Sharon K.Cooke" <scooke@cox.net> wrote in message
> >> news:43F2303A.7ECB61AD@cox.net...
> >> > ncrocket wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> The other day my oil pressure game went to low. and you can tell it's
> >> >> not getting oil because you an here it in the motor. Sometimes when i
> >> >> first start up the truck it had oil pressure just fine. After driving
> >> >> for 10 or so minutes it drops to nothing. But if i shut off the truck
> >> >> and start it back up it goes right back to normal.
> >> >
> >> > I'm not sure just when Ford went from a "real" oil pressure gauge to a
> >> > idiot
> >> > light with an analog readout, but it probably was late 80s for the
> >> > truck
> >> > lines.
> >> > If there's a button type sender at the oil pressure output port, it's a
> >> > fake
> >> > gauge that closes a switch around 7 psi and then reopens it at say, 5
> >> > psi.
> >> > Put a
> >> > mechanical gauge on the oil pressure port and see if the readings are
> >> > consistent
> >> > with the factory "gauge". If so, you have problems, ranging from a
> >> > dirty
> >> > sump
> >> > (oil pickup screen gets clogged) to worn main bearings or crankshaft.
> >> > If
> >> > not,
> >> > it's the gauge itself, the sender, or the sender wiring.
> >>
> >> Since the late 60's at least, '71 for sure.
> >
> > No, they had idiot lights back in 1949 or so; I'm talking about the fake
> > gauge
> > that's driven by an on-off switch like the idiot light, but appears to be
> > an
> > actual needle-type gauge. That piece of trickery didn't happen until the
> > late
> > 1980s on Ford trucks, and Ford-made cars with apparent gauges in the early
> > 1990s.
>
> Well I have an '82 pickup or bronco, or an 89 pickup, take your pick, with a
> factory idiot GAUGE, not the light! If you need a picture the gauge and
> it's sending unit, I'll gladly post if on a binary Usenet group for you. I
> don't have my 71 truck anymore, The oil pressure gauge in that one may have
> been after market.

Check the sender on the '89. It's most likely the button-type, and the "gauge"
in the cab is a fake. If it is a button (snap-switch) sender, look at one of the
Ford truck websites for a how-to conversion to a real gauge, or if it doesn't
bother you, do nothing.