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Regular Oil Pressure Gauge Position

5K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  Styles 
#1 ·
I have a 90 EA S Pack, so obviously I have a Oil pressure Gauge on the instrument cluster. I have only had the EA for just under a month.

In the first few weeks of owning the car I really did not take notice of Oil Pressure gauge at all. Since then I have changed the oil and I am using Castrol GTX 3 (as suggested by the person in the automotive store which has a SAE rating of 15W-40). I have been on a long trip since then and I have noticed that when the oil is cold the gauge sits around vertical all the time at traffic lights and also driving around. But when the oil is hot after 35-40 mins of freeway driving, when stopped at traffic lights the gauge drops to just below the first bar. But when you take off again it will rise to be vertical.

I don’t think that the oil gauge did move that much before I dumped the oil (which after I duped the oil I realized that it didn’t need to be as it looked like it was only a couple of months old) but I would have thought that I would have noticed that much movement in the gauge before hand.

I suppose my questions are,
* Is there meant to be that much movement in the oil pressure?
* Should I switch to a oil that is SAE 20w-50?
* Could there a problem with the oil pump?
* Or is the Oil Pressure Gauge not that accurate?

Thanks in advance

P.S. Sorry for the long post, but I thought that it is better to have too much info then not enough.
 
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#2 ·
I have an Falcon S as well. My Oil pressure gauge does exactly the same as you have described. A while back it started getting quite eratic and would jump about read low then high etc. An engine oil and filter change fixed this. I wouldnt worry about it as long as it doesnt go to the red. What rpm is the engine doing at idle? I notice mine will go up quite quickly with a few more rpm than idle. Are you auto or 5 speed?
 
#4 ·
Its a 4 speed auto, and the car idle's at about 600rpm, and yes NZinAUS if i just breathe on the accelerator (i.e. 800rpm) then the pressure rises quite quickly . Also the oil level is showing OK on the dip stick. What type of oil are you using? I am wondering if I need to go with a higher viscosity oil, like W20-50 rather than W15-40 that I have put in.

Cheers
 
#5 ·
I use castrol magnatec. Something about the little red and green "oils" sticking to the metal attracted me to it. I think its 15w40 and semi synthetic. I wouldn't worry about using heavier oil unless you are in a hot area. I tend to go for oils such as mobil 1 which is 5w50 its thinner and easier to flow on startup when most engine wear occurs. Plus it is synthetic. I had a maxima and noticed better running when i used it. But dont worry about the oil pressure it sounds normal. You may want to change the oil type next time a change is due to see if there is a difference.
I wouldnt worry about it. if there is a problem with oil pressure, a different type of oil aint going to do anything. Oil cant be compressed. Well actually it can - 1% at 50000psi
 
#8 ·
I was driving around all day yesterday, and I noticed my oil pressure gauge was jumping around quite erratically.

I was watching it all the time, and the pressure dropped almost into the red when turning corners, and going up hills? Also, when I was at the lights it also goes right down to the bottom, again almost in the red. Has this got anything to do with a cracked/dama

Is this normal? I do need an oil/filter change, as I haven't done it for like 15,000k's. I know this is almost criminal, but I haven't got around to doing it. When I change the oil, will the oil pressure settle down?

Also, is MOBIL1 really worth it? I work in a servo, and for 5 litres of the stuff is like $55 or something.

Last time I used Castrol GTX2. Personally I thought it was shit. It doesn't seem to run through the engine at start up fast enough, and I didn't have any noisy tappets until I used the stuff. I think I'll go mobil 1 this weekend.
 
#10 ·
I had this problem for a while. I changed the engine oil and filter and it went away. The oil pressure would go low, say 2 then jump a bit if I put the clutch in and reved it was quite eratic sometimes. Before I changed it I put a bottle of engine flush and although it said to run the engine at 2000rpm for 15 minutes, I drove a week and did about 600km. I doubt if your engine would still be going if there wasn't enough oil for the oil pump and most people know how to put oil in a cars engine.

I have used Mobil 1 in a Maxima I had when I was in NZ. It had quite a powerful 2.5 V6 that was good for 141kw and was quite high reving. After I started using it The motor seemed a bit quieter but most of all it reved easier. I think its a personal choice of how much you are prepared to spend on oil. After reading some info somewhere about oils, I tend to sway toward semi synthetic and synthetic. I would never put mineral based oil in any car engine. It is a bit concerning that your oil pressure drops on hills and on corners. This could indicat that there is in fact next to no oil in the engine - Some motors will go for a while with a sniff in there.

Please let us know of the outcomes.

That reminds me of the lady who came in to ask the mechanic how much oil to put in the cars engine. The mecanic replied "Between 0 and 4 litres for a top up". The lady looked at him with a blank face and said "Oh, I put 16 in....."
 
#11 ·
Changed the oil and the filter today.

Put in Mobil Synth S. 15w50 grade oil. Half Synthetic. I was going to buy MOBIL1, but $50 for 5 litres of oil is about $20 more than i'm willing to spend on a 3.9 cfi I6. I paid around $28 for the Synth S.

I've driven it twice since I changed the oil, and both times the tappets where even more noisy for longer. Maybe this will change after I've used it a few more times. We'll see..

I haven't had a chance to see how the oil pressure gauge has been acting, but I will tomorrow or the day after.


Dave
 
#12 ·
antigravity the oil that was in your engine was probably so thick from hydrocarbon deposits and from the heating and cooling of the oil over time that its sheer thickness disguised the fact your tappets are stuffed! what did the oil that came out look like?

the new thin oil probably cleaned everything out and now the tappets are noisy because they have nice clean thin oil in them and the oil cant compensate for the increased clearences in the worn lifters.
 
#14 ·
Lifters

Same thing happeded to me. I replaced the oil and then the lifters started tapping on startup. if does quiten down after 2 seconds. Question, Can you replace the lifters without taking the head off the engine. I had a old Ford Courier that had noisy lifters in which I was able to replace just by removing the rocker cover and the cam shaft.

Thanks
 
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