Oil Pressure Gauge Bouncing Around

[ATCzMustang]

I notice my oil pressure unit on the gauge cluster is bouncing around a bit. When I start the car it sits mostly at 'L' or 'off' It starts bouncing around as I drive the car. The car seems to be running fine, but regardless I want to make sure everything is in order. I don't have a mechanical gauge to test with either, nor a ton of time to tinker around. Therefore if I can't do some small repairs, it's off to the repair shop which I don't want to do.

After doing some research it appears the oil gauge is a glorified dummy light that is 'on' or 'off'. Grounded gauge reads normal oil pressure. open circuit gauge reads 0.

I'm just going ahead and replacing the oil pressure switch near the oil filter. I believe the correct part number is Motorcraft SW-5696 for my 01' Cobra. It was only $7 new on eBay.

Can anyone provide some insight or experience to this problem? :shrug:

1. Is replacing just this oil pressure switch a good start or are there other items to look at replacing?
2. Is that the proper Motorcraft part number; can anyone confirm?
3. Do I need a special socket to replace the switch?

Thanks! :thumbsup:


Thanks!

 

[01RedBeardCobra]

Funny I didn't know they even worked lol. Mine stays in one spot all the time, when the car is running. Maybe electrical issue?

 

[ATCzMustang]

Funny I didn't know they even worked lol. Mine stays in one spot all the time, when the car is running. Maybe electrical issue?

Well after doing some digging, here is how that gauge works as explained by this older post: http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...pressure-gauge-sending-unit.html#post10150801

Could be an electrical issue, but I'm not too sure. Just wanted to see what everyone thought.

 

[ATCzMustang]

Replacing the oil sender unit did fix the issue. Nice fix for about $10. One note on install, it would be very easy to over-torque the unit. I think it called for torque to 12-16 NM and from experience, some of the coating on the threads does not go all the hole. Over-torquing of the sensor can lead to an oil leak and/or damage to the oil filter adapter.

In fact the issue in my original post seemed to have a TSB: '14907 R&R oil pressure switch F8AZ-9278-DA with 1U5Z-9278-DA'

Seems after the car sat and engine was cold, sending unit would not read properly.

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