i remember seeing something written up a while back about making the oil pressure gauge functional. i searched and didn't find anything, does anyone have a link to the info?

http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/media/281470

http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/media/192127

Solder a jumper across the oil pressure gauge 20 ohm resistor on the printed circuit film and install the new sending unit.

Make DAMN SURE you jump the OIL pressure gauge resistor, and not the ECT, FL, or Volts components or POOF!

is there a ford part number for the older style sending unit?

According to DRock's linked pictures, the NAPA part# is OP6091.

If it weren't such a PITA to remove the cluster, I might try and work this mod into the '04.

i have to pull the cluster to replace my o/d off bulb anyways, i replaced all the bulbs in the spring, must not have got that one in all the way.



i saw that, i'd rather use a motorcraft sending unit if one is available

Are you kidding, John? lol

Removing the cluster is a BREEZE. Trust me
Follow the directions in the BOK forum under 92-05 cluster bulb replacement to get it out

I tried that mod on my '97 Grand Marquis, it doesn't have a 20 ohm resistor on the back of the cluster. I happened to have an extra cluster, so I started experimenting with it. On the back of the cluster, the oil gauge has 3 terminals "B" "G" and "S" If you put 12 volts on B, and ground both G and S, the needle on the gauge goes to the midpoint on the scale. If this were a real gauge, the needle should have pegged at the high end of the scale.

I went as far as taking the gauge apart, thinking that the resistor was built into the gauge, if it's in there, it's under the windings for the gauge.

My guess is that the newer clusters will have the same fake gauge as my '97 has, and if that's the case, the mod won't work.

One other thing, if you still want to try it, the Motorcraft part number for the sending unit is SW873B

John, as you know, I have a Marauder, with the external guage cluster, and it's still a royal PITA!

- Randy

Randy, not sure if you know this already, but the AutoMeter gauge in the Marauder is also a fake. You can buy a real working kit from AutoMeter, P/N 4327 that almost exactly matches the OEM gauge. Both the sender and the gauge itself must be replaced.

I picked up an oil pressure/temp gauge assembly (The part number on the box is F6MZ-10883-AA) from a Ford dealer who was selling his excess parts inventory on ebay.

I took it out to my test set-up that I was using to check for fake gauges, and this oil pressure gauge pegs high when I ground the "S" terminal. With a 20 ohm resistor, it's about at midpoint on the scale.

The next thing to do is install it in the car, change the sending unit, and see what happens.

what do those results indicate? that the gauge can be function but it not because of the resistor?

A real gauge should peg on the high side when you ground the "S" terminal, and when you put a 20 ohm resistor between that terminal and ground, it should point around mid-point on the scale.

This gauge does that, which means it should work as a real, functioning, oil pressure gauge when I put it, and the new sending unit into my car. (Hopefully!)