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Low oil pressure warning help needed


wlepse

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Unfortunately i am at work and can't start diagnosing this until tonight but I am hoping the collective knowledge here can help me save some time. So first a little background, this is a 2011 Ford Edge with around 120k miles which we have owned since new. Most oil changes have been done by me with Ford filters and either their synthetic blend oil, Mobil 1 or Pennzoil full synthetic. All changes were done prior to the calculated requirement, most of the time with about 50% left. There has never been a real consumption issue, obviously there is some but I don't think I add much more than a quart to quart and a half between changes. The weekend before last I checked the oil and topped it off, maybe 1/2 qt. Everything has seemed fine with no CEL or other oddities until this morning.

 

That is when my wife texted me saying the low oil pressure light came on and it was beeping. I told her not to go anywhere and to check the oil level in a few minutes. In that time I found Mact's video about the programming glitch. So when I called her back she confirmed the oil was between the holes so I told her to turn it on again and tell me if the light came on. It didn't. So I told her to shut it down and come back in 10 minutes to try again, if good drive it up the street and back. This tie when she turned it over the light came on again.

 

So after doing a search of the forum I found two things that popped up. One was to check the oil pressure sender to see if it is leaking internally. So my first question is, can someone point me to where this is? Just don't want to be wasting time since we seem to get thunderstorms every night and might not have much time to look at this. The other item that came up was a purge valve but I don't think this is the issue since the truck isn't stalling. Thoughts?

 

Can anyone confirm what drives the oil pump and the location of the pump? From the pictures I have seen it looks like it might be mounted outside the oil pan which could make swapping it easier but I am guessing this is not the case. Any other recommendations? With this being a sudden thing with good oil level I am highly suspect of the sensor, especially since it isn't 100% consistent even today.

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OK...doing a little more digging and found a thread where someone mentions a solenoid valve that controls oil pressure, is this for real? https://www.fordedgeforum.com/topic/24250-oil-pressure-sensor/?do=findComment&comment=184775

 

Also, does anyone happen to know what the idle oil pressure is supposed to be? I have a gauge at home, so if I can find the right fittings I should be able to get a measurement.

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Can anyone tell me if there is a trick to getting this damn connector off the oil switch? I picked one up since it is cheap enough but can't even get to the point of replacing it. I have the filter off so I can get my hand in there but only one and I think it might take two. The switch itself doesn't seem to be flexible at all so it must be the connector that flexes but nothing seems to make it budge. Please help...was planning to use the truck this weekend for family vacation.

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Ok so I really have no idea what I did to get it off but it came off. The new sensor is a SW-7676 or GC3Z-9278-A and was 6 bucks. Getting the sensor out and the new on installed was tricky due to limited space, so having lots of different size extensions helps. I also changed the oil. I saw no wear particles in the oil or filter so hoping that is a good sign. Once the OC was done I fired it up and so far no oil pressure warning. I will drive it to work tomorrow and see how it goes.

 

So if you get that message it might be worth the effort to swap out this sensor to see if it fixes your issue. Worst case your out a few bucks and some time.

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Just a morning update for anyone that might have a similar issue in the future...truck started and drove fine today. I decided to take it to work which is about a 40 mile commute. No lights, temps were good and avg mpg for that trip was 27. I did take the old sensor to the shop and measured the resistance across it with no pressure then with pressure and basically there was no change. Since this is a single wire device I am assuming it is looking for ground and the fail safe is to have it open with no pressure. So I am more optimistic that it was the problem, hopefully I am good to go now.

 

As final note, I did find new wire/connectors for sale at places like AAP and Rock. So if you really get stuck taking that connector off you do have the option of cutting it and butt splicing in a new connector.

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