Need help with oil gauge!

[jr817]

okay so i always drive my truck, 1989 v8 350 single cab, around 50 miles a day, yesterday i drove it 70 miles and i recently (Two Weeks) did an oil change on it and all of a sudden the oil gauge starts moving up and down and it did it for a while till i got home. then i checked the oil and it was bearly half way full! can anyone help me please?

 

[jr817]

21 views and no help?............

 

[Shane_o_mac]

The gauges move around quite a bit in these trucks mine will sometime actually peg out on zero when exiting the highway. Not sure why you would only have half the oil level though have you noticed any puddles under the truck? Is the filter tight? Is it burning the oil?

 

[jr817]

thanks for a reply and im not sure either, there havent been any puddles its just the white line (moon gauges) kept moving up and down then after a while it stayed all the way up again but im not sure i guess ill tighten it when i get home but it was soo scary

 

[TylerZ281500]

the guages espceially in the earlier truck mostly just suck, if it has stopped working or does some funky stuff try checking the oil sensor on the back drivers side of the block. My 88 did the same thing till i replaced that, if that doesnt work your guage is likely on its last leg standing.

 

[94Sierra4x4]

Gauge will jump around more erratically as your oil level gets lower

 

[Yeti_Owner]

A couple of things to consider:

What electrical accessories were on at the time? The gauge is pretty sensitive to operating voltage. It will read lower, as the electrical load increases. Was your voltage jumping around at the same time as the oil pressure?

As an example, my oil pressure gauge runs about 5psi "lower" when I have the headlights and AC running. It will move around a bit when the turn signal is on, as well.


Also, check the sending unit - they are pretty bad.