The oil guage in a Mustang indicates...

[Kilgore Trout]

Tech polls are very rare, have you noticed that?

 

[menasci]

oil level

 

[69Rcode_Mach1]

It's oil pressure, you have a dipstick to check your oil level. Even at that I do not trust them, I prefer mechanical guages myself.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Hehehe... Kilgore likes

serious ownage ahead...

 

[tomustang]

neither, it's a dummy gauge

 

[Kilgore Trout]

neither, it's a dummy gauge

It is functional, just weighted towards a certain position. But if your oil condition that it measures gets too low, it will def move.

Some people call it a glorified idiot light...

Is it tied to a sensor that measures pressure or level, that is the question

 

[urban96]

it measures the level of pressure


BAH

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Just to clarify...

level of pressure VS level of volume (quantity, amount)

Which one?

 

[stangGT97]

oil pressure? though i dont trust that or the dipstick, i just make sure to change the oil every 3000 and how much comes out tells me how much ive lost

 

[Kilgore Trout]

It indicates the level, volume, quantity, or amount of oil just like the dipstick. There is the SES light for low oil pressure.

 

[Mustang5L5]

There is an idiot light for low oil pressure.

No there isn't.

As far as i know there isn't even a oil sender in the pan to signal low oil like on the 5.0's.

The Oil light is a glorified dummy light for oil pressure. It will always point to the dead center of the gauge unless there is a problem which it will then point at 0. It's an on/off type of guage.

The only 4.6L Mustang to have a working oil pressure gauge were early '96 Cobras which had an oil pressure guage that would sweep with the changes in pressure.

 

[TweekedGT]

It's pressure. My Low il light comes on but my gauge never changes so it don't read volume.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Hmmm, I read this in a very reputable publication... I am pretty sure I am correct... I will research further...

 

[bridge4d]

Pressure. It gets it's reading from the oil pressure sending unit, circuit 31 through connector C103...I've got a schematic if anyone's interested.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

 

[03ghoststang]

yeah it should be the oil pressure but it really is more of a dummy type of gauge that doesnt sweep like the old days this is a good debatable question

 

[40th GT]

In the new Nissan Xterras, the oil gauge actually sweeps back and forth according to pressure. If the SUV's have it, why can't we!

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Maybe when the handheld engine programmers get more sophisticated we can manipulate such things... And make the oil guage more accurate...

 

[03ghoststang]

that is because they want us to modify our interior with gauges that actually work to let us know what our car is actually doing

 

[Serper3]

In the new Nissan Xterras, the oil gauge actually sweeps back and forth according to pressure. If the SUV's have it, why can't we!

lol all of u guys are soooo pessimistic.. maybe the oil pressure in all of our cars just allways dead on.
no really i think its more of a dummy gauge. my old v6 and my gt..it never left the middle. my friend has a stang he didnt change oil for long time, had maybe 2 quarts of oil if not less..it was still in the middle.