Hello again America, hoping that all is well with everyone....my 02 ranger's oil gauge needle is going crazy....even when I am driving sometimes. Is that an indication of a bad oil pump? I mean the needle is beating the red zone in the gauge so hard that i can actually hear it tap tap tapping....has anyone else had this problem and what do i do?
Thanx guys and girls..............

 

What engine ?
It could be just a bad pressure sensor.
If you have a 3.0 , it could be an indication of the cam syncro going bad.

 

Is it hitting the high side or low? When it was cold out, mine would do go back and forth from middle to low. It would make the tapping noise. It was the oil sensor going bad. Replaced it and it fixed it.

 

X2 on the pressure sensor if it's happening upon start up. X2 on the cam syncro if it's happening while driving.

Replace the pressure sensor 1st, it's the cheapest and easiest. There's plenty of threads on it in here. If it's still happening, replace the cam syncro. Again, there's plenty of threads on it in here and also there's a great How-To as well in the Tech Section.

 

I have the 3.0 engine and I believe it is the cam syncro because it's it fluctuating even when I am driving. So I am going to check it out and I''ll get back to you guys later.
Thanks

 

Nello,

Are you hearing anything coming from the rear area of the engine compartment? Closer to the passenger side? The noise would sound like a cricket chirping and that is a good indicator your cam synchro is going bad.

 

Yeeeeeeeeeeeees, I do hear a chirping sound in the engine compartment and I thought it was a bad bearing........Sometimes the sound increases when I hit the gas. Is this the cam synchro that I have been hearing...where is it located?

 

YIKES!!!

Here you go, follow this and you'll be laughing.

https://www.ranger-forums.com/f43/ho...acement-81674/

 

Thanx to everyone....

 

Haha wow thats easy to replace looks like a distro with the top cut off.

 

It's actually not as easy as you may think. It was a real PITA having to lean over the engine to even be able to see it. If someone does headgaskets on a 3.0, they ought to replace this aswell. Some much easier with everything off the block.

 

I have a similar problem. My dummy gauge sits at a neutral position when the key is turned off. However, when I turn the key on, the needle dives downward and sits there. I changed the sender switch and the problem persists. Am I probably looking at a short somewhere or is the gauge bad? Pondering swapping the sender switch for a mechanical gauge, but it's so hard to get at that I'd be happy with the idiot gauge working! Of course, if my gauge is going/gone bad and I have to get a gauge anyway, I'll get a real one and just replace the sender....again.