My 97 F150 has 131K miles on it, and hasn't given me a lot of trouble through all of that. But today, it started doing some strange things.

The Oil Light came on, and the Temp Gauge ran red hot for about 45 seconds to a minute, then came back down to normal. When it got back into the normal range the Oil Light went off. It did this two or three times during my drive to work.

What could this possibly be?

 

I would start by changing the thermostat. I would also look at the entire cooling system and check the fan belt.

 

I would suspect a dirty or loose wiring harness connection to the instrument cluster. Maybe you could also check engine ground straps. Could also run the odometer test, to see if that tells us anything. (in case that test is not something your aware-of)

While holding the trip-meter in turn on ign. switch, hold trip button until test reads in the odometer display, then release the trip button. The guages are all tested and lights and sensors are tested by steping thru the test by pushing the trip button once at a time.

Let us know how you come out with this, there's lots of help on this board!

Good luck!

T-man

Justfishin has some good input to, I assumed the oil and temp guages flashed hot and didn't slowly rise to full hot. The oil light coming on at the same time (leads me to think electical problems) the above test will tell you, in one of the modes (eng temp) it reads in 0'c (100 is 212' f)

 

Justfishing,

It's actually my Dad's truck. He called this morning and told me what had happened, and I was leaning toward changing the thermostat as well. But what puzzles me is that it only stayed up in the HOT range for a minute or less.

And why would that make the oil light come on?

Do you think maybe that if the thermostat is getting stuck, and heating the block so that the oil temperature sensor is tripping that light on the dash? Then when the thermostat opens up after a few seconds, the block cools down, which cools the oil back down and turns the light off?



triumphman,

How will I know if one of the gauges fails? What should I be looking for?

 

While doing the test, I believe the first mode is guage test, all guages swing full scale then return to zero. The next push of the button I believe test's all the lights. As you step thru the test you will come to eng temp if I was informed correctly it read head temp. which is close to water temp. This test can also be done with the engine running. Just hold the trip button while starting the truck and hold till "test" apprears. One mode of the tests is "tach" for tachometer one is "mile or miles" which is a digital speedometer.

Lets see if you get thru the test ok! Then let us know what happen with the readings you get.

You can watch the engine temp rise and fall in the "eng temp" mode as the thermostat open and closes!

Don't be alarmed by the reading you get in the "oil" mode it's a code and not the actual oil pressure reading in "psi" and "0" is a valid code

t-man

 

triumph-

It's a '97...highly unlikely that he has the digital odo.

 

I had a 97 and it did, then 97 was the transition year wasn't it? You may be right if it was a early one!

T-man

 

Well, I just called my Dad to have him try the Test thing, and he's already at the Dealership having it looked at.

When I find out what it was, I'll post it on here...

 

Most of the ones I have seen were the analog.

Mine is, and it's a Lariat. I dont recall the build date. But yes, I think it was one of the early model year productions.

 

My Dad called the dealership, and they agree that it sounds like an electrical problem.

I was just on the phone with my Dad as he was driving to the dealership, and all of this happened while we were talking.

When the temperature gauge is in the normal range, the heater blows "warm" air. As the temp gauge rises, the air gets COLDER...as soon as the gauge gets into the red, the oil light comes on, and the air gets hot. Then the needle immediately starts droping back toward "normal", the oil light goes out, and the air gets a little warmer than at first, but not as warm as it should be.

All of that happened in 30 seconds or so.

 

Same thing happened to me a few weeks back: noticed temp needle rising into overheated range...as it did, oil light went on.

Turned out my antifreeze level was low; once I filled it up, noo problem.

'Course, what caused the anitfreeze to get low is another issue; seems to come and go; believe I have a seeping radiator.

So, check antifreeze level in expansion tank. If you can't see any fluid in transparent plastic tank, FILL IT!

 

Johngs, mine was a lariat too! I'll bet they had both that year.
I sure liked that truck, just wanted the second back door and the 5.4L other wise I'd still be driving it.

(Hey Tennessee) Keep us posted, it good to know if we can do any good here, or if were just f*rtin in the wind.

Good day to all!

T-man

 

Jaymz,

Thanks man!! I called him, and he's close enough to home to stop in and check the Antifreeze level. I told him exactly what you said, so he's going to do that first before he takes it to the dealership.

 

That sure sound like low coolant, now!
T-man

 

Well, that was it!!

The coolant was VERY low....filled it up, and all is good....Thanks to everyone for the ideas...Especially Jaymz...Thanks dude!!