Oil Pres and Temp Gague

Hey guys,
I have a question about my Tbird. I recently put a Mustang 5.0 HO in it (It was originally the 5.0 Sport Coupe). My oil pressure gague reads very high, just below the "too high" line and my coolant temp reads cold all the time, even after its been warm and driving for long periods.

I dont know if the oil pressure is different for the two motors and thats why my Tbird gague reads high with the Stang motor, or if the coolant temp sensor is different also and thats why the gague reads low? Does anyone have any ideas as to what is causing this? If my thermostat was stuck open, would the car run cool all the time?
Any help would be great.

Try this: http://www.turbotbird.com/techinfo/gauge_flux.htm

Jonesy

I don't know if the sending units on the two engines are the same or not. Pertaining to the possible stuck-open thermostat; if the outside ambient temperature is cold the engine will run cold. The thermostat on cool days will cycle open and closed to keep the engine at normal operating temp. On a hot summer day even if the thermastat were stuck open, the engine would still run pretty close to the operating temp but would take a little longer to arrive at that temp. On hot summer days the thermostat pretty much stays open once it has acheived the operating temp rather than cycling open/closed. If your thermostat is stuck open it might be that the oil isn't warming up as much as it normally would therefore causing the oil pressure to be high. The viscosity of the oil is higher when cold causing higher oil pressure until it warms up. Even with the thermostat stuck open though, the oil should still warm up some after driving a while but probably not as much as it should.

I think I am going to try the IVR. Even on the hottest days last summer, 90 Deg+, the gague was showing cold. I may try to put a Tbird temp sensor in the HO motor, Im not sure if the temp sensors are different. That should be pretty cheap too. I will prob put a new thermostat in anyways, since its cheap and easy too.
The wierd part is that before the engine swap all the gagues were working fine. But it could also be that the car was sitting for a year between motors, maybe that caused my gagues to go a little crazy.
Well, thanks for all the help guys, I appreciate it.

Dbird,
Replace the temperature sending unit and the thermostat. Leave th eIVR alone for now.

Should I try the oil pressure sending unit from a Tbird? Any ideas? I could probably get one from a J/Y for next to nothing.

I wouldn't get one from a junk yard. You'll want to get one for the year Bird you have, since that is the guage that is in the car.

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Jim Portteus
NATO Member
86 Turbo Coupe, 131K Miles, 140MPH Speedo, Gillis Valve, 2 1/2" Downpipe to 2" Duals w/ 18" Glasspacks, 245/50R16's and new paint.

Most folkes don't know it but the later oil pressure sending units are just a calibrated switch that forces the gague to read approx 3/4 travel. Ford started using these in '89 to stop complaints of low oil pressure(thus turning a gague into a idiot light). They can be identified by their small size, look just like a idiot light switch. I used one on a TC and the gague did go almost to full travel..

As far as the temp gague I agree with the others, get a Bird sending unit.

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Two 1988 Turbo Coupes ..... yea one of em has a 5.0 And runs 13.1s

[This message has been edited by TurboCoupe50 (edited 03-02-2002).]