2002 Ford Explorer Oil Gauge

Very possibly the oil pressure sender. It is located on the side of your block. Although the engine is only a year old, the sender on Explorers and Mountaineers are very well known to fail.

Good Luck;
Rick

The oil sender is around $8.00 at the most.
$7.74 at Rockland Auto.com
Here is the link for them:
http://www.rockauto.com/index.php?a=G-partdescribe2
AC DELCO Part # F8006 More Info #89057521 $7.74
SWITCH,ENG OIL PRESS IND 1/4IN X 18 MPT, 1 TERM.

The oil sender is pictured below, the top white section is for an electrical connector that goes to your oil pressure gauge, you just push your original connector back on at the top and it will snap/lock in place.
The white on the threads is a little "Teflon" (pipers thread tape) to prevent any leakage after installation:

For me to recommend a reputable repair shop I would only know about the shops in my vicinity.
I live in Massachusetts close to New Hampshire if you are close to my location I can absolutely recommend a very reputable repair shop to you.

If you are not local to my vicinity, I would call "AAA" and ask if someone there could recommend a reputable shop, they do know the good one's.

It is very easy to replace, I would say a reputable shop would charge $40 - $50 for a complete replacement (Sender and Labor).

You could do the replacement yourself if you wanted to save $30 - $40 for labor.

The oil pressure switch is located on the driver's side of the block near the front, about level with the water pump. It's pretty easy to get at. About 40 minutes of your time is all you need for the replacement.

Rick

Thank you.
Your very welcome depowell,

You do not need to rush around to have the oil sender replaced. The engine is getting plenty of oil.
The gauge is just not working properly because of the bad sender. But you should make it a point to have it replaced sometime so you are getting a true reading, just in case something with the oil pressure does go wrong. Especially with a new engine !

I've been running my 1999 Mountaineer 185,000 miles for 2 years now. The oil pressure gauge still acts up. I never replaced the sender. Some day I think I will.I'm getting a little lazy!

Happy Holidays;
Rick