Ok, I've been playing with my new toy, a junkyard refugee '88 Dakota I picked up for $100 from a guy that was going to junk it. Now that I've fixed the brakes and wheel bearings I can drive it but it has low oil pressure. It is ok when you first start it but then it goes away once the engine gets hot. Radiator, T-stat, and water pump are all new so it definitely isn't a cooling problem. Strangely enough, I don't get any ticking noises out of the lifters so it must have at least some pressure. I have heard of these things having problems with the pickups getting clogged. How about the oil pumps themselves? Any problems with them? I figure I'll drop the pan, clean the pickup, and install a new oil pump. Any advice would be appreciated. Oh, and it is a standard cab 8' bed with a 3.9 fuel injected six and an automatic with overdrive. Mileage is just under 160k.

If I swap engines the j/y near me has a '95 with the Vortec V6 and an overdrive automatic and a '96 with the Jeep 2.5 and a 5 speed. I was thinking of swapping the whole cab and drivetrain over from the '96 as it would be really good on gas. The '95 is hit on the side so the cab is no good and I'd have to swap harnesses and the like.

If I get the current anemic 125hp V6 to have decent oil pressure I should probably leave well enough alone. It's just a beater 2wd I use to haul stuff around. I moved furniture to Queens with it last weekend, oil pressure or not. Still, with the price of gas that 4cyl 5spd would sure be nice, and the cab is MINT on that truck. Mine is a bit ragged with a hole in the drivers side floorboard that I patched.

 

hook a mechanical oil press. gauge to it, in place of the sending unit to check actual oil psi before droping the pan and spending money. this would let you know if you have an actual low pressure problem or if its an electrical problem. i need a new sending unit in mine as it reads low sometimes and fine sometimes, regardless of engine temperature. when its reallly cold out teh gauge doesnt work at all!

 

mine does the same thing, when i first start it the level gauge will be at about half, then when i run it to temp, it will be at the edge of "safe" i guess you would call it. i dont worry cause i know it has enough oil though..

 

you have good oil pressure when the engine is cold because the oil is thicker when cold as it gets hot it thins out, you either have a bad oil sending unit, a weak oil pump, or worn crank, rodor cam bearings, on my case when i first bought my truck it had the oil dummy light on all the time when i rebuilt my engine i replaced the oil sending unit because it was bad, since replacing it the light has no longer come on, hope this helps!!

 

yeah but my level sometimes stays in the middle..so its prolly the sending unit. atleast i hope..

 

Hmm, ok I'm hoping it is just the sending unit. Thanks for the advice. The temp gauge doesn't work at all so I'm pretty sure that sender is junk too. Oh, and thanks for not razzing me for calling the 3.9 Magnum a Vortec by mistake. It was early and I was still sleepy, LOL. Well, wish me luck. I'm about to hop into the truck and head out on a 50 mile trip. This thing sat dead for two years before my buddy and I resurrected it.