I have a '92 dakota with the 5.2 and my oil pressure gauge is showing I have low oil pressure. On idle (warm or cold) the gauge is maxxed out at nothing. When I'm on the gas at all, it'll work its way up to "minimum" and stays there no matter how much throttle I give it. I made a video I'll see if I can get it uploaded/linked soon.

In the past, the truck had starting problems. It turned out the battery was draining because of a problem with the RPM gauge, so that was disconnected. damn. Well now since one gauge is dead I wouldn't doubt something is messed up with another one.

The oil is at a good level, or maybe a little too full iirc. The truck runs great and hasn't ever given me problems; it only has 78k on it. There's a few small surface rust spots and the only mod I've done is installed a glasspack. Hate it or Love it it's fine with me.

Where should I go from here?

 

I would get a pressure gauge and check your actual oil pressure. That is the best way to tell what is up with the gauge. From there you can decide the next best step, whether it be checking the sending unit or oil pump, etc.

 

And you say its currently running fine even though the gauge appears "wacked out"
huh, well check out what dbilik sai and you got a video yet

 

The video REALLY SUCKS. The battery in my camera died and it cut the video off.

However, it shows the level the oil pressure tops off at. I never really had time to coast but the preassure will drop back down to null. I'll try to get a better video in the near future.

I am wondering if the engine gets hotter then usual? It usually gets to about mid temp after about 2 miles of slow city driving, then stays there. Never gets any hotter. It's normal for a 5.2 to heat up that fast, right?

whoops, forgot video

http://s345.photobucket.com/albums/p...t=S7301895.flv

 

Where your oil pressure guage sits with your engine speed up is just a little above mine at idle but besides that how does it run, and does it get hotter than you specified in your above post because if it dosnt your guage or oil pressure system is probably f*cked up

 

It usually is as hot as the temp gauge says before I start it up, maybe that's messed up too. It always runs great, Idles fine. I'm starting to think the whole instrument cluster has a life-threatening tumor?

 

It also dosnt look like you have to many miles unless your odometer (i think thats what its called) had died at some point so its probably the guage or sending unit but wait til some one else chimes in to about it for more ansers to make it more certain that thats what it is

 

I would hook up a manual gauge to check oil pressure. The port is on the back of the engine, right side (passenger side), near the distributor. (You will need to remove the old oil pressure sending unit and thread in the gauge)
Oil Pressure at Idle should be at least 6PSI.
At 3000RPM, between 30-80PSI

I don't know what pressure my engine is actually putting out, but my gauge usually shows above half when operating.

As for the temp gauge, when I bought my truck, and before installing a 180* thermostat, that is about where my truck would heat up and stay at. I don't really remember how long it took to heat up, but as long as it never get's above like 3/4's of the gauge, I'd say your good. (As long as, when the engine goes back to cool, the gauge falls all the way down)

 

it appears to me your tach and speedometer dont work either

 

All the other meters work as far as I know. Only the RPM gauge doesn't work because it was disconnected. Now the oil pressure gauge is in question. It has low miles for a '92, and like I said it runs great.

I have a handheld temp gauge and I'll temp it next time I pull into my garage if I can remember.

So if it turns out my truck has low oil pressure, what should I be worried about? What problems could arise?