Hello, I recently acquired a 1992 dakota 3.9l V6 with 227k miles on it. The truck will lose oil pressure upon warming up and will want to stall under light acceleration coming from a stop. When it loses oil pressure theres no ticking or abnormal sounds coming from the engine which leads me to believe it is the sending unit. Any and all information will be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read and or reply.

 

I will move this to the 1st generation Dakota sub-forum.

 

Oil pressure senders are cheap to replace and not difficult.

There are those who would suggest, tho, that the oil pressure sender & gauge are really not very accurate and that you should maybe install a mechanical gauge for a bit more accuracy. I dunno.

 

Alright. Ill look into a mechanical gauge. Do you happen to have any idea how much they cost?

 

My sender suddenly got erratic around 200k, before that, it served me well.
I splurged ten-twelve bucks and got a new one. I'll be happy if I live long enough to see it go south.

 

i paid about $20 for my mechanical gauge at the autostore. they can be had cheaper at swap meets or farm stores. i dont use mechanical gauges anymore. i found a guy at the swap meets who sells electric gauges at $2 a pop.

 

How difficult would a mechanical gauge be to install?

 

its easy once you get the old sending unit out. the hardest part is it being on the back of the motor

 

Awesome. I'll look into it. Thank you for your input.