1996 Dakota 5.2 4x4 104,000miles full synthetic 10w-30 oil
every summer or when the temp get close to 100 here in southern California, my oil pressure is too high for my liking the pressure at idle is right in the middle but when I'm on the high way I'm pushing close to the right high dash mark. should i change oils ? and recommendations

 

My oil gauge is all over the map. For it to be pushing right near the hash mark is common. It never goes past. I would NOT use anything but 10W-30 motor oil in that engine. It was designed with 10W-30 and that's all you should ever run in it.

 

Put a mechanical gauge on it, and see if what the dash is telling you, is accurate....

 

thanks for the replies. i was really thinking about switching to thinner oil but i wont be doing that anymore.
i will be putting a mechanical gauge to be sure i don't blow anything .

 

As long as it's between the marks you should be okay. A mechanical pressure gauge is a good idea as some older dash clusters start to give problems. My temperature gauge hasn't worked for a year. It's the same age. I suspect some solder joints are failing. At 104K, your engine should be solid. I think synthetic is a little overboard but the oil you're using is just fine..

 

thank you for the feed back

 

As heyyou said, check pressure with a mechanical guage. 99% of the time, the complaint (other then a bad sending unit) that causes oil pressure problems on a hot engine are usually low oil pressure. And that is due to wore bearings etc.
In my mind the only two things that will cause high oil pressure is a bad sending unit or a stopped up oil filter forcing it to bypass.