hey, so im new to the forum as a member... but check it out when i had problems before... i bought a dodge earlier this year. love it and will drive it till it dies., its a 2000 3.9L club cab (i think. 2 door w/ back seat) standard optional 4x4. rusted from sitting and only one driver but had 2 owners... got the truck cheep and need some body work done. ill maybe post pics another time.... but onto the problem. sooo i recently have seen the oil guage drop from middle to 0 as i hit a turn some times and go back to the middle.... and than i found out my valve cover had a leak.. sooo i did change it last week at the garage i help out. and the oil pressure is weird... it is a little higher than the middle of the guage and when i drive it will go up and down more or less according to the gas pedal.. also when i start it. (not sure how often.. wasnt really looking) but when i start the truck the guage goes all the way to the top.. and than down after its started and the engine has calmed.
any ideas? would love the feedback, thanks alot.

 

Hi, Welcome.

It's normal for the oil pressure to vary some depending upon RPM. It usually will read a bit higher when cold too, at start for example. Hitting 0, not good. Were you low on oil?

If you can, put a mechanical oil pressure gauge on it to see what the pressure is. The electric gauges are notoriously unreliable. It could be a bad sender but check it with a mechanical gauge to be sure.

Good luck.

 

well on the guage it usually is just above.. and i do have synthtic in it... but since the oil leak from the valve cover... i added oil. until i had changed the gasket. soo when i did i drove it home but had noticed... that instead of being just above the halfway point... it will actually go to the max area on the guage... and because im a younger driver... i have not had enough experience to know if that is normal let alone okay.... im used to seeing guages around the mid point. if you want i can go start it and tell you exactly what it does....?

also... where would i hook up a mechanical oil guage?

 

sounds like the sender is done its all over the place it should fluctuate as you drive an if you had excess oil pressure it will usually bulge out the filter if you had zero oil pressure you would hear it the engine would sound like you had the cast of river dance under the hood

 

okay. soo what? possibly an early thought of changing the sensor is right? and i miy just need to change the sensor? is that worth a try?

 

The easiest place to test oil pressure is at the existing oil pressure sender. It should be located near the distributor.

I hate to just throw parts in, that's why I suggest you try a mechanical gauge first instead of just changing it out. Some auto parts stores may loan you one. But, if you have to buy one, just replace the sender.

You did replace the filter when you changed your oil, right?

 

okay, ill take a look after school tomorrow.. its the 3.9 v6. and the distributor s at the back i changed that earlier this year. when i did the wires. and ill ask my mechanic, or friend if they have one. but what abouts should it be reading at idle?

and yes i absolutly did change the filter when i changed the oil. i put mobil1 synthetic oil and a fram filter... i am about to chage oil again for the winter... and this time put Royal Purple w/ Fram synthetic/high mileage oil filter. for the winter.

 

the oil sender is right beside the distributor just to the left of it anyway when you re route the plug wires or hook them up you might have damaged it or the wires to it. I know for a fact that dodge puts them in stupid locations where you can damage them and I know fist hand how easy they can break

 

aahh ok, that could make sense. ok i will take a look tomorrow after school for any damage. or try cleaning up the area first.

 

The specs on the oil pressure are:

Curb idle, 6 psi minimum. Yes - SIX psi.
At 3000 rpm, 30-80 psi.