I bought this 2000-2001 Dakota with over 200k miles on it runs great.. the oil pressure would idle around 10-20psi and running it right under 40psi now it idles under the 40psi and running it around 70-80psi.. I talked to my mechanic he said it’s fine as long as it’s not pegged out.. anyone else seen this happen??

 

Anything change between when it was lower, and now?? Even an oil change can sometimes have an effect on pressures.

 

4.7 engine? If so swap the pressure sensor, it probably leaking.

Get Hot Shots stiction eliminator & add it to the oil per the instructions. This will clean the internals.

 

no last owner said the oil pressure always ran like that. (10-20psi idle to 30-40 running) I’ve changed the oil royal purple and filter f&n high flow once since I’ve owned it.. oil looks good and still clean looking.. it’s just started today so thought it was odd.. and was looking to see if it’s trying to tell me something or did it fix itself?

 

How are you arriving at these numbers? Did you have a real pressure gauge hooked up? Your greater numbers are perfectly normal and the lower numbers you saw before, were on the low side.

Quoting myself from when I last checked mine with a gauge....

"At idle, roughly 650-700 rpm, I was at 48 PSI (below 4 is low). At 3000 RPM, It was 90 PSI (I believe low is 25 psi)."

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ml#post3259782

 

The factory spec is 10 psi base idle and 10psi per thousand. These are high volume, low pressure oiling engines.

Going up one grade of viscosity will usually add another 10 psi across the board.

Usually a sudden jump like that means a restriction has happened downrange. The sender is in the feed from the filter to the cam bearings, and then the main journals are fed by the cam journals. Either you had a bearing turn and you don't know it (unlikely), one of the regulating galley orifaces got blocked (unlikely), or the sensor has lost it's mind (most likely).