Need your help fellas...Been all over the net for similiar problems and hoping for the best easy fix for it. Here it goes. Bought a 2001 excellent condition with 98K on it. Had oil change at tire kingdom and they overfilled it by a least a quart. Did not catch it till oil pressure gauge went to zero. Empty the right amount of oil from the engine. Gauge still goes from little below/above 40 then to zero then back to normal then to zero. Thought it was the oil pressure sending unit and replaced it and still having the same problem. I assumed that sludge is built up somewhere restrincting oil flow and flushed the motor. Some sludge came out. Filled it up with new oil/filter but still having the problem of a dancing oil gauge and the motor ticks when the pressure is down to zero. What do you guys think my problems is?

 

I have read in the past that there is a valve or something in the oil pump that goes bad, you might want to get your pump checked out. The posters in the past had the same symptoms as you, I think it was over on pavementsucks.com. go over there and do a search for oil pumps and see what you can find.

 

My guess is the customer before you never changed the oil and your oil pump pickup is blocked. (seen it a million times) What I would do is remove the oil cap on the valve cover and look in with a light. Chances are it's sludged up. It is a nasty job cleaning it but you can clean the engine. If you have to clean it, remove the valve covers and oil pan and start washing! (if you want to do the full job the intake can be removed to) Make sure to remove, disassemble, and clean you oil pump and pickup. Good luck!

 

I guess I will flush the motor again and then remove the oil pan. Clean out the pan and pickup tube/screen. Hopefully there is no big chunks of metal at the bottom. Pray for me that there is no metal chunks. Put it all back together and hopefully call it good. Well let you guys know what result I get and hopefully this will help out the next person trying to find a fix.

thanks guys

 

have you contacted the place where you had the oil change done?how bout the receipt?that might state how many quarts were used during said oil change.if that # is indeed higher than what it should be.....then see what they say.
in my experience,it pays to b!tch.if nothing else,youll get it off your chest,maybe even get something out of them.
1 person hears something good,10 hear something bad.
just a thought.

 

ITS NOTHING IN THE ENGINE MAN YOU CAN RELAX, I SEEN THIS PROB SEVERAL TIMES, IF ITS NOT THE SENDER ITS THE GAUGE, THERE IS NO VALVE CRAP IN THE OIL PUMP, THE OIL PUMPS ARE AS TUFF AS HELL, IF THERE WAS A BLOCKAGE YOU'D GET LIFTER NOISE BELEIVE ME, IT USES A ROLLER LIFTER AND THERE VERY SENSITIVE, ANY LOSS OF PRESSURE AND THE RATTLE OFF--LOL, BEFORE SPENDING MEGA BUCKS, HOOK UP AN OIL LINE TO A REGULAR OLD GAUGE AND WATCH IT, BET YA ITS THE GAUGE .

 

Fixed the problem. There was major sludge in the pickup screen that was blocking oil from being pumped. Didn't realize the pickup screen/tube was that small for a big motor like that. But for the ones who has the same problem. If your truck is losing oil pressure or bouncing from 0 to normal and has a lot of miles on it, you probably got sludge built up in the pick up screen or a bad oil pressure sensor. Get a mechanical gauge first to determine if it is the sensor or not cause it will save you about $35 for a sensor in which you could just clean. If the gauge reads oil pressure and then drops then it is interal not the sensor.

But this is a very easy fix and may also not be a bad idea in doing this at 60k or more miles. Of course everybody has their own opinion. Good oil really does make a difference and good maintanence makes a huge difference. I cannot see a oil pump on a dodge go bad after looking at the mechanics of it. Except when the propeller looking thing is worn out and even then it is hard to believe that. Man what a simple pump.

Here is what I did. Remove starter, Drop the oil pan(20 bolts), drop the oil pump(2 bolts) that has the pickup screen and tube attached to it, throughly clean the SOB, scrapped the old gasket off the pan and motor block, buffed the pan to remove any subborn gasket and scrapped the motor block of any remnants of the gasket, Used gasket adheasive/sealer on pan, installed new gasket on pan, installed oil pump, put pan back on, put starter back on, fill it with oil and was done in 45 mins due to throughly cleaning each part.

thanks for all the help in diagnosis my problem and possible solution.