Starting about 4-5 days ago I noticed my "Check Gages" light on the dash would come on when coming to a stop. It would come on and the oil pressure gauge would drop as if the truck was shut off and it had no power going to it. After about 2-3 seconds the light would go back on and the oil pressure gauge would return to normal, simultaneously. It seems to be getting a little worse, happening more frequently.

At about the same time I started hearing some ticking noise from the engine area, a soft tick, probably about 4-6 per second at idle. Once I start accelerating I can't hear it anymore, not sure if it stops or the exhaust drowns it out.

Is this a serious problem? Is there a correlation between the two? Is it just the gauge acting up or the actual oil pressure?

Thanks guys.

 

Yes, this is serious.
Check your oil level immediately. Based on what you find out and how much longer you wait, it could get expensive.

 

I'll check it tomorrow morning and post.

 

This can be many things.

- You've lost oil so you're low (either lost it because you have a leak somewhere, or you're getting blow by and are burning it)
- Your oil pump is worn out and cannot maintain appropriate pressure at low engine speeds
- You've got worn out bearings, and this is causing you to loose oil pressure at low RMP.

What sort of milage is on your engine, and how well do you maintain it?
The ticking is caused by your engine internals not being lubricated enough. Keep ignoring it and you can end up with a seized motor.

 

I'm at about 122.5k miles. I change the oil about every 4-6k. I mainly use the truck to get to school (10 miles away) and work (12 miles away). On occasion, like this past weekend, I took it up to a hockey tournament which was about a 350 mile trip give or take a few. I've never had this problem before either. The last oil change was about 5k miles ago back in October.

 

It doesn't sounds like it should be anything other the low oil. Check for leaks, probably something small like oil pan gasket, etc.

 

The trucks had pinging ever since I got it back in 05 I think it was. There was no real sign of oil in the plenum but who knows maybe it finally happened. I'll check the oil in the morning quick before class and post what I notice.

 

I checked the oil and there was basically nothing showing up on the dipstick although I was on a little hill so the truck was on an angle to the back right. I went to add a quart and saw I had no oil cap. I then saw it wedged between the battery and something as if I never put it back on after adding oil and it just stayed there the whole time. Could oil have splashed out when the cap wasn't on?

I have another quart I'm going to take with me and check it later today at work.

 

Dude... you're starving your engine of oil. DO NOT DRIVE IT until you top it off.
Yes, driving without your oil cap on can cause you to loose oil. You should be able to see it all over your engine bay (good news is, you shoudn't see any rust starting in there now LOL)

Make it a habbit to check your oil level every time you fill up. (Especially if you ignore your gauges, ticking sounds or don't do your own maintenance)

 

I had a problem close to yours, I would lose oil pressure after about 5-10 miles. I changed out the sensor,it did not help. Finally I dropped the oil pan which was pretty nasty. I had alot of fines in it. The oil pump was almost completly stopped up. Changed the oil pump and havent had any trouble since..ps: I had about 115,000 on my 98 dodge ram 4x4