does the following statement give any clues whether i have a true oil pressure issue, sending unit, etc...

only when truck gets fairly warm the oil pressure light will flicker, dance around, and sometimes even low oil level will come on...

2ndly, i can not get truck to go into 4lo anymore...any ideas?

95Ram
318
auto

 

Give a few more hints. How is the oil level in the truck? Does she run rough at idle? Does your truck go into 4HI easily? Are you putting the tranny in Neutral before engaging 4Lo?

 

Oil Level is spot on.
Does not run rough at idle, sounds great actually, no shaking, stumbling, etc..
4HI seems to take a lil bit, sometime I have to put it back in drive before the light comes on.
I do use neutral.

Thanks for the reply.

 

Have you checked the fluid level in the t-case?
Mine was a bit difficult till I topped it off, now it works great.

 

On the oil light: You may just have a faulty electrical connection causing that light to flicker. What does the oil pressure gauge read when the light is coming on and off? One of these smarter guys can tell you for sure, but I believe the sending unit is operating correctly as long as the gauge is reading correct.

On the 4Lo: checking the fluid is the best place to start. My truck usually engages in in 4WD in any range after the tires rotate. When you say takes a bit to get it in do you mean it is hard shifting the transfer case into it or easy to shift into 4WD then it hesitates to actually engage? If the latter is the case there maybe a small vacuum leak somewhere.

 

On my 96, the low oil pressure lite seems to be independent of what the gauge reads. I had the lite on, with the gauge still showing 40PSI... the mechanical gauge told the truth. Low oil pressure.

Put a mech gauge on it, see what IT says. I would believe that long before I would believe the electrical gauge. If it says everything is ok, replace the sending unit.

 

man lots ot these OP threads lately!

although youll want to do what Hey You advised with the mechanical gauge first. i bet you that your bearing to journal clearances have increased to a point below those that would yield OP above the PCM's normal idle OP value which is NOT 40 (as indicated by the dash gauge). if its not making any rude noises, you likely still have good VOLUME, which will keep her running just fine.

if it wasnt so methodical i would point to the sending unit, BUT as the engine warms viscosity decreases and when throttle is applied OP increases, SO if its good OP when cold, dropping when warm, and increasing on throttle. its UNLIKELY coincidental