Hey everyone -

Been a few months since I've posted, I still check the forums time to time, hope everyone is doing well with their mopars.

A few days ago, while driving to a friends house to change my ABS/Wheel Sensor in my rear differential (had the dreaded ABS/Brake light scenario, new sensor fixed it)... I was greeted with a fluctuation in my oil pressure via my oil pressure gauge on the dash. I stopped and checked my oil levels at a gas station, even though the engine was still hot, the oil level read approx where it should be when the oil is sucked up in the engine, I later confirmed that I had a good oil level when the engine was cold. After driving it back home, the oil pressure gauge would work for a split second then drop to 0. Off to Advance Auto Parts I went to pick up some parts...



You'll see I picked up a new oil pressure sending unit, BWD S4081Z, correct for my 1996 Dodge Ram 1500 5.2 318... Oil pressure sending unit socket, 10" extension, and a few universal joints...(ignore the reducer, that was for a 1 1/16" deep well socket that did not fit the sending unit...the walls were too thin to hold it.)

I located the lovely oil pressure sending unit on the back of my 318 motor, to the left of the distributor (see photo below) and you'll notice how the top of the harness is pushed out... when I took it off, oil poured out... You'll see why below...



When I took off the oil pressure sending unit, it came out in three pieces... I barley even tapped the plastic housing around my OE sending unit and it snapped off from the metal base... also my O ring on the inside was in two pieces... (see photo)



Once it the harness was disconnected, I pushed on the top of it and it seemed to seat itself correctly, pushing out excess oil... I cleaned it up the best I could with a shop towel to absorb some of the oil... I installed the new oil pressure sending unit with high temperature thread lock on it, into the engine. Connected the harness, cranked the engine, viola the oil pressure gauge is working again, the engine seemed to turn over super quickly in comparison to before the part change. Sounds like it idles better than before... but here is my new issue. The engine seems to putter/sputter when I accelerate. I have a 5 speed transmission and it almost sounds like I'm shifting to a too high gear and the engine is puttering trying to accel... I drove around the neighborhood for about 3-5 minutes, no further than a mile or so to see if it would even out, still sounds like it is puttering, loss of engine power.

Did I forget to do something when installing the new unit? I realize while typing this that I did not disconnect the negative terminal while installing the new part, does everything need to be reset to sync up correctly? The oil pressure reading is maybe 5-8 PSI higher than I was used to seeing with the OE oil pressure sending unit, which is about 45-50 PSI, slightly above the middle reading on the gauge.... No lights on the dash, no CEL, low oil, nothing of the sort....

So DF, I ask, what do you think could be the issue? Thanks for taking the time to read my post...

TLDR; Installed new oil pressure sending unit, fixed oil pressure gauge, engine now putters when driving.

 

probably a broken vacuum line in/around the passenger side intake or firewall.

edit - or a disconnected or loose spark plug wire, or maybe a melted plug wire.

nice pictures.

 

I was pushing my vac. lines out of the along with my ignition wires... I'll check to see if I knocked something loose... Thanks

 

if you have access to the two loose ends of that rigid tubing, the easiest and best fix is to use a short piece of vac hose as a sleeve over the two ends. just make sure its a tight fit.

 

If I had taken the time to stop and actually look for an issue, I may have found the disconnected spark plug wire at the distributor cap, but the engine was hot when I wrote the post, so I'll let myself slide. Reconnected the wire and she's running better than before. Even inspired me to buy new wires, cap, and rotor button! Plugs are only a few months old. Thanks dhvaughn.

 

I once changed plugs and wires only to have the a/c to stop blowing under load (vacuum line got yanked loose when old wire released from plug). Frustrating isn't it...to get one thing fixed and then something else breaks right behind it. I tell my wife that it's like a balance thing...my world is not in balance unless something is broken. As soon as I get one thing fixed, something else always seems to follow right behind, it's almost scary.