ok so i want to thank everybody on this forum for some great info and research material. I have a 2000 ram 1500 4x4 with the 5.2L engine with 136k. I was having the common issue similar to alot of people with losing oil pressure when warm. i replaced the oil pressure sending unit and dropped the pan to replace the oil pump and clean the pickup tube. To my surprise the sludge was not bad at all, just a little on the bottom of the pan but the pick up tube had some little pieces of metal in it. Also, I noticed some on the bottom of the pan they looked like someone dropped the foil off of the top of a bottle in there. I am thinking the bearings are bad, but I still put the new pump on cleaned everything up in the pan. I checked for play with rod bearings and cam shaft just by hand trying to see if there was play, there was none. i got everything back together now, and left truck idle for about 10 mins. I drove it for about 5 mins oil pressure between 35-45 driving, and and im guessing 30 at idle. im just using the dash guage i didnt run it long enough for it to warm up all the way to see if it would lose oil pressure after i replaced everything. The thing i want is input on is the motor. It never made any noise or knocks just a slight rattle on cold start for 2-4 seconds. It still purrs like a kitten no loss of power.
should i take it for a drive to get everything nice and warm and see if it loses pressure ?
is there something else i should replace ?
drive it till it blows up ? the truck doesn’t smoke or burn oil either
The metal pieces worried me , I just dont want to cause more damage if it can be saved . Its weird that it seems to run perfect now, as it did before, besides for no pressure at idle it was 40 psi while driving before pump install.

 

Drive it and see what happens with the pressure.

And please, for the love of God, add some periods at least to your post's in the future. And also, if you are going to post a thread in the tech section, use a better thread title please. After all, any one searching for a similar prob as your's, isn't going to do a search for "Awkard issue" .

 

That is too hard to read.

EDIt: A little easier to read. Caps are your friend, too.

 

ok so i edited for you guys lol! How do i change my posting title

 

Don't think you can, think a mod has to do it..

 

Ok thanks. I have to run some erands here soon so will post if it lost pressure again in a little bit. If any mods read this could you please change posting title to [Main or rod bearings possibly bad?] thx

 

So i took the truck out drove it about 100 miles. The only thing that changed was the oil pressure guage does not move around it just stays a little bit under 40 psi the whole time no loss of pressure at all. There was a decent amount of metal in my pan and pickup tube not sure if it was bearings or not, seems to be fine now has any body else found metal in there oil pan and still have there engine running good after they put on thousands of miles

 

Changed the title for you.

 

You said it was foil-like metal, it's possible that when somebody was pouring in an additive the foil piece you sometimes see may have fallen in and after a while of being pulverized made it to the bottom of the pan.

 

That's where the gauge rode all the time on my 99 with 200,000 plus miles, a little under the 40 mark on dash gauge. After replacing the pump, pick up tube and screen it goes well above the 40 mark on the highway and when warm. A mechanical gauge would give you the real story.