Afternoon guys.

I just purchased a 1997 Ram 3500 V10 with only 69,500 miles on the clock. This afternoon on my way back home, the pressure started acting weird, but never zeroed out. Now it will be at 40 at idle and then steadily drop as the rpms come up. From what I've read, this sounds consistent with a plugged oil pick-up. The oil pump pick-ups already seem to be prone to clogging and I'm sure sitting so much hasn't helped it one bit.

Please let me know if I'm on the right track. If so, I'll get on dropping the pan and cleaning the pick-up out before I do anything else. Thanks in advance.

 

Check your oil level first. The 8.0 takes seven quarts.... if it's low, you get that kind of behavior.

May also want to verify that is what the pressure is actually doing, with a mechanical gauge. The oil pressure sensors aren't the most reliable/accurate either.

 

Oil level is right where it should be. I didn't think to check the sender as the problem seemed to follow what others described when they ultimately had a clogged oil pick-up.

To be honest, after losing a very good engine to similar circumstances I really don't want to lose this one. I'd rather drop the pan and find everything clean than to fiddle-fart around with the other possibilities and damage the engine in the process. It may sound counter-intuitive to some folks, but I will sleep better at night knowing that everything is clean even if it is just a bad sender.

 

That seems perfectly reasonable.

Let us know what ya find.

 

Will do. Maybe I'll even get some pictures.

What's the best way to clean the screen? I've read of people cleaning the screen with with brake/carb cleaner and blowing it out with compressed air. The sprays aren't an issue, but my compressor bit the dust over the winter and I haven't managed to replace it yet. Would the force of the spray through the little extension tube be enough to blast the grit out from the screen? Is there something I should soak it in to soften stuff up before spraying it?

I try not to be the guy on the forum that asks way too many mostly redundant questions, but I live in the sticks and will be working on a gravel & dirt driveway. Once the pan is off, I don't want to waste time trying to solve the cleaning problem while the bottom end is exposed to whatever a breeze happens to kick up.

 

A pan of mineral spirits, or paint thinner (same thing) to soak it for a bit will make it clean up easier. Some bottle brushes for the tube is a good idea as well, since you don't have air.

Is there a gasket between the tube, and whatever it mounts to? If so, you are going to want to have one of those handy as well.

 

I believe there is an O ring sealing it. It looks to be a dealer only part around here so I'm hoping it will either be sound enough to reuse or I'm going to have to do some scrounging to find something oil/heat resistant that will get the job done. I've got a good parts store here that has a knack for things like that. Worst comes to worse - I'll cross my fingers that the dealer can get one for me.

 

Success! Oil pressure gauge is now behaving like it should.

Turns out someone beat to the punch about cleaning the screen. There wasn't any accumulation in the pan and the screen was mostly clean. I soaked it and the sump of the pan in mineral spirits for a couple of hours before putting it back together just to be certain. The person who did that job must have went to a parts place to find a pick-up gasket that was sort of close. They needed to trim the bolt holes in the gasket to make it perfect, but they didn't and there was gasket bunched up on the outside edges of the bolts. Although I doubt it would have caused much of a problem, I scrapped that gasket, bought a roll of the appropriate gasket material, and made my own gasket for it since no one in town could get one. Since there wasn't much there to cause problems, I buttoned it back up, replaced the sender unit, installed a new filter, and refilled the oil. So far, it's been acting exactly as a pseudo pressure gauge should.

Thanks for the info. I was dreading dropping the pan, but it really was amazingly simple to get out, clean up, and get back together. Even though dropping the pan was a bit of a wild goose chase, I do feel a lot better knowing it's clean. I did check up in the timing cover and all of the pumpp bolts appear to be present and accounted for. Sorry I didn't get any pictures as there really wasn't much to see.

 

Can you get at the pump bolts to tighten them thru the oil pan? (I may be going in there at some point....)

 

Maybe if you have a thin enough tool. There's one bolt that you won't though.