New here, great site! I'm not sure how to look up archives or past posts without manually scrolling through them. I have a 95 ram 1500 5.2 with 4 wheel drive. Driving home on highway last night, oil pressure went to 0 and idiot light went on. pulled over shut off truck and restarted, oil pressure about 40, started driving againand same thing happened. Finally got pissed and revved motor and guage started working again. I'm thinking oil sending unit. Is it a common problem? where is it located, i quickly looked with a flashlight last night but gave up quickly? any advice is appreciated, thanx

 

There's a wealth of info about that problem on this site. I hope your oi pressure problems arefixed easier than mine.

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What viscosity oil do you run? The first step of many is change your oil and filter immediately.

The sending unit is located on the top rear of the block, just to the passenger side of the distributor. You can't see it.... Gotta climb in there and feel.

 

gonna throw it out there....if i dont someone will..did you check the oil? these trucks have a HUGE problem with the plenum gaskets blowing and burning oil saddam...check the oil level....

 

Pressure dropping to zero like that and then coming back up is probably about 90% chance bad sending unit, 10% chance low on oil. If it was low on oil ... revving it shouldn't have fixed it ... that empties the pan even more ... still ... worth a look ... doesn't cost anything.

Really don't think changing oil and filter will help ... [&:]

 

in my case...i had the oil drop...if i revved it up, pressure return to normal for a few seconds then would drop back to zip with the idiot light coming on. checked the oil and it wasnt there. put the oil in and problem fixed..havent replaced the oil pump....everythings a possibility

 

i had same problem so i changed the oil pump my self,only took about an hour of laying on the wet cold snowy ground,lmao. But all is well now..

 

I am working through the same problem right now. Ran the cleaner and changed the oil...still doing the same thing. I'm going to check the sensor next. I don't have any knocking when it reads zero, so I hope that is it!

If not, I'm pulling the pan to see if there is some gunk causing the problem.

 

Why would the engine keep running if the oil pressure truly was at 0? Don't the lifters require oil pressure to move the valvetrain? I know that it would take a second or two for them to collapse but would the valves still open after that happened?

 

Hi All:

It turns out that the sensor on mine had broken, with the plastic cap portion separating from lower part. As I drove, it appeared the electrical connection would come in and out of contact due to movement. Drove about 20 miles without a probem after replacing the sensor. Hopefully this is it...

Oh...and this is on a 1998 Ram with the 5.2 Magnum and 72000 miles.

 

Thanks for all the advise, especially on where it oil sending unit is located, bought a 27mm deep socket, popped off the connector and replaced the sensor, pita but after about half an hour I was able to feel around and screw the new one in. Now oil pressure reads just above 40 all the time, before it would slightly fluctuate around 30. The first thing I did was to check the oil level when this first happened. It was down about half a qt. no biggie. I know the plenum is leaking, next project. but anyway when i bought this truck it had the same problem. the owner had towed it to his house because oil pressure cut out to 0. he removed the oil pan and oil pump and let it sit there for two years. I bought it from him and knowing him, he rarely changed the oil. The sludge was like pudding, flushed engine several times after replacing oil pump and pan. Truck still has slight miss, i'm hoping its just from oil leaking into plenum, but this truck just keeps going, has 95k, i beat on it when i drive it and just won't quit. I've owned it for two years and besides an idler pulley that was noisey, which took 5 minutes to replace, no other problem, knock on wood...., great truck, thanks again