2005 Dakota 4x4 with 4.7 and auto displays the oil light when you first start it. If you turn it off and back on again, everything is normal. There are no oil leaks and oil level is good. I haven't put an oil pressure gauge on, so I don't know if it has a momentary lag on first startup, but this doesn't sound logical to me - I'm thinking that maybe it could be a faulty filter.

Has anyone seen this issue or have some better guesses than I have?

 

Will the light go out on it's own or do you have to shut the truck off and restart to get the light to go out?

 

What oil filter are you using? If it does not have an anit-drain back valve, or it has failed, that could be the issue.

 

I need to turn off the ignition and restart.

 

I think it's a FRAM - I had the oil changed a couple of months ago instead of doing it myself because it was too cold. My son is currently using the truck, I'll need to have him take a look to see what the make really is, but for the cost of a filter, I think I'll just have him spin a new filter on and see if the problem goes away.

 

If it's not the filter, check the sender. My brothers SRT-10 did something similar recently, ended up being a bad sender.