Pull the sensor and check the oil pressure with an old fashion analogue guagelike before they had sending units. Call around to the parts stores and find one. You'll pay a lot less up front by KNOWING for sure if its the electronics, or in the engine-especially if its in the engine. Cut off enough line so you can watch the guage while you heat up the engine to normal, then rev it to 3500 rpm, if the pressure drops off, you know its something mechanical and know what direction to go.

 

well i got the new sensor in.....i drive it for a little and everything seems great, but as soon as it reaches it normal engine temp (a needle under the half way mark) the pressure guage drops! what do i do?

 

I would still do what 'gone fishin' recommended. Hook up a mechanical gauge to see exactly what's going...could still be a loose wire between the sensor & the dash, bad connection, etc.

You can also put your front end on ramps & pull the oil pan & have a look at the pump screen. Pumps aren't expensive (should be 40-80 bucks, depending on type, brand etc.) and you can replace it in your driveway.

 

honestly man. if i knew how to hoom up a guage to it to make theres actually pressure, id be doing it. 40-80 dollars? really? where the hell did i have this price in my head of like $800? and if i can do it my driveway, then it sounds simple enough!

 

Well,

If you have sludge in the pan, but I doubt since you're running synthetic, drain the oil and stick your finger into the drain hole and wipe the bottom of the pan, if its sludged, pull the pan. If you bought the truck used, the previous owner may not have been **** about oil changes, and now that you're running synthetic, its broken loose and filled the bottom of the pan. But carrying good oil pressure until its heated up doesn't sound like a plugged pickup screen. From a mechanical point of view, its sounds like the wear plate on the pump is going away, or the regulator spring may have broke-heated oil is thinnerbypassing the gears easier whenhot. Also the pickup tube may have rattled loose from the pump. Narrow it down to electronic or mechanical first if you can. From what you're saying though, I'm now in favor of pump problems. Don't drive it until you get this figured out, or you could have a balled up hunk of aluminum and cast iron-It ain't prettyand its real expensive these days.

 

how do i go about doing an engine flush? and these problems your listing such as a wear plate on the pump or regulator spring may have broken or the pickup tube may have rattled loose....how do i go about seeing if its one of those and how do i fix those? i think first i want to go ahead and drop the oil pan, clean the screen and try to do an engine flush. the truck is used and im not sure how **** the previous owner was. it did have conventional oil in it which means there could be a good amount of sludge and other things, and this is the first time using synthetic. about 2 or 3k miles ago i switched to synthetic.

thanks a lot every body for all your help! especially gone fishing and east hemi!

 

i think you pissed of your engine. holding pressure until you hammer it sounds to me like that pump took a dive. i'm with these guys. first thing to do is drop the pan and check for a blocked screen, and crap in the bottom of the pan. you might see some of it when you drain the oil too. a blocked screen/plugged pump covers all of your symptoms.

to "flush" the engine, put some seafoam in it when you put oil back in her, but then you have to do another oil change within a few hundred miles.

 

put seafoam in with my oil? well i guess im gonna go drop my pan later today or tomorrow. change my oil out. i just put a new filter in yesterday..so should i keep that or replace my day old oil filter? ive also looked everywhere on the internet for the oil pump and have yet to find it. does anyone know where i can get one?

by the sounds of what you guys say...i think me putting synthetic in it got all of the crap out my system and now its blocking my screen. hopefully an oil change with a screen cleaning and some seafoam in my oil will help.

 

Yea do as they said. Pull the pan down and ill guarntee you will see the pickup tube screen is plugged completely. Common deal. I bought my truck with 110,000 miles on her and this guy must have loved oil changes because its clean as a whistle. But..drop the pan. Go ahead and change the pump since its inexpensive and your right there anyway. Also..pump could be trashed from all the crap. Put pan back on add oil and seafoam. Run her for about 100 miles and rechange the oil and filter. Seafoam works wonders. Love the stuff. Old days we would fill the engine with kerosine and run it...but cant do that with todays motors.

 

im gonna go ahead and do exactly that. the oil pump is fairly easy to change? i wish i could find one on the internet to give me a damn price or something or so i can get 1 ordered!