My friend's 04 ram 1500 with the 4.7L V8 has a problem with his oil pressure dropping to 0 when he comes to a stop and then the check gauge light comes on. He took it up to autozone and they scanned it and nothig came up. I heard about some recall on some rams and I heard about other people having this happen. Then today I drove my 02 ram 1500 with a 5.9L V8 and came to a stop my pressure dropped. Our engines run fine and don't make any noises so is this bad? Or is this just a bad pressure switch? I couldn't find anywhere what excatly it is so any input from you guys is appreciated.

 

The pressure indicator on the '04 is more like an idiot light with a needle. The fact the CEL came on would indicate something awry, but not necessarily oil pressure. The 4.7s do have a problem with sludge for reason. How much oil is in the motor? If it's within specs, a oil pressure test is in order.

The pressure indicator on my Ram barely changes between idle and high RPM. The oil pressure in my 300 varies between 28 PSI at idle to 60 at high RPM

 

I would think your check guage light came on because your oil pressure needle was low. it could either be your sensor or you could have some sludge built up in there as already stated. If I were him, i'd pour 1/2bottle of seafoam in with the oil and run the engine for 15-20min. then do an oil change with a new filter. Also, replace the sensor. Then see if the dummy guage still reads low.
For yours, not uncommon for v8's to run 20psi at idle and jump to 50psi when rpms are revved up. I believe the newer engines are something like 1psi for every 40rpms. That would be ~20psi at 800rpms(idle) They have low flow pumps and is one of the culprits to the Hemi tick because if I increase my rpms to 1k, the tick goes away.
I wouldn't worry about your pressure if this is the case. i think your just paying more attention to this cuz your boy had some issue's.

 

Thanks Mike. I do recall him having a small oil leak some time ago so he might be low on oil. Would you suggest the same for my 02 5.9L?

 

Thanks dirtydog. I'll let him know. And for mine I think you're right about me paying more attention since I've seen it happen before. I'll get back about my buddy's ram and mine if it ever happens again.

 

Well I just too my truck out and I was braking down a steep hill and when I stopped at the bottom my pressure dropped to 0 and the check engine light came one. It only did it that one time unlike my friends that's does it every time. Is this still bad?

 

i have an 02 when mine did that i unhooked it and there was some oil in it and plug it back up and it stopped