Hello, I have received a lot of good help here in the past (THANK YOU) and I'm back again. my 2003 Ram 1500 has just over 210,000 miles and running great. pulling a 17 foot camper about 120 miles into the trip my oil pressure gauge drops to 0psi, immediately comes back up to 45 to 50ish and a couple munites later drops again. I pulled over and checked the oil added 1.5 qts and started it. oil pressure is good sat there and reved it and let it idle about 10 minutes with no problem. got back on the interstate and after about 2 - 3 minutes it dropped again, rose again and fell again. I pulled over a bout 2 miles further down the road and shut it down. thru this time it has not mad any abnormal noise - no tap, no knock, no ping. it sat about 30 minutes and I started it to move it off the road and disconnected from the camper and it tapped for about 5 second and went quiet but ran great and 2 munites later the oil pressure dropped out again. I towed it home and it sits in the driveway waiting to get fixed.
friends have mixed reviews. some say change the oil pump, others say replace the engine, a couple friends of a friend had this happen and changed the oil pump and it did not fix the problem. now I'm reading several forums saying about the oil pick up tube may be cracked or clogged.

I'm lookin for experienced suggestions please.
I'm disabled so money and mobility are a factor.

 

If possible, best to stick a mechanical gauge on it and confirm its not a sender issue.

 

Judging by the symptoms you describe, I'd say you have a faulty oil pressure switch, AKA sender. If the pressure had truly dropped to zero at speed, you'd hear it from the engine. You said experienced responses, so I'll let you know I went through the same scenario months ago.


You can check the oil pressure with one of these... but I'd install a Mopar sender. I did both. http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...e+oil+pressure

 

Id also be a bit concerned you had to add 1.5 quarts of oil. Depending on the last time the oil was changed. I'd start checking more often.