Have some problems with my oil pressure gauge on my -85 ram van. It used to operate normally, but one day when I turned on the ignition it suddenly goes towards the H symbol and beyond (engine turned off) When I turn engine on it goes towards the L symbol and stops at the bottom. This problem came one day, before that it operated normally (no reading with engine turned off, middle of the scale when idling)

Any ideas anyone? I havent touched anything under the dash or around the engine yet.

 

Either the body to engine ground strap at the back of the engine isn't making a good connection, or the oil sender is bad.

 

Ok, will check, where on the body is the actual engine groundstrap attached?

 

Pull off the engine cover and look at the back corner. Find the strap and follow it to the body.

 

Some are at the back of the last cylinder on the right hand side going towards the right floor dog house bolt hold down, and some have been found at the upper right side near where the heater/AC box is and from there going to a bolt on the engine.

If you have trouble finding it you could put a new one in by using 12 gage wire and drilling a hole into the van body (either right side floor or by the heater/AC box) and bolting it there and back to an bolt on the engine. Do not use an exhaust manifold bolt.

 

Could also be the electrical contacts between the gauge and the circuit board in the cluster. After 24 years things tend to get loose back there. My 93's cluster just went through a similar "fit" concerning the backlight circuit - had to secure the connector pins to the pcb using a 25W soldering iron to fix. Everything is perfectly normal once again after this fix.