New member here. Have a new-to-the-family '99 Stratus sedan with the 2.5 liter motor that we purchased last week. Not our first Dodge - we're on our second van, a '01 Town & Country - so I have some familiarity with Mopar. The Stratus is showing some issues that weren't evident when we purchased it and I'm looking for some insight.

First problem is the flickering oil pressure light. I've read the thread by TZFBird about his issues along with liberal Google-searching. Had read that the sending unit was somewhat suspect, so I replaced that during my first oil change on it today. No joy. After getting it warmed up out on the road, the light came on sitting at a traffic light. Idle speed was ~700rpm from what I could read from the tach. The motor has no obvious top or bottom-end noise that I wouldn't expect from an engine with 147,000+ miles on it; it sounded good enough when I was going over the car before purchasing that I felt pretty good about the condition of the engine.

There was a mention of sludge buildup in the pan that could be restricting the flow to or in the pump pickup. Is this a known issue for the 2.5l's?? Not that I want to drop the pan if I don't have to, but confirmation before pursuing that line would be helpful. (I know the 2.7l motors were really bad for sludging; I looked at a nice Intrepid that had a 2.7 that had obviously failed because of it.)

The other issue is one that just cropped up tonight. Pulled in the driveway and shut the engine off. Opened the door and the interior lights shut off, the odometer read a very faint "0" and none of the electrical system was responsive. RKE, power door locks, interior lights = all non-responsive. I put the key back in and was able to start the car, and everything went back to operating normally. Typically I see this as a ground issue somewhere, usually to the IPM in the vans. Any particular place I might start looking on the Stratus? I've seen several grounding straps in the engine bay and they all seem to be in good condition. A new battery was installed just a few weeks ago but I haven't pulled the wheel to get in and check it yet.

Thanks in advance, and looking forward to getting and sharing some knowledge here!

 

Maybe yours was an end of '99 and ours and early '00 model. It sounds exactly the same except for the electrical problem you saw. Keep an eye out for misfire codes. I have had that and I'm not sure if it's because of the oil pressure. I'm starting with the biggest problem and will work my way up the ladder. I have been chasing my tail up to this point I think.

We're not that far off as far as mileage so it might be just something that happens.

Unfortunately I have not found a lot of Mitsubishi cars that used this engine but for some reason Dodge decided to. I did find a thread on an Eclipse forum talking about low oil pressure but it was a turbo car and they have sightly different filter setup.

I'm glad there is one other person on here with the same problem. So far I only found one other case of this that was resolved by replacing the oil pump. After inspecting this one I don't think that is the case.

Sorry to hear about the purchase that hasn't turned out as good as you hoped. At least you can rest easy knowing that it can be a daily driver with a flickering oil light for at least 4 years without any ill-effects.

 

I'll have to check the manufacture date and see where it fell during the production year. I'm thinking that this is not an uncommon problem, but it's usually tied in with the pressure sender getting dodgy and "goes away" when the sender is changed out. If I can "cure" this by simply running a heavier oil weight, I'll go that route. Based on what you've posted on your experience, it's not worth my effort or the expense to get in and start changing bearings or the oil pump. I probably will end up doing the timing belt and water pump sometime soon since I have no idea if they have ever been serviced.

The electrical issue I'm having is odd. It has happened several more times and I am able to start the car normally and it runs fine. There's just no instrumentation working. The radio works and the heater blower works normally though you can't change the mode on it (floor/vent/defog). I thought it might be tied to the two connectors - C104 and C105 - that are hung off the bracket for the TCM right by the top radiator hose since this cropped up after I had messed with those connectors while doing a coolant and thermostat change. Digging in the wiring diagrams, I don't see a lot there that would be prime suspects however. I'll keep digging..

 

No not worth it. I only have about $125 but close to 30 hours by the time it's done. I need to pick up an air ratchet which would speed things up a lot.

My thought is that heavier weight oil is what caused this problem. It specifies 5w30 but I have been using 10w30 because that's what I put in all my other vehicles which are older Chevys. So once it's back together I'm going to go back to 5w30 and see what happens. Since the problem only shows up when it's hot you're going to need something heavy. I tried 10w40 and that did not even make a difference.

Good luck and let me know what turns up if you do decided to go with a heavier oil. BTW if you're doing a water pump and timing belt you're already half way to just dropping the pan and pulling the pump off... except that the AC compressor bracket goes over the front of the pump and the pan is bolted to the pump as well. Those are not listed in the manuals which is part of the reason it's taken me so long.

 

I put 5w30 in when I did my oil change because it's what's spec'd and it's also what goes in my other vehicles (also the spec weight for them). Not sure what was in it before then, other than the previous owner ran it through Jiffy Lube for some oil changes.. (shudder)

If I change the weight I run in it, it would be a straight 30w. One of my co-workers is a major car nut and highly mechanically adept. He's of the opinion that either run the heavier weight (not a problem here in the NW) or live with flickering light as it only comes on in the very low-RPM range and there's probably more than adequate flow to the mains and rod bearings to give them the pressure they need.

What also has me scratching my head with this flickering oil light is that it's not 100% predictable, but almost always triggers when the RPMs drop down to 600 as best as I can tell by the tach. If the R's hold up around 750 in gear and the engine fully hot, most of the time it's fine; just once in a while it will flicker then. If the R's drop to 600, it's more likely to come on then - but not always. I'm going to get in and clean the throttle body at some point here and check the IAC too to see if I can stabilize the idle. Almost certainly needs a tune up - wires, plugs, cap and rotor - based on what I've seen so far. Then there's the tranny…but that's another discussion.

 

I tried messing with the throttle body to increase idle speed as well. That didn't seem to work out though.
This is the way i see it. The light comes on at 4psi. This limits pressure to the lash adjusters thus they do not pump up completely. When they are not completely pumped up the valves do not open as far which limits air entering the chamber. When air is limited that means the A/F ratio is rich thus reducing the engine RPM. Ever notice that a vacuum leak will cause the engine to run faster? So the reduction in engine speed only compounds the problem until the PCM can lean it out at idle. I can confirm this because the exhaust smells like sulfur due to the converter running hot.
I've been through a lot of troubleshooting in the last 4 years and this is the only logical answer I can come up with.

You might as well start from the top to cover the bases though. Not every case is exactly the same so you may get lucky and find a different solution.