Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) New 12V owner, question on oil pressure.

[1 Broke Dad]

Hi guys.



I just bought my first Cummins. I have a question about the oil pressure at start up. When my motor fires up, the "check gages" light stays on and the oil pressure reads zero for about 10 seconds before the gage pops up and the light goes out. Is this normal? The gage shows I have tons of pressure the rest of the time.



Thanks.

 

[DWeik]

Hello, Welcome

My '98 does the same thing and has for years. I wouldn't say 10 seconds but perhaps up to 5 seconds. Are you running 15/40 oil ? What filter? I have found that this will change the response time on mine.

 

[Bart]

The delay in oil press is normal. Some years ago, I also had the oil pressure sender fail. For no reason the oil pressure will drop to zero. Then come back up in a few seconds, but not before giving you a heart attack. Another common problem is the head light switch heats up enough to cook the plastic connector on top of it. Lots of ideas have come along to correct this. Read the boards and you'll find them. Brakes on Dodges SUCK. Especially the rear adjustment. I've done everything short of going to rear disc. I now just manually adjust them every 5,000 at the oil change. Sooner would be better. If you don't, the fronts do all the stopping and you'll warp rotors time after time.

Automatics are weak, manual transmissions could loose the fifth gear nut inside the trans, and there's something about killer dowel pins (KDP). Look it up. This is important. I don't want to scare you off, I love my Dodge and have corrected all (I hope) of it imperfections.

Other than that they're killer machines.

 

[JKure]

I had the same problem with my oil sending unitl it dropped and scared the crap out of me but i changed the sending unit. The i installed an manual oil pressure gauge on top of my oil filter and when i start my tuck it take about two seconds to pop up and holds at 40 psi. and the one on the dash takes about 10 seconds

 

[CumminsPower98]

I had the same problem with my oil sending unitl it dropped and scared the crap out of me but i changed the sending unit. The i installed an manual oil pressure gauge on top of my oil filter and when i start my tuck it take about two seconds to pop up and holds at 40 psi. and the one on the dash takes about 10 seconds

Yeap, I noticed the same thing. My truck takes time to come up while the '96 CTD bus at work with a mechanical guage comes up right away so it's just the crazy electronics.