Oil Pressure reads ZERO!

[Happy Camper]

Today I noticed the oil guage go down to 0 and then back up to 45 and then back down to zero and stay there. It is sitting in the garage now. I do not want to drive it 75 miles to the dealer not knowing if the sending unit is bad or the oil pressure is not there. What does a new sending unit run? Are there ways to check these out or do you need to be mechanical? Oh, Yes, guess what??? 36,333 miles on the 2001. 5. How is that for timing.

 

[chuck3]

TSB#09-001-01

Happy this might be your problem. check more in the TDR mag. #34.

 

[Nickson]

Oil pressure gauge

Happy Camper, The same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago (on the eve of a trip to Canada). Pressure dropped and came back several times, finally going to zero altogether with the chime and check gauge warning . I drove to the local performance diesel shop and they checked my pressure mechanically. It was ok. I took it to the Dodge dealer when I got home and they said the sending unit was a common problem. They put it on this past week and straightened out the problem. My truck has 38. 5K on it, similar mileage to yours. Good luck, I bet you have oil pressure, just no way to tell. Everyone I have spoken to has told me that it is rare for these engines to lose oil pressure as long as your level is up.

 

[David Wheeler]

Happy

Same thing happened to me several months ago. Mine was a bad sending unit. Quick warranty replacement and I was out the door. Check your dip stick. If oil level is normal, make an appointment to have the sending unit replaced or the ECM reflashed and drive on.



David

 

[Happy Camper]

Thanks for the responses. I was having a time with the search feature, (brain problem). As I see others have also had fluctuations. I changed oil aprox 20 miles prior to this happening. I will give the friendly Service Manager a call tomorrow and take it in. HATE TO RUN WITH NO GUAGE!

 

[Ram4Sam]

HC, see this post https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/.31105/





Sam

 

[Happy Camper]

UPDATE. Dealer Re-Flashed today and is working fine now. Driven 100miles and still holds about 41#. Sure hated to drive it 70 miles without a guage but this morning when I started it up to take it over to get it fixed it ran up to 85# and then eventually went back to zero.

 

[chuck3]

Happy to hear it Happy.

 

[MCummings]

The bearer of bad rumours is here.

If I remember reading correctly here at TDR, the dealer reflash makes the oil pressure gauge read 40Lbs. if a reading from the oil pressure sending unit sends a signal that is out of the correct range.



So your dealer may not have even replaced the sending unit, but may have just put the ECM/PCM reflash that makes the oil pressure gauge read 40Lbs when an out of range condition occurs. (The PCM/ECM process data from several different sources to know if the oil pressure is out of range. )



MerrickNJr



P. S. This is from my somewhat wobbly memory, take the information for what it is worth (Free)

 

[Mactruck]

MCummings is right. It is a cheesy fix for something that is vitaly important for engine reliability. The reflash is basically saying that if the sender is reading low pressure, Then the ECM tells the gauge to read 40 PSI. If your pump ever fails with the reflash - It will STILL show 40 PSI. Ask you dealer to replace the sender. They probably have replaced these plenty of times.

 

[Happy Camper]

Reflashing sounds more like TRASHING!



When you have a problem disguise it? I guess that is what we get when computers run your rigs.