eratic oil presure problem

About 6 months ago my 97 Ram 1500 w/318 had an oil pressure problem. If I let it go above 3000rpm, my oil pressure would go to 0. It did not have the problem until the motor was completely warmed up. Once it went to 0 if I let off the gas, it would come back up to slightly below normal but would go back to 0 if I went over 2000rpm. If I shut off the motor and restarted it would go back to normal as long as the rpm stayed below 3000. I replaced the oil pump, that had no effect. I also installed a manual oil pressure gauge with the same readings. When it goes to 0, I can hear my lifters so I was definitely losing pressure. I tried for a month to solve this problem then it disappeared on its own. I did put stop leak in the oil a few days prior but it seems unlikely that it was related to that.
This morning on my way to get new tires put on, I wound it out all the way to 5000rpm. Immediately the problem came back and now occurs at much lower rpm.

Anybody have any ideas?

Try replacing oil sending unit. I have a 94 with a V10 does the same thing. I put a mechanical pressure gauge to check it and come to find out it was the sending unit. Prone to going bad I guess.

Tom. You may have an oil sludge problem that I have heard about involving the 5.2 litre engines. A lot of poeple have been having this problem where they complain about oil pressure dropping off and then comming back. Problem has to do with the oil coking up and dumping sludge into the oil pan. The oil pump picks up this garbage and then pumps it through the oil galleries and in effect giving the engine its own version of clogged arteries. Next time you do an oil change, take your filter apart and look for heavy deposits of sludge in the filter. Some poeple would say that the filter should pick this stuff up. It will but if the filter gets clogged, the bypass valve will open and let that nasty stuff get through. This may not be the case in your vehicle but it would be worth taking a look. A lot of Durango owners have had major problems with this issue. Chrysler puts the blame on the owner for not doing scheduled oil changes. The one way to eliminate this from the beginnig is to go with synthetic oil once the break in is done. You've seen the comercials where they take a frying pan with both conventional and sythetic oil and cook the hell out of it. Same thing in your engine. I've seen a lot of engnes in the test lab do this with convetional oil. My 95 Ram with a 5.2 is still on the road using sythetic at 204,000 miles. Sold it since but I see it from time to time. If the dealer has alook at it he might try to tell you that the engine is sludge up and that he will blame it on you. Beware.

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