A friend of mine was riding with me in my truck, who has a CR puller and said that my truck wasnt holding very much oil pressure at idle.. It was a little below 40, but above the first white line. i would say probably like 25-30psi? he told me to make sure, it wasnt making oil. so i am letting it cool down and going to check the oil to see... is it something i need to worry about? what can i do? what could be wrong?

 

I thought the same thing with mine, when hot and at idle the needle is just above the second mark. Have since looked at a few trucks the same and they all seem to be in the same place. It goes up to the center when driving and has never made oil.

 

Making oil? What does that mean?

 

Leaking injector... Diesel diluting the oil thinner which would have less pressure. But if your basing your readings off of the factory gauge yea.... They are just a big idiot light, it has a 6psi pressure switch. Once it sees that it makes the gauge read where you think it should be based on temp and RPM. Not a actual gauge by any means... Cool huh?

 

I have found the factory gauge to be horribly innacurate. Put a mechanical gauge on it and I bet you'll be surprised just how much pressure you actually have.
Scott

 

i heard there was a way to make the "gauge" into a real gauge. i never could find it... anyone heard of this or know how to do it?

 

You can pick-up a mechanical oil pressure gauge for under $30.

 

theres nothing to worry about, i have an aftermarket in my truck also, once the engine is turning over and the second oil flows my aftermarket jumps up, its between 55-60 when driving, and around 25-27 at idle, your perfectly fine...

 

The factory guage reading is made by the ECM...and the ECM only knows if you have more than 7psi or less 7psi of oil pressure. The guage can actually show pressure for several minutes while you have no oil pressure at all!! They did this because they had a lot of complaints of varying oil pressure, so they made a guage that reads the same every time.

I have an aftermarket guage on mine and the factory one is nowhere near accurate to actual pressure. I idle around 25psi and cruise around 62psi...cold cruise is 85psi+.

 

get an aftermarket gage.
thats the best insurance.