On my way home from towing a trailer full of 4wheelers I got off the exit ramp and my truck's oil pressure gauge went to zero and the light came on. Also, I noticed a very erratic idle that shook the truck really bad. When I put the truck in park or neutral both problems got better. When I pulled into the drive the same thing happened and the truck died. It was very hard to start back up. If you shut the truck off yourself it will restart fine. If it dies on its own it's hard to restart.

It seems to do this only when I'm towing in hot weather as it did the same thing last 4th of July. The erratic idle will sometimes occur just driving around town. I drive this truck 1200mi. a month and it starts great 99.9% of the time.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

sounds like a fuel supply problem, maby lift pump, or a leaking/pluged fuel line

 

The lift pump is 1 week old. What could cause the oil pressure problem? The engine doesn't have any unusual sounds and runs great in park .

 

better put a manual gauge on it to verify pressure, but the gauges wiring, and sensors were never known for being the best, i wouls also check fuel pressure, and possiby install a temperary clear fuel line and check for air bubbles while running

 

I got 3 weeks out of my "new" lift pump. So maybe check anyway?

 

ok. thanks.

 

could have a hole in the diaphram of teh lift pump pouring fuel into oil causeing no oil pressure due to thin oil. just a thought.

 

What is the small cylinder shaped part on the injection pump that has a wire and fuel lines going to it?

After a little investigation I found that the wire was loose inside the plastic connector and wasn't getting a very good connection. I put a new connector and the truck starts and runs alot better. I have a feeling that the problem is fuel related and thus when the engines RPMs decrease very low the oil pressure problem follows.

 

The part is the KSB. I figured it out. what exactly does this do and how does it work? Could this play a role in how the truck idles at warm temps?

 

I bled the injectors on my lunch break and I got a few bubbles out of the first two. However, the truck still runs the same

 

The KSB functions as a variabe timing device. Essentially it's a cold starting aid but it also advances dynamic pump timing as engine RPM increases. As internal case pressure increases due to higher RPM, the pressure opens a regulator allowing fuel to flow into the KSB, overcome the advance piston spring pressure, thus turning the roller cage inside the pump and advancing injection timing.

 

This sounds like a worn injection pump to me. You can probably get several more years out of it by speeding up the idle so it doesn't stall at hot idle.