2004 RAM 3500 4X4 Quad Cab SLT. After about 13,000 miles my oil pressure started droping to zero at an idle or at a constant speed. It would then return to around 40 under moderate acceleration. Dealer put a mechanical tester on and said the pressure was fine and it must be the sensor. They didn't have a part so I had to wait and deal with the check guages dinging. In the meantime I took about a 600 mile trip towing a loaded 3 horse trailer. When I got back I noticed the dreaded oil spots on the floor of the garage and found it was down about 2 quarts. Back to the dealer for a new sensor and the problem hasn't returned. Right now I'm watching things closely in hopes that the leak was from the sensor.

Since they didn't have the part right off and had to go out of state to get it that means one of two thing to me. Either the oil pressure sensor hardly ever fails or they have replaced alot of them. Anybody else had this sensor go bad? Also, where is the sensor? Is it screwed into the drivers side of the engine block made with what looks like kind of lime green plastic?

Thanks

 

Happened on my 97 V10. Oil pressure gauge just started going crazy one day on the highway, then stabilized. Got it into the dealer the next day, they tested, and yes, just a bad sensor, which, of course, was not in stock. So, for about a week, I had to watch my gauge plummet to zero and back, and forth.

First I have read about this on the 3rd gen trucks.

 

it's not even a sensor. it is a switch, set at 6psi i believe... below that, it goes to 0 oil pressure, above that, the pcm/ecm tells the dash to make it move to "what the driver expects to see" [something real close to that if you quote the service manual]

with a separate gauge, i read about 20psi idle warm from the top of the filter header

 

I read about 25 lbs. warm at idle, and 60 lbs running down the road at 70 MPH. This is on mechanical gauge tied into the same port the stock pressure swith is tied into.

Darrin

 

happened on my 99, had it checked out but at $240 i learned to live with it for over two years without a problem