# Oil pressure **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [January 20, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-pressure/42920 "2010-01-20T23:16:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kalley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac8455/32.png) [@kalley](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kalley)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-pressure/42920/1 "2010-01-20T23:16:44Z")
i have a 2000 dodge durango 4.7 liter i was driving the check gauge lite came on amd the oil pressure gauge dropped to zero a few seconds latercheck gauge lite went out and oil pressure went to normal did the same thang again a few minutes later i pulled over and it sound like the motor was knocking started it up the next day and running fine what could be the problem ---
**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-pressure/42920/2 "2010-01-20T23:19:14Z")
Have you checked the engine oil level? Tester ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-pressure/42920/3 "2010-01-20T23:24:25Z")
Follow Tester’s advice. Your oil pump draws oil up out of the pool in the oil pan, and it’s very possible that the pool has dropped to a level where it temporaily went below the “pickup” through which the oil pump draws it up and the pump was drawing air. Post back. I’ll bet Tester is correct. Then start monitoring your oil level as a routine. Oh, and look up and say “thanks”. You obviously have a guardian angel protecting you. ---
**Author:** ![kalley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac8455/32.png) [@kalley](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kalley)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-pressure/42920/4 "2010-01-21T17:01:51Z")
the oil was a guart low would that be enough to cause that ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-pressure/42920/5 "2010-01-21T17:33:28Z")
A quart low should not cause that…unless you mean a quart below the “low” mark and not a quart below the “full” mark. It’s possible that you have some gump or something in the oil pan that got drawn up to the pickup tube screen and clogged the screen, dropping back into the oil pool when the engine was shut down. To find this out you’d really need to drop the pan. Since total loss of oil pressure can totally destroy an engine, in this case I think I’d drop the pan and find out. ---
**Author:** ![kalley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac8455/32.png) [@kalley](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kalley)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-pressure/42920/6 "2010-01-22T20:27:20Z")
removed oil pressure sending unit installed pressure gauge truck had been off for 20 minutes started it up it had 38 psi it dropped 28 with in 2 minutes then the engine started to tap what is the proper oil pressure ? i filled the oil to the proper level before i checked the pressure.