Ok I know i am supposed to be on vacation but I was wondering about my van's
oil pressure.  As you know I am now in Georgia staying with some of my wife's
relatives (they have internet access!).  Anyway I just installed a 'wet' oil
pressure gauge in my van and this is the first trip where I could monitor the
oil pressure.  It varied from 45 psi-32psi at 3000-4000 rpms after we were in
the road for about 4 hours and the motor was nice and hot.  Are these low
readings?  Why I asked was I was getting the oil pressure warning light and
buzzer intermittantly.  It didn't come on consistantly though.  It might come
on at 37 psi one time and another time it would come on at 45 psi.  Sometimes
it would only beep for a second and other times for 30 seconds (very annoying.
I just changed the pressure sender a few months ago and since then I had no
warnings until just a couple days before my trip.  I had put in 30wt oil to
see if that would stop the intermittant buzzer before and it didn't.  Then I
changed the sender and that seemed to fix it.  Then last week I was driving on
a hot day and after about an hour at highway speeds it started again.  I
changed the oil to 20w/50 and put on a new Mahle filter.  I checked the
pressure relief piston and spring.  The spring seemed springy and I cleaned
the piston area out with some break cleaner.
So now you know what I have done already.  If I am having a low oil pressure
problem I wonder if the motor is getting too hot?  The needle stays in the
middle or just below it so it doesn't seem like it, but I don't have a oil
temp guage so I really don't know.
So what should I do?  Change the sender again?  Check the wiring?  Change the
thermostat to a cooler one?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Ken Wilford
John 3:16