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Oil pressure dropping

cj11

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Easton Pa.
I have a 97 cherokee 4.0 about 120000 on the engine. My problem is the oil pressur sits about 40 psi and i noticed today that when I step on the gas the gauge will slowly drop to just above zero till it levels off RPM's then climb back to about 40 does this sound like the sending unit or something else. Please help
 
I do not think it is the filter never had any oil leaking from the filter. oil level is good. The engine does not make any noise does not seem to run any differant then it allways has. the sending unit is only about $20 I will try that maybe and post back later. Any other ideas please let me know
 
Stick a mechanical in there temporarily or permanent with a T fitting. The senders going bad are pretty common too as well as instrument gauge cluster problems in 97+ XJ's.
 
New sending unit still does it. New filter and oil 10w40 still does it. I guess it maybe the pump. Will see if I can get a mech. gauge and check. will also check the gauge in side the xj. How diffecult is the oil pump job how many hours roughly..
 
cj11 said:
New sending unit still does it. New filter and oil 10w40 still does it. I guess it maybe the pump. Will see if I can get a mech. gauge and check. will also check the gauge in side the xj. How diffecult is the oil pump job how many hours roughly..

A lot depends on how glued on the oil pan is from the last time it was put on, they can be a bear to break loose. You end up cutting with a knife between the pan and the block. Four hours would be a good guess working from jackstands on your back, messy, if you can drop it and let it sit for a few hours you won't get the petroleum facial quite so bad. You could also check your bearings and see what kind of shape they are in as long as you have it down that far, most here do.
 
You mentioned you have no noise in the engine or any other symptoms. If I were you, I would for sure verify your oil pressure by installing a mechanical gauge where the oil sending unit is installed. That only takes a few minutes and will give you the hard proof that you need to either dig in deeper or start looking at the gauge itself or other things. Sounds like that is your gameplan and it's a good one.

If may very well be the bearings or oil pump, but the logical thing to do is to prove that it isn't a simple thing first. This is what any good Technician would do.......:cheers:
 
Turns out my problem was the wires that go to the sending unit if you are having issues with the oil pressure I would look into that.. Thanks for the help.
 
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