Intermittent Oil pressure drop

The Jeep just started doing this. I do believe it is temperature related but I do not like it. I let the XJ idle and warm up about 5 minutes before taking it out and so far it has been idling at 40PSI. I drop it in into gear and head off, I have not noticed any patern but then the oil pressure drops to about 30. When I stop the pressure drops to 0 and the check guages light comes on. I do not notice any driveability differences though. The car belonged to a friend and I asked her if it did this to her and she said yes, on occasion but she ignored it. Thats not smart and I'm not her.

Side notes:
I use 10W30 oil and I just changed it about 1500 miles ago
The car has 126,xxx miles on a totally stock engine. Nothing on the engine has been replaced except for things in relation to regular maintenance.

I would start with the oil pressure sending unit. It's a cheap fix and an easy place to start.

kdailey4315 said:

I would start with the oil pressure sending unit. It's a cheap fix and an easy place to start.

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They will spike high if they are going bad. Might be time to drop the pan and replace the oil pump.

CanMan said:

They will spike high if they are going bad. Might be time to drop the pan and replace the oil pump.

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When mine went bad it was going down to 0 and back up and then hover around 0. So actually they will not spike high when they are going bad.

Use a mechanical gage to verify pressures. If it has a long enough hose you can place it near the wiper arms and see it while driving.

kdailey4315 said:

When mine went bad it was going down to 0 and back up and then hover around 0. So actually they will not spike high when they are going bad.

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Each case is different I would guess. Mine went high, along with a few others Ive replaced.