Oil pressure gauge reading question 89 Gr Caravan 3.0

[Ric]

I have noticed that the oil pressure gauge in the dash is reading about 3/4
of the way to the max on startup. After the engine is warm the gauge will
dip down to about 1/4 when I come to a stop and idle. This is not typical of
my van (it used to read 3/4 all the time) and only started doing this after
I had replaced the front oil seal a couple days ago. I havn't done any other
work to the engine. Everything else seems to be working well and the
pressure gauge doesn't get lower than 1/4.

Is there something I negelected to do to the oil pump (prime it, clean it,
pray to the oil pump gods...)? The crappy haynes manual doesn't mention
anything needed to re-install it. The manual did say I had to remove the
pump in order to get the seal off, but did not say any extra steps were
needed to put back on. Next, is this a sign that I'll want/need to replace
the pump? I'd rather do it sooner than later if I have to.

If someone can tell me the error of my ways in re-installing the pump, I'd
be able to save the cash on a replacement. A replacement pump surely won't
fit into my budget, but if I must, let me know that too!

Ric

 

[Sharon K. Cooke]

I've never seen a "true" OP gauge that read 3/4 all the time. What you
have now with variable readings based on temperature and RPM is more
typical. Possibly the sender had a bad ground before, and was corrected
when you changed out the oil pump.

 

[Ken Pisichko]

I noticed my '84 was having a lower than normal and then erratic reading. Turned
out that the push-on connector (Female) was not a snug fit on the male end of
the sending unit. Gently squeezing with a tool in my tool box fixed that
problem. Be careful you don't squeeze too much otherwise you will need a screw
driver or other tool to open it up a bit.

Make sure there is no oil dripping from the sending unit - that means a
replacement is needed.

Ken