Don't understand my problem...

[the_heffer]

New to the forum, and did some major searching, but couldn't find what i was looking for.

I lose my oil pressure when im idling when the engine is warm, but ive also done 3 oil changes in the last week. the first oil change was because of lose of oil pressure, when i changed the oil and filter, everything seemed fine, drove it for a day, and the oil started getting lower again, so i changed it again, this was in a 24 hour period. everything was fine till the next day when i went to start it and the gasket for the oil filter blew apart, and stalled my engine... I didn't notice till it blew that my oil pressure gage was at 80...

I again changed the oil today, and at first the oil pressure was at 80 but once my engine ran for 20 minutes it started to drop, and now im back to when i idle it shows no oil pressure.

I noticed on the other threads that you all like the details so here are some more, i have a 2000 cherrokee sport with the 4.0. it has about 125000 miles on it. when the oil pressure dropped the first time, i checked everything, made sure i didn't have any leaks, the oil level was great, when it ran it didn't make and clicks, it wasn't running hard.

So im really confused, and i don't know where to start... any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[SteelHeadz]

The safest test to do is to install an oil pressure gauge on the sending unit port. Monitor the pressure and see where the actual pressure is at idle. On a 4.0, a min of 89.6 kpa(13 PSI) is acceptable. At 1600 RPM and higher, the pressure should go up to 255 to 517 kPa(37-75 psi).
The pump incorporates a nonadjustable pressure relief valve to limit maximum pressure to 517 kPa (75 psi) In the relief position, the valve permits oil to bypass through a passage in the pump body to the inlet side of the pump. So with this in mind, you may have 1 or more issues but we'll start with the oil pressure verification first. If the pressure exeeds 75psi, the releif valve should open up and let a bleed thru on the inlet of the pump, since you mentioned that it was up to 80psi, i would think that there's something there thats causing a restriction and not letting the valve releive the exessive pressure. I have never seen the these releif valve go bad on a 4.0 but theres always a first time. The low pressure reading may very well be a faulty sending unit due to the absence of a knocking noise. Either way, to prevent a catastrophic failure on your engine, check the oil pressure with a manual gauge.

 

[the_heffer]

Yup it was the gauge, so Thank you!!!

It for me, just didn't make any sense, i must have bought a bad oil filter, thats the only thing i can think of that would have caused my oil filter gasket to blow out..

Thank you again for your time!

 

[SteelHeadz]

I'm glad you got e'r fixed. BTW, Welcome to Jeepz.com .