2009 2.3L oil pressure light

[bebyb]

Hello everyone! New member here. I joined to get some information on my Ranger. Weird thing it is doing, when I start it up in the morning, oil pressure is fine. When I drive down the road, oil pressure is fine. When I drive the typical 65-70mph on the interstate it is fine. However if I run it "hard" around 75mph-80mph, when I get off of the interstate and come up to a red light and stop, the oil pressure light comes on...after about 3 minutes of idling it will go away. Does this sound like a sending unit, pump, or something else?

 

[pjtoledo]

more info would help.
miles on engine? miles on oil & filter? does it consume too much oil? what weight oil?
does it overheat?

 

[bebyb]

more info would help.
miles on engine? miles on oil & filter? does it consume too much oil? what weight oil?
does it overheat?

About 150k miles. I just changed the oil about a month ago. Have about 1000 miles on it. Filter was changed then as well. Still using the factory recommended 5w20. Has never had an overheating issue luckily.

 

[Curious Hound]

Do steep hills make it happen? My truck was a bit sludged up under the valve covers. Once I cleaned that out ( putty knife, rags, and elbow grease) and made sure the drain passages were clear, my problem went away. It was pumping oil fine. But on a steep hill, the oil would pool under the valve covers because it couldn't drain back to the pan fast enough. During my cleaning period, I put clean oil in it and added some Marvel Mystery oil. Ran it for a couple months and changed the oil again.

 

[bebyb]

Do steep hills make it happen? My truck was a bit sludged up under the valve covers. Once I cleaned that out ( putty knife, rags, and elbow grease) and made sure the drain passages were clear, my problem went away. It was pumping oil fine. But on a steep hill, the oil would pool under the valve covers because it couldn't drain back to the pan fast enough. During my cleaning period, I put clean oil in it and added some Marvel Mystery oil. Ran it for a couple months and changed the oil again.

Hmm, I did not think about that. That could be, because I was very (un) fashionably late on an oil change a few changes ago. Has not done it on hills yet, but the fact that it goes away after a few minutes of sitting at idle makes sense that it could be trapped up there. Is that kind of cleaning something that could be done with a good motor flush or is it something I would need to actually open the top end of the engine like you did?