Oil pressure dropping and fluctuating

2002 PONTIAC BONNEVILLE
240,000 MILES • 3.8L • 6 CYL • 2WD • AUTOMATIC
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CLUEBKE
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
Oil pressure gauge keeps dropping and fluctuating while driving, upon acceleration comes back up then drops again. Cleaned oil sending unit and replaced oil filer. Changed oil today and during test drive was good until forty minutes. Now doing again other than that running fine. No engine noise. What is the problem?
Jun 10, 2018 at 4:09 PM
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CARADIODOC
  • ✓ASE Certified Mechanic
  • 34,321 POSTS
  • ASE Certified Mechanic
Check the actual oil pressure with a mechanical gauge. I suspect you are going to find it is okay, and the sending unit is suspect. This seems to be a fairly common problem with the oil level appearing to change with changes in engine speed, especially around the mid 1990's.
Jun 10, 2018 at 10:47 PM
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