So I took my car to Carmax Last night to get an appraisal so if I trade it in, I have an idea of what a dealer might offer.

My Oil PSI has pretty much always been around 45-60 I think. Never paid any attention to it, except for last night. When I get back in my car after the appraisal it was sitting all the way right at 75-85PSI.


Any idea what might be off, or what might have happened to change this? Is it something I need to look into/fix right away?

Prolly relief valve

Like its probably just loose? What would he have done to mess with it?

Probably nothing, just ironic timing.

is it an actual gauge or just a dummy switch

Not sure, I have a gauge on my dash that says 0-80 but then I can cycle through things on my dashboard? Like Tire PSI, Oil Temp, Oil PSI, Coolant Temp and such. Both read 80PSI when driving.

By chance has it been colder where you are lately? Colder temp > thicker oil > oil pressure gauge reads a bit higher before warming up.

**** At least that's my theory. My ol' Jeep 4.0 always reads a bit higher pressure on cold start, especially in the winter months.

This post was edited by said_aouita on Nov 19 2017 05:03am

Def colder lately, it read ike 160PSI when I got home though after driving about an hour

160 psi?! You sure you aren't reading oil temp? That's insanely high. Even 80 psi seems really high for just idling. You change the oil regularly? Only thing I can think of is relief or the oil passages in engine are severely clogged. If you can, get an actual gauge and check it

It's his oil pressure sending unit. If it was actually making 160psi somehow it would have wiped out the main and rod bearings already.