The car has over 204,000 miles on it.

Oil pump was replaced in early 1997 and has about 25,000 miles on it. The guys who did it would have cleaned the pickup before buttoning it back up.

The idiot light would come on when idling in gear and warm after sustained highway driving. When I took it to Mason-Dixon for the Mopar Meet in May, it started coming on sooner (it would come on within a mile of my house, after being driven under 40mph) and staying on longer (sometimes even after putting it in Park). I haven't driven it farther than the local cruise night (2 miles from my house) since, because I'd rather not have the engine go when I'm 50 miles from home.

I don't know how much the RPM drops when it goes in gear (no tach).

People suggesting heavier oil: Do you really think I'm gonna pick up 15 psi just with thicker oil and a new filter?

It's a convertible with Dynomaxes, so it's hard to tell if there are new noises. The engine doesn't sound different when I'm just standing there with the hood open.

The car is a toy, but one that I usually drive about 1000 miles a year. This year, I basically lost the whole cruise/show season because of the oil light. Yep, no top-down cruising all summer.

I looked at small-blocks for sale in the classifieds yesterday, but the two that looked promising were too far away.