C180 pilot reported oil pressure indication problem in flight.

Attributes
ACN	1757058
Time
Date	202008
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna 180 Skywagon
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Oil Pressure Indication
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25 Flight Crew Total 20000 Flight Crew Type 100
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Departed ZZZ on IFR flight plan level at 4000 ft. On vectors to assigned routing. Above class D but below the floor of class B. Approximately 15 nm northwest of departure airport my oil pressure indication went to zero; red light flashing attention getter. As I was doing a little troubleshooting I made a call to departure that I may need to return to ZZZ. I think my transmission was blocked with by another aircraft or departure control talking. As the oil pressure started to fluctuate up to the green range and back to zero; I noticed ZZZ1 off the left wing about 8 miles or so and made a turn towards it. At the time my passenger was quite concerned about everything going on and was a distraction to me. About that time; departure control gave me a turn and asked my altitude and gave me a climb to 5000 ft. While reassuring my passenger; my altitude had climbed 350 ft. Above my assigned 4000 ft. I told ATC I needed to return to departure airport due to oil pressure indicating problems and they cleared me direct. Landed and confirmed the instrument was malfunctioning. My distraction from focusing on flying the airplane was problem; also not verifying ATC did not hear my first request to return to the airport was an issue.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C180 pilot reported oil pressure indication problem in flight.

Narrative: Departed ZZZ on IFR flight plan level at 4000 ft. on vectors to assigned routing. Above Class D but below the floor of Class B. Approximately 15 nm NW of departure airport my oil pressure indication went to zero; red light flashing attention getter. As I was doing a little troubleshooting I made a call to departure that I may need to return to ZZZ. I think my transmission was blocked with by another aircraft or departure control talking. As the oil pressure started to fluctuate up to the green range and back to zero; I noticed ZZZ1 off the left wing about 8 miles or so and made a turn towards it. At the time my passenger was quite concerned about everything going on and was a distraction to me. About that time; departure control gave me a turn and asked my altitude and gave me a climb to 5000 ft. While reassuring my passenger; my altitude had climbed 350 ft. above my assigned 4000 ft. I told ATC I needed to return to departure airport due to oil pressure indicating problems and they cleared me direct. Landed and confirmed the instrument was malfunctioning. My distraction from focusing on flying the airplane was problem; also not verifying ATC did not hear my first request to return to the airport was an issue.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.