Dash 8 Series Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition
Aircraft
Climbing out of ZZZ around 11;000 feet or so we received an aural warning and master warning light. Noticed the #2 engine oil pressure gauge fluctuating wildly from normal pressure down to the red line and back and forth. Emergency checklist had us reduce power to idle and condition levers to start feather. Pushed the alt feather switch and engine did not feather. NP was above requirements to shut the engine down so we left it operating in accordance with the checklist. I notified ATC before that with the assumption we would have to shut it down. We completed the checklist with the condition levers to max and the engine still producing power and I held a conservative airspeed around 180 kts all the way down the approach. I flew the visual approach to [Runway] XXL without incident and taxied to the gate. After turning the aircraft over to Maintenance we received a new plane and flew our last leg safety getting our passengers to their destination. The emergency checklist directed us to not shutdown the engine and we diverted back to ZZZ since we were only about 30 miles out. The oil pressure gauge continued to wildly fluctuate with the aural chime all the way back to Seattle. After parking and deplaning; Maintenance notified me the engine was covered in oil. Once we landed; Maintenance informed us the engine was leaking oil and when they opened the nacelle they discovered oil covering the engine was covered in oil. One of my senior flight attendants remarked she liked the fact I made the announcement to the passengers and let them know that emergency vehicles would be meeting the aircraft and following us to the gate.
Dash-8 captain reported experiencing an engine oil leak on climb-out.