Does a zero oil press guage reading cause the ECU to shut down the engine?

It certainly is possible that your cars computer will shut off the engine to protect it from damage due to no oil pressure. Of course no oil pressure will also seize an engine. I would have it checked out and maybe go ahead and replace the oil pressure sender.

Friend who is a shop manager at a high volume used car dealer suggested said that he's had similar experience with 2 high mileage Ram 1500s with hemi engines. He found that these events were likely due to the build up sludge in the oil pan and that sludge eventually getting sucked into the oil pump. The immediate effect is a chain reaction that causes the oil pressure to drop, the hydraulic lifters to collapse, the timing to go out of sync, resulting in the engine stalling or the ECU shutting down the engine due to multiple codes. He does not think that the ECU shuts the engine down in response simply to low or no oil pressure, but it does immediately alert you to that condition by illuminating the check gauges light. His recommendation is to drop the pan and clean it out. Also replace the oil pump and screen while pan is off. I may try a solvent flush first to see if that gets rid of the sludge. Anyone have any experience with doing that? At its current age, don't want the ol truck to pass another clot and suffer a second stroke.