legacycentral bbs

sooo, my oil light is pretty much a bitch. its quite annoying, and i want to fix it.

basically it will come on when my car warms up and idles normally, it will go away momentarily as the throttle is depressed.

where is this sensor? easy fix? even if it's not easy, i'll end up fixing it, just want to know if anyone has had this problem because i searched and didnt find squat.

...

And why are you driving it with the oil light on?

because i bought the car for cheap, its my winter car, i need to get places, and it *seems* to be running and driving fine.

its only really doing it when it idles low.

i read its because either a faulty sensor, or catastrophic failure.

if its catastrophic failure, then i really dont care if i screw something up at this point, id have to get another short block anyway, or rebuild, which is money i dont want to spend. so as long as it runs and drives, ill keep drivnng it.

again, this is my beater, if it gets me where i need to go, awesome.

I'm assuming you have checked the oil level right. The sensor it self is located underneth the alternator on the passenger side case halve, Your oil pump could be leaking internally too. The screws that hold the back portion of the housing on are somewhat notorious for backing out and if yours have you could be loosing pressure.

oil it has.

i just went out and looked at the sending unit, and the top is pretty dirty and corroded. i will try to get up early and make it to the junkyard to grab another one.

i have a mechanical autometer oil pressure gauge in my other car, so i just need to know what thread size the sending unit is (if anyone knows) so i can get fittings to connect it and check the pressure.

it looks as if the oil pump isnt very hard to install. so at the very worst, i hope its that.

Oil pump's not hard, but because you have to take the timing belt off, You pretty much have to do the water pump, timing belt, and all the tensioners with it. If you don't and they fail... do you want to take it all off again? It's expensive, but worth it.

good to know. ill keep that in mind!

anyone know the thread size??

1/8" BSPT, I believe.

ok, well since my alternator and battery took a crap on me, i decided to try a different oil sender to whil ei had the alt out.

i grabbed one from the junkyard, cleaned it with a wire brush, sanded the prong, andteflon taped it up, popped it in.

NO MORE OIL LIGHT. this fixed it. my old one was corroded and dirty as all hell.
yay, i dont need a rebuild!