legacycentral bbs

My oil pressure sensor is leaking oil. I bought a new one for like five bucks. Looking at it I can't see how it could leak and the one I have that's leaking is on my car that's at the shop. I also noticed that they only have a singe electrical connection. I'm guessing these things are either on or off, am I right?

Yup, they're just an oil pressure sender....on/off.

They don't usually go bad, but they can start to leak. If you remove it, and clean the threads, and replace the tape that was on it, you are usually good to go...

I would imagine there are two places where it could leak: either of the two fluid connections.

Like Matt says, the sender is threaded into the plug with pipe threads. This joint is sealed with some kind of thread sealant (like Teflon tape). It could leak there.

Also, the plug is threaded into the block with straight threads. The fluid is sealed with an aluminum crush washer (part number 037018200). It could leak there.

This is a problem I've had twice now on my car. My old motor's OPS bled a little oil, whereas the one that's on my new motor is more of a hemorrhage. Earlier this week I noticed that there was oil pooling on the top of the block and running down the pax side valve cover - enough oil that I was sure it was a seal or gasket failure. Turns out after investigation that all that oil is coming right out of the top of the sender.

Make no mistake, these oil pressure senders can and do leak like sieves. Good thing they're so cheap!