Leaking oil low oil pressure switch

[Don in VT]

Hi All,

Had a massive oil leak that is now 90% fixed. The pan gasket job went very well and the pan is clean inside and the gasket is tight with no leaks. Now we find that there is still s small leak that turns our to be the low oil pressure switch located under the oil filter housing. FSM says that the coolant must be drained. to pull the filter housing, Is this really true ?. I am sure many of the members have replaced the leaking switch and perhaps I could get some real world tips on this fix.

Best Regards,

Don:proud:

[Paul Workman]

Don,

I agree with the coolant draining - not much, just enough to remove the cross-over pipe, as the oil filter housing needs to come off to change that low oil pressure SOB. 3-4 bolts and the housing comes right off, no big deal.

The oil cooler lines...may not have to come off, tho I did remove them too - perhaps I could have done it w/o removing the lines? (You'll have to see and get back to us!;))


Jerry has a new oil flter housing gasket, if you need one, or if the gasket is intact, a smear of the Permatex (powder blue color) RTV will do the sealing, after getting the housing and the gasket surface clean and dry.

P.

[Don in VT]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the reply. I have to make another plenum dive so I would drain a little coolant anyway. Do I need any special tool to remove the switch ? I have a great specialty tool that is made for O2 sensors that might be handy.

I have already ordered the gasket from Jerry and I am prepared for the new experience.

Your process sure beats the FSM approach so thanks again for the help.

Best Regards,

Don:cheers:

[Tyler Townsley]

Can be done without pulling the filter housing. Use a stubby skt with a socket for a sensor.

Tyler

[Don in VT]

Hi Tyler,

Sounds good but how do you actually get the socket in there? I can't even get my small hand in to disconnect the connector.

Cheers

Don

[LGAFF]

I ended up just removing the housing, its just a few bolts....

[Tyler Townsley]

Hi Tyler,

Sounds good but how do you actually get the socket in there? I can't even get my small hand in to disconnect the connector.

Cheers

Don

It was 13 yrs ago and I have a small hand. I never even thought about removing the filter housing. Back then we had no forum and were on our own.

Tyler

[Paul Workman]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the reply. I have to make another plenum dive so I would drain a little coolant anyway. Do I need any special tool to remove the switch ? I have a great specialty tool that is made for O2 sensors that might be handy.

I have already ordered the gasket from Jerry and I am prepared for the new experience.

Your process sure beats the FSM approach so thanks again for the help.

Best Regards,

Don:cheers:

Yes, and as I recall, I bought the special socket for removing it, but as you said, I couldn't access it to use the dang thing. The sensor socket wasn't cheap, and I ended up not using it after all. As Lee said too, once I decided to just pull the housing, that turned out to be a piece of cake way to replace it. Had the dang housing off, the switch replaced, and the new one installed in little over an hour.

And, yeah! Like Tyler said, thank heaven for this forum!

P.

[Don in VT]

Hi,

I want to thank everyone for the great responses. As soon as the gasket and the switch arrives I will make "getter done" as the saying goes.

Thanks again

Don:cheers:

[dan1495]

I am still new to these cars, but I just recently changed the oil pressure sensor you are referring to. I didn't remove the coolant pipe but kind of wish I had. I did remove the oil cooler lines from the cooler and would definitely recommend doing that. I also bought a sensor removal socket (1/16" I think) at Northern Tool for about 3 bucks. Not professional grade but it workd fine in this case.

As an aside, my sensor was leaking a little but I think the major source of the leak was that fact that one of the oil filter adapter bolts had worked loose. I have read of others having the same issue.

I admire the person that can do this job in an hour!

[PhillipsLT5]

Mine blew also, 3/4 quart everywhere in 20 min, change all 3 sensors gasket and drained coolant

[Don in VT]

Hi Cliff,

Thanks for the heads up on the OPRV. I will check that as well and consider the plumbing for the oil port as noted in your item #2.

I do have one question, does the cover need a gasket ? Can I reuse the old one with a little sealant. The cover torque must be close to 20 in/lbs, correct ?

Thanks again

Don

:saluting:

[Don in VT]

Hi,

Lots of progress. Fixed a flaky vacuum connection under the plenum. It was the ported vac signal from the TB extension to the evap vacuum circuit. There was a hairline crack right at the entrance to the rubber connector. Looked OK but wasn't (second one of those I found, the other leak, of that nature, was at the secondary vacuum pump connection.

The new oil pressure switch and FH gasket will be here today and the replacement of the filter housing should go smooth. I did have to drain the coolant down to the level of the lower water pump inlet. The lower hose was in the way of getting the bottom bolt for the FH. I am sure that the hose, being a Samco, could be compressed but I just did not want to mess with it so I drained the coolant.

A special thanks to Dynomite for his heads up on the OPRV cover. The bolts were loose. Blue loctite and torque and I am good to go. Thanks Cliff.

An Aside here with respect the the plastic lines. We all know they age and some age faster then others. I have found that I needed to spend time with a vacuum pump and small stoppers to find all the bad lines. I flex every joint under vacuum and watch the vac gauge. I found that you can't just look at the line and spot the hairline cracks.

If, during the reassembly, I find anything worthy of passing on, I will add it to this thread.

Cheers

Don

:usa:

[scottfab]

An Aside here with respect the the plastic lines. We all know they age and some age faster then others. I have found that I needed to spend time with a vacuum pump and small stoppers to find all the bad lines. I flex every joint under vacuum and watch the vac gauge. I found that you can't just look at the line and spot the hairline cracks.


Good test idea. Last time I was under there I just replaced all of the cheap connectors.

On the pressure sensor. I examined the old one and found that the crimp put on the end was insufficient. I recrimped it on the vise using a socket over the end. No leaks since then (1999).

[Don in VT]

Hi Everyone,

Earlier in the thread I mentioned that if something jumped out at me I would pass it on. Well something did.

But first, the reassembly of the right side of the motor went text book. it is all back together and running fine. I will hold my breath and look in the drip pan for any leaks tomorrow AM. I drove the ZR hard from Fairfax, VT to Burlington, VT and back (65 miles) and it seemed to pass the first smoke test.

Now on to the interesting find. When it came time to refill the system I tried Mark H's procedure and filled the system with the ZR jacked up on the right side about 18" so that the reservoir is much higher and is the very high point of the system. The method is the only way to go if you have a floor jack capable of raising the car high enough. IT IS A REALLY SLICK WAY TO GO AS THE SYSTEM REALLY FILLS VERY FAST AND I DID NOT GET A WP AIR LOCK.

Thanks Mark for the great filling procedure.

More Later

Don

:handshak:

[scottfab]

Wow who knew there could be so many different ways to do this task.
I simply leave the driver's side TB coolant hose pointing up in the air.
When fluid comes out on that side, I'm done.
It's bled and all done.
No jacking on the side or front or anywhere else.

[Don in VT]

Hi Everyone,

Well, the pain,drama,whatever is over. All leaks are fixed and to the best of my knowledge they are fixed properly. Now all I have to do is check the bolts from time to time, watch the (no longer needed) drip pan.

I want to thank everyone that submitted a reply to this thread regarding the oil leaks at the right front of the engine. I learned a lot and I did the fixes myself which is a big deal for this 78 year old motor head. This took me back to my first Corvette, a 1954 with the good old Blue Flame 6. BTW it leaked oil too.

This chapter is closed.

Cheers to you all and have a great summer

Don in VT

:salute::blahblah::cheers:

[scottfab]

This took me back to my first Corvette, a 1954 with the good old Blue Flame 6. BTW it leaked oil too.

Good for you Don.
I got the bug in the late 50s. My earliest memories of a vett was a 54 too.
Watched my dad and a friend of his work on the rear end.
All I remember was how cool it looked to get all greasy/oily.
I was 3 or 4.
You're only as old as you can turn a wrench.