42aRanger

Hey guys quick question. Few days ago noticed tiny puddle of oil under my car. After getting under it I thought it was a bad oil filter but after cleaning the area I saw that it was actually leaking directly above the oil filter. Tried to do my research and found that its called an oil sending unit? any tips for replacing the part!? Thanks Mucho for the help!

lazlong

Those are really hard to get to without going from the top. Meaning you'll probably have to take the throttlebody off. Also, drain the oil before you r&r the unit.

lostforawhile

why would you drain the oil, they are on top, the oil isn't going to jump out of the pan and go through the sender, the senders go bad all the time, it's not anything unusual

lazlong

So don't drain it. Last time I did it about a cup of oil came out.

holmesnmanny

Those things are cheap but if you wanted to you could just wrap some teflon tape around it and stick it back in there. The teflon tape will seal it up.

42aRanger

Ok cool thanks for all the help guys!!

lostforawhile

it's probably not leaking at the threads, there is a rubber diaphragm in the switch, the diaphragm fails and oil leaks out the switch body

peaceable

iTrader: (1)

Good point!

Dealing with the *cause* of the symptom is always the preferred solution. Masking the symptom, like what the stethoscope-wearing white coats of the AMA and the talking-heads of popular media (and their gate-keeper cronies) do is a joke.

holmesnmanny

and you know for sure that this is his exact issue and not the threads leaking how exactly ?

lostforawhile

sure, go ahead and go to all the trouble of pulling this out, wrap some teflon tape around it, which you shouldn't even use for electrical senders, or anywhere on an engine for that matter, and then discover it's still leaking, for a cheap failure prone switch, do it twice, that sounds like fun. OP when you replace the switch, use the liquid thread sealer, all the auto parts stores carry it, locktite makes it, as well as permatex, it's usually in a small white tube, teflon tape is for fixing your sink not your car

GhostAccord

x2 on replacing the sending unit.... for the $15-$20 you pay for a new unit. it\s well worth just replacing this one. Oil pressure switch (TEC) - 37240-PT0-014.

Not advisable to use regular Teflon tape on this particular 1 wire unit as it requires contact with the block to provide sensor grounding. PTFE tape is a dielectric so it will not allow electrical current to flow through it. A liquid sealant would be much more reliable. However if you insist on using normal PTFE tape, make sure to leave enough of the tapered threads closest to the sensor bare and in contact with the block.

Only reason I say this is because it has been my experience that most people apply way too much tape to allow for the threads to cut through it and make contact with the block.

With a BSPT (British Standard Pipe Thread) you really shouldn't need much sealant anyway. The use of liquid sealant is what is suggested by Honda.

holmesnmanny

Never in my life ever had an oil pressure switch fail internally. Twice I've had to simply pull the unit, wrap just a couple threads of teflon tape and then move on never to see the leak again.

OP, whichever it is, do which is best. Unlike other people I don't assume someone else is wrong just because. That's not the way I operate.

holmesnmanny

When I say which is best, I mean depending on what's actually happening..how it's actually leaking...make your determination.

lostforawhile

they are pretty much universal, across all brands of cars, and they fail all the time, the little rubber diaphragm between the oil pressure side and the switch,eventually gives up, then oil leaks into the electrical side of the switch and out the casing, for all the trouble to change that thing, why would you not just swap it out? or get rid of it and put in a decent gauge? I personally want to know I have an oil pressure problem way before 3 psi

holmesnmanny

I've had over 15 cars in my life. Never had one fail. Ever.

Not sure exactly what kind of trouble you're having changing one of the easiest things there is to change on this car, assuming you have the socket that fits it.

Lastly, just because this thing does fail it just means you're not going to be getting a decent reading, it doesn't mean that your oil pressure level is actually bad, nor are the chances likely that your oil pump is going to fail at that exact moment in time that an oil pressure switch does end up failing.

lostforawhile

pressure level? reading? it's a switch for the idiot light, it's either on or off