college student edition.
Thursday evening 9pm my teaching student in Milwaukee calls. at campus dropped off a friend and the oil light is flashing and the car is beeping
low oil pressure
they shut it off , what to do?
Me: well you're not in the worst neighborhood check the oil
Them: not even touching the dip stick
Me: you have you're funnel and I left a spare 2 quarts of oil in the back pour it in and lets see what you get
Them: 2 quarts in not touching the dip stick yet
they stared it back up and the light quit flashing , drive the 2 miles to your parking garage just get there as quick as you can.
they made it put more quarts in, in the morning (Friday) fired it up nope leaking bad
like coffee running out of a drip coffee maker about a quart every 5-7 minutes
2003 Oldsmobile mini van with the GM 3.4L v6
soonest I could drive to MKE and look at it was Sunday morning
Sunday morning I put 2 quarts in fire it up to see where leaking from
all I can tell is above the starter below the exhaust manifold about impossible to see the area
I wonder if I find a video on starter replacement if I can see what is there that I can't see with the starter in the way? without having to drop the starter.
found a video on the wife's phone and sure enough he is replacing the starter because the oil pressure sending unit goes bad and leaks then dumps oil on the starter.
apparently a common issue with the sensor just starts leaking and the oil comes right out though the wiring plug.
disconnect positive on battery drop the starter two 15mm bolts , yup I can see it , can't start the van to see if it is leaking but when I pull the cable off it and the plug is just full of oil from the inside , yup that would be it.
got it out with a channel locks after a 1/2 turn it was only in finger tight
dial up autozone it came up first on a search of auto parts stores near me , I drove past the O'Riely's a block closer but I guess AZ has the search figured out. they had the part 12.99 the bag of oil dri cost more than part that caused the issue.
installed it put the starter back in , fired it up to test , all good
as long as I was right there already had an drain pan and oil mess to clean up drained what was in it good news about 4 quarts and put a new filter on it was 2K into an oil change with all new oil might as well hit the reset on the oil change mileage. I do every 3K or as soon as I can after 3K might be a better way to ay it.
6 quarts new oil check for leaks all over let it run a while took it for a little test drive.
this was my first time setting up shop and working on a car in a parking garage , at least it was inside as it started raining outside.
the sensor is 27mm , we have this 10-36mm Tekton set no skips regular and deep well , that set has saved me so many times by having the right size best 280 dollars spent ever on tools. It is actually my sons so when he moves out I have to buy one and quit borrowing his.
so if your following some one with a GM and they are leaving a trail of oil , check that oil pressure sending unit.
now that I have seen what causes it , I am recalling seeing trails like that going down the road a bunch of times. sometimes with a car on the side of the road when the trail goes dry.
once you have done one and you know what size and what to feel for you could do it from the top side without dropping the starter if the manifold wasn't too hot. it is right under the #6 spark plug about 6 inches
but you can't see it without a mirror
not even well with a cell phone
https://www.autozone.com/external-e...last-oil-pressure-switch-ps152/45356_0_0
