E30 Zone

Well, after some probing with my trusty multimeter, I now know my oil pressure sensor is fooked.

Question 1: Can I replace this without draining the oil?

Q2: What size socket is needed to remove it? The largest I have is a 22mm and that didn't fit.

Cheers
Martin

Forget how big it is, but if the engine's been standing for the day, you shouldn't get torrents of oil pouring out of the hole. It points into the pressurised oil passages from which the oil drains a bit when the engine's off.

Be ready with the new one (and make sure the area around the hole's bloody clean) and it shouldn't be too messy a job

Now you're sure it's the pressure switch and not the wiring?

you need a deep socket or box spanner to get it out also.

Turbo-Brown wrote:
Now you're sure it's the pressure switch and not the wiring?

Yup, followed the Bentley's test procedure by the letter:


Sensor disconnected: No light with ignition on.

Sensor wire grounded to the engine: Light on.

Continuity between sensor and engine: Supposed to be continuous, but isn't. I did the same test on my old 320i block's sensor and was continuous, so I'm gonna use that.

24mm deep socket

Pipe pliers in the standard toolkit should do the job.

Te new one might be a different size to the old! Think my old one was 24mm and the new one was 22mm. But its a piss easy job, should only take a few mins.

Thanks guys, great advice.