Did i break it or is it not grounding?

Keith1138

Keith1138

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2015
Location
Harrisburg NC
My jeep Cherokee 4.0 was leaking from the oil pressure sending unit adapter the piece that the unit threads into which in turns goes into the block. I carefully undid the sending unit because I knew that they are fragile but I did hit it with wrench when it slipped it turned the plastic piece on it about an 8th of a turn. After pulling the adapter and unit off I then cleaned the area then applied rtv black on the threads and carefully reinstalled everything making sure I didn't smear rtv into any of the ports.

Now I will get low oil pressure, none at all, or normal all with in a 2 minute period. Engine had great oil pressure this morning.

Could that have broken the sensor?
Should I have used rtv with copper in it so the sensor could ground?

I do not have much experience with sensors so any help is appreciated.

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Unplug the sending unit, and check resistance between the metal sensor body and the block. Usually there's enough metal on metal contact with a threaded connection that ground isn't a problem for low current sensors. But, RTV (of any kind) is not what I would have used for that, as there's lots of easily available thread sealants for engine sensors that are much easier to deal with later down the road than RTV. Removing old RTV from threads fills me with a special kind of rage.

But yes, you could have broken the sensor. There are usually ways to test the sensor, but I don't know the specifics of the sensor you have.

I'm assuming it's a single wire sending unit if you're worried about grounding?
 
She broke, we stocked them when i worked at the tire shop because the general service guys would bend/break them so often.
 
Infamous1 said:
She broke, we stocked them when i worked at the tire shop because the general service guys would bend/break them so often.
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Joyful now I know what I need to order auto zone doesn't carry them in store. What would be the best to use on the threads to prevent leaking since rtv isn't the best to use?

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It'll come with sealer on the new one. I usually use a oil sender socket to remove install. Channel locks work but be gentle, as you know now.
 
Thanks for all of the input. Would it cause any harm to drive to work for two days with the oil pressure gauge not working?

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Keith Odom said:
Thanks for all of the input. Would it cause any harm to drive to work for two days with the oil pressure gauge not working?

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As long as the gauge is wrong and it's actually getting oil your fine.
 
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