Thread: oil level sensor

How often do these leak? I am finding some small oil leakage around the oil pan area on our 2004 Grand Prix and I don't think it's the oil pan.

Could the plastic sensor that screws in the pan be a culprit?

Okay I crawled under the car and the fluid on the ground is not oil, but once again anti freeze.

I checked around the top of the engine and found no leakage around the intake manifold, coolant elbows (I've replaced those already), water pump, and temp sensor by the thermostat housing.

The leak is on the passenger side of the engine, so I've ruled out the sensor.

I plan on getting the car off the ground so I can take a closer look. Right now I want to assume the leak is from the bottom of the engine. Maybe a expansion plug, or the short coolant elbow that is hard to see from under the hood.

I checked the oil and it didn't appear to have any coolant in it.

I've had coolant leaks with this car in the past. I've replaced the coolant elbows twice and the over flow tank had a leak.

I cannot see any antifreeze around the water pump area. The plastic shield below the belt and pulleys is dry. If there was a leak from the water pump, I would think the antofreeze would have been thrown all over by the belt.

I'll have to crawl underneath and find out.

Well I did some further investigating and crawled around with the engine running and discovered for the third time in 78,000 miles the coolant elbows are once again leaking.

I've put these in dry and with silicone. Now I get to do this again. I guess it's still better than a expansion plug.

In addition, I think my oil leak is more of a steering rack leak.

I've never had a car that leaks as much as this turd.

I didn't know metal elbows are an option. I noticed the last time I put these in the cavity on the intake manifold end had some pitting. I wonder if I applied a film of silicone inside the circumference of the hole it would fill any pitting? It's almost like dealing with a pitted wheel cylinder.

Maybe the oil on the rings would be better than silicone.

I will see if I can find the aluminum elbows.

This car would be perfect if it wasn't for the damn leaks. It's the only issue we've had with it.

I got my aluminum elbows at O Reilly's. The part number is Dorman Help 47065HP. They had to order them but were in the next day. They were $12.99 if I recall.

Did the aluminum elbows work well? Did you put anything on the o-rings before you installed them? I looked them up on NAPA and the part number is 660-1942. I plan on calling tomorrow to see if they have them.

Yes, I have been lucky with this car Scotty, but it only has 78,000 miles. I bet yours has more miles. I got rid of the DexCool long ago, so I should be ok on the gaskets for awhile longer.

All I used was wheel bearing grease and they slid right in, the same thing I used for my fuel injector o-rings.

Well I did apply some RTV silicone on the o-rings on one set. I installed them dry another time with the same results. I do clean out the holes with steel wool. The short elbow never leaks by the way.

This time I will use grease on the o-rings. Nobody has the aluminum elbows and I still have a package of plastic elbows. So maybe I'll put those in since I have them.

Will do. Thanks Scotty. I think I'll try my last set of plastic elbows since I already have them.

Well I got the elbows in and while I had it apart I replaced the spark plugs. The rears are a pain, but rotating the engine forward helped a little.

I also replaced the PCV valve and of course I broke the plastic retainer. I got another at the local salvage yard.

It's depressing that so much brittle, sharp-edged plastic is used on cars. It breaks easy and you can cut yourself on some of that crap if you're not careful.

Before I started to fix the leaky elbows my wife complained about how the car fogged up when she ran the heater/defroster. I didn't think much of it until I test drove it tonight after completing the work I mentioned earlier.

When I got home I went and opened the front passenger door and rubbed the floor carpet. Sure enough there was anti-freeze on the floor.

Now I have to replace the heater core.

I should start a new thread for this, but I'm tempted to tear into this task. I've changed heater cores in older cars, but I already know the console and the lower half of the dash will have to come out. Is it a realistic DIY job, or should I bite the bullet and have the pros do this?

I know 90 percent of the parts that involve this job will be dealing with more chintzy plastic.