Yep!

 

The oil pressure switch was bad on my son’s car.

It had oil leaking out of the electrical plug. The seal that was between the plug and the connector failed and caused a small mess and made the oil pressure light come on at idle.

Easy enough to swap, just have a deep 27mm socket. Don’t over torque the sender back into the housing.

 

Well new motor mounts are in and boy is it like night and day. I'm going to let the new mounts settle in before I do the oil pressure switch to see if my light is going to come on now. I'm pretty sure all the shakes and noises that I heard before might have been from the bad mounts so if the oil pressure light comes I'll have a good baseline to go on now.

For those curious to which mounts I went with I stayed with the OEM mounts as this is a daily driver. I retained the upper mount as I'm going to get the old bushing out and install the powerflex bushing so I'll have a good replacement for when they fail again.

 

Just an update since I've had 2 days to get some drive time in with the new mounts. Oil pressure light is still coming on after the car warms up. Required RPMs vary depending on time of day it seems. On the drive to work in the morning just a slight bump above idle turns the light off. On the drive home it needs 1500 to 2100 RPMs for the light to go out. Also on the drive home it might start at needing 1500 RPMs but after a bit of driving and stopping it slowly needs more and more RPMs for the light to go out. Eventually about halfway thru my drive the required RPMs for the light to go out start to drop but doesn't get below 1500 RPMs.

I'm still hearing a chattering sound from car, but I have determined it is the clutch as it disappears as soon as the clutch is depressed. The sound is akin to what I have heard in a previous car when it had a dry lifter.

 

While it is a very good chance your oil pressure light is due to a faulty sensor, for something so important I would not risk driving it until getting to the bottom of the problem. We have different level of risk tolerance.

 

A new oil pressure sensor is already been planned to be installed. If I could avoid driving the car until I get it I would but this is currently my only source of transportation to and from work. On the plus side since the new motor mounts I haven't had any more issues with the O2 sensor.

 

Were you able to at least do a visual on the oil pressure sender connector? Is it wet with oil? That would be a clue as to whether or not it could be the problem.

Look for the bright green connector below the exhaust manifold. Can't miss it. (Photo courtesy of Pelican Parts)

 

I've seen the connector but haven't put my hands on it as of yet. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it is probably coated in oil as everything from the power steering fan to the heat exchanger has a coating of oil, dirt, and road grime. The grime starts just below the oil filter cover so everything below it is covered. If there is a way to clean all these parts without pulling each one I'd do it right away as I'm getting tired of working in the filth.

 

Well now I'm stuck. Went out to the car today to go for a jaunt and it won't start. I've got power to everything but when I try to start it I get nothing. After releasing the key I hear a whirring noise like something is running but it stops as soon as I turn the switch off.

Anyways had it towed to my local dealer, thankfully less then 10 miles away, for them to figure it out and do the recall on the power steering pump. Hopefully its nothing major but lets see what they are going to get me for.

 

Well, at least you'll get the recall done. You'll also likely get the mother-of-all-repair-lists as a courtesy.

The 'wish list' they gave me was essentially everything and anything that moved, held oil, coolant, or was made of rubber. It was ridiculous, but it did serve as a punch list of sorts even though many items were just fine. Go figure.

As for your no start, since you have no records, I'll go with old, weak, tired battery since you did not mention seeing the battery light on earlier.

 

Yeah i kind of expect the list, but like you said its gives you a place to start with. In the case of the battery I did recently have it disconnected when I did the AUX cable and motor mount install a few days ago. The only thing outside of normal yesterday when driving it is that I took a longer stretch on the freeway twice. I opened the car up as the freeway was fairly open at the time.

 

Well just heard from the dealer today. Apparently there is an issue with my key not communicating with the car and its throwing codes while they are trying to do the diagnostics. So a new key is on order and it will be a couple more days before I know more.

I personally find it odd that it would be the key as any issue with it should have shown up before now. If at the end of this I find out that the key doesn't resolve the issue because it is due to something else I will see if they will slipt the cost of the new key as I was planning on getting a spare key but didn't need it this soon.

 

Well just got off the phone with the dealer. New key starts the car and that issue is semi resolved now. They are telling me that the ingition switch is bad and needs to be replaced. I got bent at them and told them enough already. They say I will experience the occasional issue of it not wanting to start on the first turn of the key which I can live with. I'll be picking the car up later today so I will have my list later today on what I need to fix.

 

Looks like the switch isn't too bad to do yourself if you decide to go that route.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-question.html

 

Thank you for the link Zsm as I'll be going the route of replacing it myself as the dealer quoted me $190 for the switch alone.

They did mention on the phone that the o ring on the crankshaft sensor needs to replaced. They quoted me $725 just to replace the o ring. I told them no way was I going to have them do it for that price when the part is less the $10 and it can be done in less then a hour if its done with the ratchet strap method.

In roughly 5 hours I'll have my list of issues that they claim will need to be done. When I get that list I'll make a new thread as this is still the welcome thread.

 

You should consider the dealer switch as it may very well gold plated so it will never rust.

 

Consider the new key as your starter and o-ring as an appetizer. Wow! $725 to replace a $5 dollar o-ring?! Talk about high labor rates, oh wait, that's the dealer, yeah, that's what I would expect.

Enjoy your 'list'

 

I have moved over to the issues and problems section as this is no longer a intro thread. Here is the link to the new thread https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...n-my-mini.html

I've listed what the dealer thinks I need to repair in the new thread as well as an update on the issues I'm running into.