Seal ring for Oil level sensor or Oil Pan gasket..

[E30nub1]

Ok so here is the story..

I was driving to work today and everything was fine... stopped to get gas and as i am pulling onto the interstate..i smell oil.. I look around and into my reaview ...and it looked like i had just pushed the smoke screen button on my car.. Well luckily work is all but 5 min away so i pull in and immediately open the hood and find there is a HUGE oil leak under my car..to the point that Oil has gotten onto my steering rack and all around the passenger side edge of my oil pan...

Now the way i see.... it based on the oil soaked spots its one of 2 things...something to do with the Oil level sensor (my guess would be the seal ring) or the oil pan gasket..

My feeling is something to do with the oil level sensor for 2 reasons..

1. my oil pan gasket has Minimal to NO leak (i have left my car parked on freshly poured concrete for over 24/hrs and driven off and not a drop was found..) this was less than a month ago..

2. oil pan gaskets tend to leak overtime not just spontaneously explode or rip/tear.. causing a stream of oil so squirt all over my underside..

2.5
over the past Week or so my oil pressure light (NOT the oil Check light overhead but the one under the rpm gauge)bottom right light BTW


flickers on and off in rhythm with the idle of the engine.. not on bright/full blast but just a faint to medium flicker when idling...

at 1st i thought it was just my oil was a bit low and planned to change it 2morrow on my day off..but now it seems bigger issues are at hand...

HEEEEEELLLLPPPPP 1st day of class is Monday at 9am.. would like to knock this out by Sunday evening.. either way the oil pan and oil sensor ring are a total price 12 dollars combined after shipping..i would just rather not have to hoist up the engine to fix this..so any advice or insight would be awesome.. ....ready GO

EDIT:


i also suppose its worth mentioning that the little sensor rubber part (NOT the metal nut holding it into place on the pan) moves around very freely and just kinda twists in place.. and im not 100% but i dont think its supposed to do that.. just info toward the situation...ALSO oil wasn't coming from within the exhaust.. but from oil leaking onto the headers..lol should probably mention that as well..lol

[digger]

i once had a dodgy oil pressure sensor that caused flickering of the oil pressure light and it leaked a bit through the pressure sensor. The plastic portion of the sensor would spin in the metallic part that screws into the block which is not what it is supposed to do.

[E30nub1]

i once had a dodgy oil pressure sensor that caused flickering of the oil pressure light and it leaked a bit through the pressure sensor. The plastic portion of the sensor would spin in the metallic part that screws into the block which is not what it is supposed to do.

was indeed the oil pressure switch.. replaced it with a new one (this one didn't move around..) cleared the problem right up. no oil leaks once again.. :)

picture for reference of said part


......and if you have a dodgy oil pressure light (^see above^) that flickers this is more than likely your issue.....a DEEP 22mm socket will pop that sucker right off ...a new one will probably run you between 5 and 15 dollars depending on where you live/where you get it. clears the problem (ie leaks and light flicker) right up...hopefully this will help another e30 brother in a pinch out

[5Toes]

a 22mm socket doesnt fit on mine :( need a deep socket

[E30nub1]

a 22mm socket doesnt fit on mine :( need a deep socket

mine was a deep 22mm as well.. forgot the deep part.. lol