oil pressure switch - or not?

[manic]

Heading off tomorrow for a christmas out and about in the Defender. 7 days, probably 1000k+. Oil pressure switch is dead, have a new one here.

Worried that if I go to fit it just before setting off, it'll throw a spanner in the works.

So:
Best to leave it till I get back and hope for no catasrophic oil loss, or go for a swap and risk cocking it up just before setting off?

Does alot of oil gush out when you remove the pressure sender? :eek:

200tdi

[steveG]

Pretty sure you've got a 200tdi (which I think is the same as the 300).
I've never done one on those engines but was looking at the 300tdi housing last night as I need to replace the temp sender o-ring.
Logically thinking, the only oil I could see coming out would be in the galleries and oil cooler lines above the pressure switch. Should be minimal (less than dropping an oil filter) I reckon but I could be wrong.

Personally I'd change it. Greatest risk of stuffing the job up would be cross threading or stripping the thread, so take your time, do it up all the way by hand first before just giving it a light nip followed by a quick run to check for leaks.

Take your dud one and its sealing washer, and suitable spanner with you just in case the new one suffers some infant mortality..

Steve

[roverrescue]

You wont lose any significant oil removing the oil pressure switch unless you start her up!
As mentioned be careful on not cross threading and just do it.

Having said all that the engine will hold pressure above the light on point until the sump is all but dry and the damage is done so it wont really save you from say a catastropic oil loss.
Similarly the rotor oil pump is pretty well bomb proof so shouldnt really fail, only thing that might happen and you would not be aware of it in 1000km is if the oil pressure relief spring failed and you lost oil pressure down into the sump bypassing the galleries... Im not even sure whether pressure would drop to the point the light would come on anyways???

Anyways it is an easy job to do - and if the dud oil switch failed totally it could start painting your engine bay in hot black stuff which would be far more work to clean up than doing the swap out...

Steve

[manic]

overalls on...

now just gotta go hammer the new one in ;) ...

[Slunnie]

overalls on...

now just gotta go hammer the new one in ;) ...

Try a spanner Tangles! :D

[manic]

Well that was brief.

The new switch I have has a 22mm hex, the one in there looks like a 26mm. Biggest spanner I have is a 24mm. Not gonna bother without the right spanner.

Here comes a holiday with frequent oil checks!

I might pick up a 26mm en-route tomorrow if I'm feeling lucky.

[steveG]

A 1" spanner fits snugly on mine, or if you were stuck a 27mm single hex wheel nut socket would do it.

Steve

[steveG]

Pure coincidence, but I ended up having to remove/refit the switch on a 300tdi defender tonight. The actual job was to replace a leaking o-ring on the oil cooler thermostat housing, but had to remove the switch for access.

In the absence of anything better, the 27mm long reach impact socket I use for wheel nuts ended up being my tool of choice. I had spanners that fitted, but struggled for room to swing them, and shorter sockets wouldn't clear the spade terminal on the switch.

Zero oil came out of the switch, but probably about 200ml out of the thermostat housing/hose. The o-ring in the housing was so brittle it broke into pieces when I tried to remove it. Well worth planning to replace it, and also the oil cooler hose o-rings while doing an oil change at some stage as access would be a bit easier (and you're already making a mess).

Steve