Can this sensor be changed without draining the oil?

[Terry Kennedy]

Per an earlier posting, I discovered that my oil temperature sensor is bad. I have a new one on hand, but I want to make sure that if I loosen the old one, I don't get a spray (or dribble) of oil.

Referring to bolus' picture:



it is the plug represented by the rightmost arrow. There's currently some sort of adapter screwed in there, with the 1/8" NPT sender screwed into the adapter.

I just changed the oil (of course) before I discovered this problem.

If I let the engine sit overnight and don't do anything to open the oil accumulator, there shouldn't be any pressure behind this fitting. I don't think the oil fill goes up that high, either. So does anyone think I'll be Ok (or not) opening this?

BTW, the Masterlube is plumbed into the leftmost of the 3 ports.

[Heywood-Yablowme]

There will be no oil pressure or leakage at that port.That is miles above the oil level.As long as you do not turn the key on, the Accusump will not discharge.

[Terry Kennedy]

[quote="Curator"]
There will be no oil pressure or leakage at that port.That is miles above the oil level.As long as you do not turn the key on, the Accusump will not discharge.
[/quote]

I changed the sensor today. I was expecting it to unscrew from the reducing adapter, but the sensor and reducing adapter came out as a unit. By the way, it is pretty tight in there between the water pump line and the exhaust header.

There was white stuff visible on both the sensor-to-adapter and adapter-to-block threads. Before disassembly, I thought it was Teflon tape but after looking at it close up it wasn't tape, just some sort of putty. I used Teflon tape on both sets of threads.

The car started up fine and there were no leaks at this spot, so I let it run until the radiator fan came on.

The new sensor is reading fine and the dash is behaving normally. Hopefully this will fix the problem for good.

[Heywood-Yablowme]

It could have been Teflon paste. Wonderful stuff. Glad all went well.