What a day! (Oil Pressure Sensor)

Started the day with a late morning trip to Geylang market as mrs wanted to get some stuff for cooking and baking. On the way home noticed oil pressure light coming on intermittently. When i got to my car park, immediately open up the bonnet to check engine oil (EO). Was surprised that the dip stick was dry. I just serviced my ride last Sat (13 Aug). Call up Hairi he thinks it's the oil pressure sensor leaking. I pour in my balance EO, abt half litre and went over to MX Tradings to get another 4 bottles for topping up later. Rushed to Hairi and got the oil pressure sensor replaced ($38) and top up the engine oil. According to Hairi, seems that it's quite common for Chevy to have this problem. Thought all is solved. However, when i got home, the oil pressure light came on again. I immediately check the EO and the dip stick was again dry. I knew than that this is more serious. Made the trip back to Hairi and pray that no traffic jams. However, just before i join the PIE from Bedok, traffic warning of "massive jam" to Tuas. Detoured and hit the ECP instead. Traffic was generally smooth. Drove steadily with a silent prayer that i reach the w/s safely. It was already 4pm when i arrive. Jacked up the car to find the source of the leak and it was traced to an oil seal leak in the timing belt compartment. How this happens, i don't know. The timing belt was soaked with EO and have to be replaced. Since I'm due for a timing belt replacement in another 10k km, looks like i have to get this done earlier. The problem is car parts shop already closed and the earliest to get the parts is Monday. I'll have to do this weekend without a car! Hairi offered his van for the weekend but i decline as no nite parking at my place. This repair likely to cost me about $500. On top of this tyres also need replacement..! What a day...!

Epic day for you bro and I feel the pain and anxiety you did when I experience the same oil pressure problem! Did you see them changing the oil seal the last time you did the timing belt change, assumption is that when the timing belt change you need to replace the oil seal, sometime when you take package, workshop might want to save on parts, and if they see the seal okay, they might forgo that thinking that it would last another 60K, just my 2 cents worth of doubt, but I guess they must have change it. Good to get the package yourself and count the number of parts, then when changing tell the workshop you give them XX number of parts and you want to see the same XX numbers of parts replaced so not for them to throw it away without your approval.

Anyway it's a good time to get to know your public transport system Best thing it happen now and not during the festive season bro.

Move topic, this is not a talk cock topic but more to do with garage topic. Anyway, it's good that you are sharing this experience with the rest, more proactive discussion should be encouraged so that others will take note, for e.g. two Optra already experience the oil pressure sensor failure, you guys should work it out the mileage the sensor can last and since it cost only $38, this sensor should be change regularly at interval, otherwise the topping up of engine oil, labor will incur more loss, so preventive measures. Alternatively a survey should also be conducted, now it seem that both the Optras that experience the failure are on Amsoil engine oil, so what about the others that have not experience the failure, what engine oil are they on? There is always that possibility that the engine oil could be the cause of the oil pressure sensor failure.

Ikon wrote:Epic day for you bro and I feel the pain and anxiety you did when I experience the same oil pressure problem! Did you see them changing the oil seal the last time you did the timing belt change, assumption is that when the timing belt change you need to replace the oil seal, sometime when you take package, workshop might want to save on parts, and if they see the seal okay, they might forgo that thinking that it would last another 60K, just my 2 cents worth of doubt, but I guess they must have change it. Good to get the package yourself and count the number of parts, then when changing tell the workshop you give them XX number of parts and you want to see the same XX numbers of parts replaced so not for them to throw it away without your approval.

Anyway it's a good time to get to know your public transport system Best thing it happen now and not during the festive season bro.

Honestly, i have no idea if the oil seals were changed or not at the last timing belt change,.In any case, the last change at 120k km was my 2nd timing belt change. I have no such issues at the 1st change at 60k km.

It's always good to get parts yourself to ensure the correct stuff are bought and replaced but it's not always practical to do that all the times. For instance, you could get the timing belt parts first and get them replaced by the w/s as you would know when you want this done. But other times something goes wrong with your ride and you have no idea what the cause is. In this instance, you would need the w/s to troubleshoot for you. The w/s would tell you what needs to be replaced before proceeding. Do you then tell w/s to wait till you get the parts or say "ok get the parts and proceed." Guess, out of convenience most would do the latter or at least i would. Any reputable w/s would show you parts that were replaced but it's up to you to ensure that they were replaced in the first place. This is where your relationship with the w/s comes in and the trust built over the period comes into play. So it's good to stick to one reliable w/s that you can trust rather than go shopping for one each time you need something repaired or replaced just to save some $$. My 2 cents..

Guess, it's time to appreciate the public transport

Admin wrote:Move topic, this is not a talk cock topic but more to do with garage topic. Anyway, it's good that you are sharing this experience with the rest, more proactive discussion should be encouraged so that others will take note, for e.g. two Optra already experience the oil pressure sensor failure, you guys should work it out the mileage the sensor can last and since it cost only $38, this sensor should be change regularly at interval, otherwise the topping up of engine oil, labor will incur more loss, so preventive measures. Alternatively a survey should also be conducted, now it seem that both the Optras that experience the failure are on Amsoil engine oil, so what about the others that have not experience the failure, what engine oil are they on? There is always that possibility that the engine oil could be the cause of the oil pressure sensor failure.

Thanks admin for moving to the right topic location.

I have to agree that other bros take note of this in their ride. If you have never replace this part before, then perhaps it's good to consider doing so now as most of our rides are 4 years or older. It's only a $38 quick job. The thing about engine oil as a possible cause, i would say possible but highly unlikely although i do not have any data to prove otherwise. But then it's good to consider all common denominator. So guys, save yourself the expense and anxiety, replace your oil pressure sensor at your next servicing schedule if you have never done so before.

how about Captiva? will it be the problem too? am using Gary Engineeriiing for my reliable w/s @ Ubi.

Iskk...need to chg arhh..so many sensors in modern day cars.

Captivian_Major wrote:how about Captiva? will it be the problem too? am using Gary Engineeriiing for my reliable w/s @ Ubi.

No harm in checking. The w/s i patronise did mention Aveo also having this problem. Captiva, i'm not sure.

starstruck96 wrote:Iskk...need to chg arhh..so many sensors in modern day cars.

Bro, this is just as a precaution. What we're saying here is since it's only a $38 replacement part (for Optra), you should just change at the next servicing if you have not done so. Whether need to change or not, it's entirely up to you.

starstruck96 wrote:Iskk...need to chg arhh..so many sensors in modern day cars.

Yes bro, since the day they got rid of the carburetor and introduce the fuel injection system! That's more than what I can recall and if I'm not mistaken the last carb car I was in was my old man's Ford Escort, subsequently he change to the Mitsubishi Lancer SL, no more carb I think. So everything is electronic and computerise, there is no more mechanical anymore so you need more sensors.

oil pressure sensor..i'll ask my distributor on the price tmrow..gg for my 90k servicing soon.
maybe like mR Admin mentioned in his post...does the Quality of aMSoiL add to the theory of oil pressure sensor to fail?
yupzz...most of our young rides are gg 5yrs liao

There is no confirmation that the oil pressure sensor {OPS} will fail after X no. of mileage due to wahtever. We don't have enough data to come to any conclusion, as a preventive measure it's recommended that you guys should change the OPS at certain mileage to avoid the anxiety that both bro PL and myself went through when our oil pressure failed. The cost of the part is cheap, however is you choose not to do so, that would be good as well as that we can have more data on the rate of failure for the OPS.

Ultimately you guys will decide on your own, no need to be kiasi and do whatever is posted here.

Agree with bro Ikon, ultimately it's up to you.
Anyway, collected my ride on Monday. Everything necessary that needs to be replaced has been replaced. As a result of the leaked oil seal, the timing belt was bathed in engine oil. Since it had to be replaced, decided to also replace the water pump as per 60k km timing belt package replacement though mine is only due in another 10k km. Coolant was renewed and EO topped up. When i went over in the late evening to collect my ride, w/s detected another problem - the coolant reservoir tank is cracked and coolant leaked out. Think this could be due to engine overheated when the radiator cracked last month. As a temporary measure, had the tank glued till i get the part later this week. Seems the usual stockists don't have stock. Called up Alpine and they have the part ($30). Intend to buy it and get the tank replaced. As my ride crossed the 5-year mark, i expect some more parts to be replaced. Guess this is inevitable with a high mileage ride (170k km) like mine. Drive safely..

$38 inclusive of installation??
cheerS broS...hari raya cming soon..

starstruck96 wrote:$38 inclusive of installation??
cheerS broS...hari raya cming soon..

I paid $38 with installation for my Optra. Not sure of Aveo's price though but shouldn't be much difference.