Last weekend was pretty gorgeous weather so naturally, I was excited to Bumblestook out for a top off cruise. Well, that turned out short-lived because right as I was flooring it to merge onto the highway the car immediately went into limp mode. I quickly pulled over to look under the hood and didn't see anything wrong. Nothing looked broken and I had no fluid under the car.
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| New oil pressure sender in - 6-18-2020 |
I started the car back up and it sounded fine so I eased it to the next exit where I was able to pull over in a safer area and go over the car again. I pulled the dipstick and oil was exactly where it was when we changed the oil a few weeks ago. I started the car up again and realize that the oil pressure was showing 0.09 psi. That's definitely not right. I gingerly drove the car back to the garage because the car still sounded normal and drove fine as long as I didn't try to get into VTEC. My tune is configured with protection to immediately go into limp mode if there isn't enough oil pressure read by the sensor. I didn't see the temperatures rise and if I didn't have a Haltech dash showing all my readings I would've been none the wiser. Admitted this was probably no the smartest thing to do but I know the car well and if it had sounded or felt off even the slightest bit I would've pulled over.
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| No oil pressure - 6-13-2020 |
I suspected the AEM oil pressure sender failed somehow or maybe the wires got frayed. I was only two miles from my garage so I let it sit while we took the Cayman out instead but later in the afternoon I came back checked again. Still no pressure so I started the process of removing the PasswordJDM intake so I could get to the oil pressure sender which is plugged into where the factory oil dummy switch is located just above the oil filter. There was no physical damage to the sensor itself or the wires. There was nothing else I could really do so I ordered a new AEM oil pressure sender from
tatismotorsports.com and it arrived just a few days later.
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| New AEM 30-2130-100 100PSI oil sender - 6-16-2020 |
I swapped in the new sensor today and was extremely relieved to see a pressure reading 85 PSI again at cold idle confirming my suspicion that the old sensor had just failed. I put a tiny bit of hondabond on the threads to help seal it properly so I'll need to leave it for 24 hours to let it fully dry. Also, it's important to note that the AEM oil pressure sender uses 1/8 NPT threads but block is 1/8 BSPT so you need a 1/8 female NPT to 1/8 male BSPT adapter to ensure proper fitment.
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| New oil pressure sender with 1/8 NPT to 1/8 BSPT adapter - 6-21-2020 |
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| Oil pressure reading is back to normal - 6-19-2020 |
I'll need to test the car this weekend to make sure there are no leaks after letting it run longer since we're going to be at NJMP in a week for the first track day of the season and the last thing I want are oil leaks that closer to the header.
