GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hey,

I have a 2003 Vibe Base with about 185K miles. My Vibe just developed a somewhat bad oil leak through the oil pressure sending sensor, just above the oil filter. They have a direct replacement part at Advance Auto, but the video I watched on Youtube was for a Toyota Corolla, and the guy had to pull the radiator to change the sensor. Has anyone succeeded in changing out that sensor without pulling the radiator? Did you just use an adjustable wrench, or is their a certain wrench size that fits over the nut-end. Mine looks to have a good bit of corrosion and baked on oil in the head - and I could't get it to turn just grabbing it with a channel-lock. Any suggestions or thoughts appreciated.

Dave

I changed mine with an open end wrench, I† was easy, and †ook less than five minutes.

Ok - thanks - I like to know if its possible before I skin my knuckles. I'll give it a go with the radiator in place.

Dave

For anybody that stumbles on this thread in the future, it wasn't too hard

- You don't have to pull the radiator out
- The wire clip is pretty easy to release - press hard on the flat spot of the connector and pull
- A 15/16" deep socket, with about a 3" extension on socket got the old pressure switch out in no time
- For reasons not completely understood, the new switch needed a 7/8" deep socket to thread it in
- It doesn't drip oil super-fast when you pull the old sensor out, so its not like you loose a lot
- If you just drove a few miles home with the new pressure switch, everything is really hot when you bump your hand or arm against it.


I was a little unsure how deep to tighten the new pressure switch in - I tightened it to the point where I felt a some increase in resistance, and its not leaking, but I don't know if I could have/should have gone deeper.

Total price - $11.

The actual sizes will be metric for the tools

good point - my metric deep sockets only went up to 19mm, my non-metrics up to 1"