Port for the oil pressure switch. Accidentally over tightened it. Spoke to a few engine builders, they said it needs to be tig welded, JB weld will not hold. Spoke to a few welders, they said it would be too risky to weld cast aluminum potentially contaminated with oil, but to JB weld it. This is part of the block, and I spent almost $1,600 a year ago redoing the entire engine, and don't have $1,200 to replace it with another low-miles engine. But the main issue is...I'm getting tons of conflicting information on repairing this.
Seems to me you could get a sleeve or else a bolt with that fine thread and is deep or a little deeper than that hole is and put some sealer on it The good stuff and run it in there Don't kill it Just bury it and let the stuff dry and see if that will stop the oil from pushing through before you put that bolt or plug in you could put a piece of rubber I'm thinking about like tapered faucet washer type of thing that would push down in the little hole that feeds the pressure to the switch and that rubber pressing down on that hole with not a lot of pressure and some heavy duty silicone or some type of sealer to seal that up JB weld might work on the boat too but try to put a piece of rubber or something in the hole to squash down over the feed.
And then just leave it because this is just for a snap switch It just tells the system that there's lower no oil and if you're not using any oil checking it once a month you should be good That's what I would try to do because the oil switch threads aren't deep enough to go down in there to stop the flow down in the hole take your camera down and look inside that hole and you'll see what you need to do.
Bummer... My condolences to you... This will probably haunt you for a long time. I agree that any type of welding would make a skilled welder not interested due to too many variables they can't control unless it was a stripped down block on there welding table. It it were my problem I'd probably sand the surface to make it as perfectly round and smooth as possible to slight smaller than exact inside diameter of a soft metal pipe (not aluminum) like brass or something else and then cover everything in JB Weld and hammer the pipe on, which if done right will compress the crack and hold it together while the JB weld handles all the other aspects of it leaking. It might not work forever, but it could...
JB-weld it and hope for the best. The heat cycling of the engine will probably cause it to beginning leaking in a few years. Hopefully, your circumstances will change by then. Good Luck.....
Put a piece of rubber down in that hole a few millimeters thick and a long enough threaded bolt or rod to squeeze down on that rubber piece you just put in the hole You don't have to kill it with tons of torque You just want to hold the rubber against the hole It's only holding back 40 PSI coming out of a not even an 1/8-in hole
That sucks. At least you're not alone: Maybe these guys have a fix, as they sell something to fix a similar problem for Subarus: Oil Pressure Repair Kit For Subaru EJ 253 | Specialised Parts
But the main issue is...I'm getting tons of conflicting information on repairing this I bet you are. That crack can be a nightmare and there's a hundred different ideas of how to fix it. And all of them are sketchy. A big problem you'll run into is that at the end of it, you still need to install the pressure switch, which has tapered threads and will try to split it again. Aluminum can be brazed, even cast aluminum. You just need to have the right filler rod/wire and some skill. Call around to some more welding shops. If it ends up not being an option, then yeah. use something like contact cleaner and compressed air to clean the heck out of it and try JB Weld. They make several different formulas for different applications. The hard part will be forcing it into the crack along the entire length. Similar to what PC said, you can find a curved piece of metal that is a close match and will cover the entire crack, smear JBW on it and press it to the crack and clamp it in place hard to push the goo into the crack and the metal will act as a backer plate. After it cures, clean it up if needed and then see what you need to do about the crack in the face. If you want to be really ballsy, thread the sensor in after cleaning it so it spreads the crack slightly. Then goop it and it will go in a bit better, then remove the sensor so the crack pulls back down again, hopefully compressing the JBW. then clamp the curved metal in place.
I didn't realize what the guys mileage is on this car but given the age all the other factors do you actually have to plug the snap switch back in I mean it just tells the car that there's no pressure it's just on and off It's not for a gauge or anything so that could just not be there left unplugged sure you run a risk of messing up your engine if you run low on oil but you're running a 20-year-old car so I imagine you're checking your oil reasonably often so if you can just plug this hole with a threaded diameter and a piece of rubber that's a conical shape that you're threaded rod will just gently squeeze down on and make it splay out as it bottoms into the place where the pressure generally comes out that little hole I'm just thinking it might squeeze down on that enough where it will keep the oil back hell I guess if you were to clean it out with something that will clean the oil away you could use a syringe and squirt something like JBL down in there then put the conical shape piece of rubber then put the threaded diameter squeeze down onto the JB weld and push it back into the hole let it set up overnight at least and then check it in the morning. If it holds leave the pressure switch out I don't think it will affect car running.
Not sure that I would want to try and spend time fixing just making the car continue to work be more like it. Then I just find me another one and move my good parts over to it and so on like we've done a few times already.
Well, they sort of say the same thing - "it's not me, go somewhere else". You have a crack in a casting. Over time the crack will propagate (continue cracking further). The only way to actually repair that is to grind away all of the crack and fill it with (tig) weld. That's tricky with oil contamination - it's in the "pores" of the metal. Then recot the port for the switch Anything you try with JB weld will likely leak immediately. Heat, oil pressure, and the threads of the pressure switch all force the crack to spread apart. Period. I have ideas, but it would be lots of work for a bandaid repair that has a high chance of failure. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
I would try Tom’s hack first, a rubber plug lightly compressed by the sender’s male threaded end. You would lose the signal but if it’s engine out for a better solution I would try it. Gen3 Oil Sender Thread diameter about 0.360” half way Otherwise you could try the drill and tap method into the smaller engine oil passage combined with an adapter to emulate the referenced Subaru fix.
Usually you just pop those in by hand then give it a half turn with whatever it is the wrench 19 21 something . And then you just leave it because when it starts leaking it's usually not going to be from the threads even though it kind of looks like it it's usually the plastic seal where the little tang is for the electrical slide connection that seal goes bad and the oil comes out there.
