oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

Skimming all this, it seems you're getting better advice than the dealer gave you, and things are good now.

Your car has an oil level sensor + instrument panel warning light. If that's working, it should alert you when the oil level drops below the low mark on the dipstick. Completely separate from the oil pressure sensor. You might want to make sure that's working. It could be very helpful if you've got a bad oil leak.

If doing the AT pan gasket yourself, you might want to spend the money you're saving by doing that to also replace the AT filter (more of a screen, actually) inside the AT, and maybe the AT mount (12371-50010 for my '91) too while you're down there. Only if you need those things, of course.

GrubLife

Sorry youre going through all of this. But im glad you know all the issues and theyre being fixed! Hope the car serves you well!

lexslexus

Thanks for the tips and recommendations! Before seeing this, I already purchased an ATP transmission filter kit ( ). When I was reading the tutorial to do this, one thing wasn't clear. How do I reconnect the dipstick tubes to each other?

Also, how do I check that the oil level sensor is working? I think it is but I'm not sure. I did some research and supposedly it is common for the warning lights that I had to come on when the engine shuts off abruptly.

Banshee365

Yes, when the engine is off with the key on there is no oil pressure, the alternator isn't charging, and many things in the engine aren't happy so it shows the check engine light as well as the oil pressure and battery light. This is normal if the engine were to shut off without turning off the key.

Regarding the dipstick tube. It's a PITA when you try it for the first time. The upper half is secured to the head with a 12mm head bolt. Remove the dipstick and set it aside and then remove that bolt. I use a flex gear wrench for this. With the bolt removed just twist back and forth on the upper tube while pulling. Try to keep a straight pull as a bind will make your life difficult, pull straight up. The lower tube stays on the pan. This makes dropping the pan a little more difficult.

Also, because of the lower half welded into the pan, it's a tight fit for the front corners of the pan to clear the exhaust bracket that connects the rear of the cats to the transmission bell housing. You have to do a little fiddling to clear one side then the other side is easy. Don't do all Conan the Barbarian with it. Nice and easy. Be patient. After you drain the fluid, if you reinstall the plug to push your drain pan aside, fluid will continue to drain into the pan while you're removing the bolts and such. For this reason when you are working on clearing those front corners with the back of the pan dropped you're going to have a bit more fluid pour out of the pan. Have your drain pan under at least the rear of the pan at all times unless you want a huge mess.

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

The light for the oil level sensor comes on when you first turn the key to ON, just like all the other lights do - just so you can see that the lights work, then a second or so later, they turn off if there is nothing to warn about. So the oil level light typically goes off (since oil level is above the threshold), but the oil pressure light stays on (since the engine is not turning and there is no oil pressure). Check your owner's manual to see where the level light is, and watch for that.

As far as checking whether the sensor that turns the light on is working, you probably need to actually have your level drop to make that happen. My light has come on a couple of times, flickering, when I let the level get too low. Both times it happened, I was impressed to notice that the dipstick was exactly at the low mark. So I guess next time you do an oil change, or let it drop below the low mark on the dipstick, the light should be on.