2000 olds silhouette oil leak

Joined: Aug 25, 2009 Posts: 2

I was driving my constant pain in the ass silouette the other day all of a sudden oil was spraying up my rear window and the low oil pressure light came on and bells were ringing. Upon pulling over I saw oil dripping from what at the time I thought the starter area...I filled up with oil and made it home what ever was leaking was just above the starter solenoid and appaer to be a sensor going into the block..I had to use a mirror and a flashlight to actually see the sensor, GM must have built the engine and van around the sensor.. My delema is does anyone out there know if I can remove and replace this without disassembly or removing the starter? I might add it only appears to be the culprit because it is directly above the starter and the only other componet that has oil on it..Any help with this would be appreciated, other than my motorcycle this is my only wheels and it's not fun riding the bike in the rain and snow...I'll wait for the laughing to die down about me owning this olds van and be on pins and needles awaiting a reply...Respects Gstring

Joined: Aug 25, 2009 Posts: 2

Ok ,lacking any response to my post I pressed on and solved my problem. Seems this a a pretty common problem with GM mini vans. The oil sending unit is available for about ten bucks at most discount part stores the diaphram in the unit just fails without warning ,spraying oil over the starter and everywhere else. The best way I found to remove it was jack up the driverside front, remove the wheel and dust covers in the wheel well, this allows light to shine over the starter for removal..disconnect the positive battery terminal, slide yourself under the van and you will see the starter, remove the dust cover where the starter goes into the bellhousing and flywheel. remove the 2 starter bolts and slide starter away from the flywheel, postion starter out of the way and you will see the oil pressure sending unit in the engine block remove the wires, and after trying numerous wrenches I found that a Inch and a sixteenth wrench was the size needed to loosen. Please note on my van I barely had to loosen it before it could be turned out by hand.

Installing the new one was a little more difficult, It is a tough angle to achieve with all the obsticals in the way , ie frame and engine block ect..

I put teflon tape on the threads of my new sending unit before installing. finally I got the threads started and it was not an easy task turning the unit into the block, After fighting the wrench at various tough angles, I finally used a large pair of channel locks to eventually snugged the sending unit in the block..I'm assuming there is probably an expensive specialty tool available that would have made my task easier.

After installing the wires to the unit, I installed the starter, dust cover re-connected the positive battery terminal and started the van to check for leaks..Installed the dust covers and the wheel lowered the van, checked the oil level and took a test drive..

the check engine light went out and remained out untill the van reminded me it was time for an oil change..LOL guess losing 4 quarts of oil and me replacing it just didn't count.. I hope my aventure is of any help to anyone in the future..