oil pressure sender and other woes

[Deep]

This was originally posted by another user, but I fucked it up. Here's the original post,

I am currently the owner of a 89 Corolla DX with the 4af engine, with a little over 120k on the clock. My first and foremost concern is the fact that the little idiot light on the dash indicating low oil pressure comes on at idle and slightly above after the car has had a chance to warm up. THis only started recently, and my first thought was to replace the oil pressure sender, so with the part in hand I am unable to find the sender unit. I found a couple of canidates, but when i pulled the wire to them i was still able to get the oil light to go out with my foot on the gas, so I would really appreciate it if anyone could tell me where I might find this thing, and if i need to put some sort of sealing compound on the threads of the new one. My engine doesn't sound any differn't/worse, so I'm just hoping that the sensor failed. Another thing, the car continues to lope erratically when the key is turned off, as well as the air cleaner becomes filthy in a very short amount of time. Both problems started well before the oil light, so I'm hoping they're just seperate incidences that I've just been too lazy to fix. Any help would be appreciated, I'm getting ready to try to sell this thing to my brother for $400 as his first car, I have a mint condition 87 nova sitting out in the garage awaiting my arrival. Thanks

John

[|PuNiSh3R|]

The oil pressure switch is behind the alternator on the block.. The alt. harness has a line that connects to the OP switch output.. It's gonna be hard to pull the switch.. ur gonna have to remove the alt and a bracket that is over the switch.. You can see the switch in plain view though.
I would recommend sticking some high temp silicon sealant, the gray stuff, on the threads for good measure.. don't over-do it though so you don't get it into your oil system. Just a tiny bit is all.

I would recommend checking something first... see if you HAVE OIL IN YOUR GOD DAMN ENGINE! When you press the gas the oil pump speeds up and therefor generates more pressure.. the OP switch needs 5PSI to turn the light off.. 5PSI and under grounds the switch and causes the light to come on. You should seriously check your oil level.

The car "lopes" after you turn it off? As in it continues to sputter, as in dieseling? That is what we call it when the engine continues to sputter n fuck on after the ignition is killed. The reason the filter probably gets dirty so quick is because when it diesels it usually blasts out a shitload of gas/oil whatever is in the manifold, back-fires it out of the carb when the engine stops dieseling.

The dieseling could be caused by a lot of things.. do you notice any other driving issues? Lost power.. stuttering.. rough idle.. poor top speed.. strong or black exhaust fumes?

[toyotaspeed90]

if you need, i will have a spare 4af/e oil pressure sensor.....
the gts gauges need the 4a-ge oil pressure sensor

[|PuNiSh3R|]

Ah.. the GT-S has the little insert gauge off the side by the clock.. which have the OP and um.. what else? I forget the other gauge.. the sr5 has the oil light and the door open light in that spot.. I haven't found anything to mount in that spot (yet).. but I pulled that dickshit display out.. put the GTS gauge in place of my SR5 cluster.. I put the oil pressure switch on the CEL.. everything else is the same.. I need to do some work tonite.. get the Charge battery light wired in.. get the Door Ajar light working and the seatbelt light working again.. I WAS going to put an O2 sensor LED gauge in the place of the sr5 oil/door open gauge.. but I do not believe this gadget that my friend made for me will work with my carbs.. I suppose because EFI cycles rich/lean and carbs are just steady or whatever

[bigredtint]

In response to the question about the quality of ride, I bought the car 6 months ago for $500, so I really have no point of refernce, it's always been pretty slow to accelerate, had a decent top speed of about 70ish (after which point it starts to shake violently, the exaust smells kinda sweet/fumy, you know how your car smells like when it first starts on a cold day, well the exaust leak kinda puts that into the cabin, so I am distinctly aware of it if i let the air come in from the outside. So in summery it runs fine (I think), runs fine, smootly, is just a little slow, and yes there is plenty of oil, it leaks so I check it weekly (more problems). Anyhow, I just got off work, I'm a little disjointed, people are dumb in retail...ok, anyhow, the car, the help is appreciated.

[|PuNiSh3R|]

The shake is probably shot inner tie-rod(s).. slow to accelerate and only a top speed of 70ish.. more clues as to why it is dieseling.. You should be able to pull atleast 90.. Could just be running pretty darn rich.. or lean.. I think your best bet would be to head over to a garage n have them run an exhaust gas analyzer test on it and find out what is going on with that.. Get the exhaust leak fixed as well.. it won't cost that much.

[toyotaspeed90]

the exhaust leak could be a bad cat.....

[|PuNiSh3R|]

Could be.. I know what that's like.. The flanges get so rusty that after I removed my stock cat to gut it.. putting it back on was useless.. there was a leak at the rusted to hell flanges.