I have a '92 RS w/ a V-6: it started leaking oil terribly last night, and today I noticed that there is oil coming out of the sending unit next to the oil filter. The wiring harness to that sending unit is unplugged and the inside of the sending unit (where the cable plugs in) is full of oil. What does this mean, will it not leak oil when I plug it back on, or does the sending unit need replacing? Thanks!

 

If your oil gauge had been reading at all before, chances are the oil blew off the wiring harness. Definitely needs a new sending unit.

 

Okay, I just installed a new oil pressure switch (sending unit), and re-connected the wiring harness onto it. Now the engine turns over but won't start. I didn't disconnect any cables, and nothing looks out of place. A few weeks ago the fuel pump fuse had blown, could that have blown again all of a sudden? It started earlier today, before I changed the oil pressure switch. Thanks for continued help!

(By the way, this car has a little over 200,000 miles on it, and we've been replacing a lot of components since I acquired it for my son 8 months ago.)

 

Good news, I just found the fuse for the fuel pump/oil presure switch... it was blown and now it isn't -runs great again! Thanks!

 

I may be a little late, but depending on the year, after a certain point, fuel pumps run off of the presence of oil pressure, and if the oil pressure sending unit was messed up, it probably blew the fuse when the oil blew the connection apart. It's actually a really clever idea. The fuel pump only runs on the computer for about 3-5 seconds, and from there opertates on the oil pressure sending unit. When the pressure drops too far, the fuel pump relay cuts off.

May not be much use now, but at least this will help you understand why that happened.