The bronze "thingy" that sticks up out the engine behind the intake manifold on the driver's side of the distributor.. I have a round thing (bare with me, i have no idea what it is or what it does) screwed in, it looks like a wire should be attached to it.. But which wire? Is it important?

When i took my stock manifold off i took this [oil sending unit] apart and forgot about it. So how do i correct my mistake and fix it?



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'85 Trans Am 305
(My new baby)
-K&N filter -Edelbrock Performer Intake Manifold -Carter Competition Carb

'86 Camaro
2.8 MPFI
(for sale) -> needs new engine

 

it doesn't sound like your oil sending unit,The oil sending unit should be about 3.5 inches long and black,However the thing your describing might be a knock sensor,anyways theres a greenwire with a single clip on it that slides on to that .I think it might be located in the same wire loom as the O2 sensor wire...hope that helps

 

That sounds like the oil sending unit to me. Look for a wire right in the area of the sensor. As far as important, no ones gonna die here but the sensor does tell you your oil pressure or more importantly when you have none(oil pressure). BTW if your oil pressure gauge is working then I guess i'm wrong. It sure sounds like the oil sending unit to me.

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iso 91/92 camaro. 96Z M6 subframe connectors, boxed trailing arms, tubular panhard rod, BMR stb, SS rims, 6 point cage, other misc. debris

 

i think you're talking about the fail safe sensor(forgot what it's called)this sensor tells the ecm if there's oil pressure--if no oil pressure then the car won't start. The oil pressure sending unit is on the driver side of the block towards the back.

 

On an 85 that is definitely the oil pressure sending unit. It should be mounted on a tube extending out of the block. There is a flat connector sticking out one end of the sender and the other end is threaded into a square block on the extension tube.

The wire to the connector has a round black boot that slips over and makes a waterproof connection. It may have fallen down onto the transmission bellhousing.

 

Ya, sleeper... You described it exactly.

So, I tried to start my caar without the wire attached to it.. And i had to gun the engine just to keep it running. Is this because i didn't have the wire connected or because i had the timing off?

 

thats true of the 90 or 91-up, but in the late 80's they had a 2 wire sending unit down by the oil filter and a 1 wire canister looking thing next to the distributer. In the 90's they eliminated that and added a third wire to the unit down by the filter.

 

My brother's 87 TPI motor had a sender down by the filter (2 wires, weatherpack connector) and a 1-wire jobbie next to the distributor. The one-wire unit ran the guage and had nothing to do with the ECM near as I can tell. The other one down by the filter tied in with the fuel pump circuit somehow. No pressure = no juice to the fuel pump.

Anywho, if the engine would not stay running it has nothing to do with the oil pressure sending unit up by the distributor. And if you didn't have the sending unit screwed into the brass adapter fitting it would have spewed mountains of oil as soon as the engine fired up.



[This message has been edited by Damon (edited July 23, 2001).]

 

Ya, It did spew oil all over.

And.. I didn't have any emmisions hoses hooked up? Could that be why the car wouldn't stay running?

It would start. But I had to gun it to keep it running.

 

First off it sounds like you have your oil pressure sensor screwed back in. As for the car not idling with out the emissions equipment hooked up that is simple.
YOU HAVE VACCUM LEAKS.
If you want to get rid of all that crap you are going to have to trace the vaccum lines and make sure they are all plugged. All the emissions crap on an 85 is electro-mechanical-vaccum controlled and is a huge pain in the *** . Just throwing it all away while it is a big pain to trace everything is much easier in the long run.

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84 Z28 383
Stripped w/Cage back halved w/ladder bars and coil overs and 9 inch
700R-4 3.73