Soooo I recently got a 1994 4.0L Cherokee, which I absolutely love.

Its my first vehicle in a long time, and I've got the intention to learn everything I can about working on it and maintenance in general. (Mind you, I know very little about vehicle maintenance as it is)

When I first got the vehicle a in February, I had it inspected at a mechanic, they did a bunch of work, changed fluids, etc. Running great, No noticeable leaks after that point.

Last week, I went ahead and decided to change my oil because I had already put 3k miles on it since purchase. I've changed oil on a vehicle once, and watched a few youtube vids, pretty straight forward, so I had an idea of what I was doing.
Until I realized I had been cranking the oil filter the wrong way to try to get it off, which I didn't realize until the next day when I had a friend come assist me with some channel locks 🤦

Basically when I was trying to get the filter off myself, cranking it the wrong way, I think I broke my oil pressure gauge on my dash. It doesn't move at all and is resting all the way to the right.

After getting my oil filter off the next day and doing the actual change, I put the new filter on (made sure the previous rubber seal was still on the oil filter to avoid double sealage) and tightened it hand tight.

Since then, my gauge still does not work and I've been noticing a leak under the front end closer to where the filter is.

Would a busted oil pressure sensor cause the leak? Or could I have cranked the oil filter too far in the wrong direction to mess something else up to cause the leak? Both?

 

YEP!

 

yes, the pressure sensor or sender is located next to the filter. it should have a wire connected to it, make sure wire is secured, and that the wire is not broken, as that can cause the gage to not work.

the leak, well that could be the pressure sensor, if hit or bent, that could cause the sensor to leak, the fix is a new sensor. beware, the sensor uses a tapered thread, also known as a pipe thread. this means that when tightening, the thread never bottoms out, thus it is very easy to over tighten. do to the tapered design of the thread portion, where the upper threads are larger diameter than the lower threads, if you turn the sensor too much tight (remember the threads will not bottom out, you will not feel the threads stop when tightening) if you turn too tight, the taper or wedge shape of the threads will split the hole that you are turning the sensor into, i.e. you will crack the casting on the engine! So make sure if you have never replaced a tapered thread part before to ask a knowledgable person to assist, it is very easy to give a tapered thread one turn too much, and the casting cracks! use extreme caution here

Of course the leak could be from somethingelese, such as loose oil filter, oil filter gasket problem, etc.... but sensors do leak between the metal and plastic parts of it, specially if it got bonked hard.

Good luck, keep us posted on progress.

 

You would not be the first person to give that sensor a fatal whack while changing the oil.


The good news is, they aren't expensive or difficult to replace.