Oil temperature sensor question

Technical Area Engine, Transmission, Exhaust etc
1

Quick question. I’ve just installed an oil temp sensor, as seen below:

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It’s a sensor that sits inside a sump plug, so there’s potential leak points. It doesn’t leak, but I’d much rather replace the whole thing with a sensor that’s the same size as the sump plug (M14x1.5 thread).

I’ve found one, but the electrical connector looks like this:

How would this hold up with road surface water? If you look above, my existing sensor has built in wires with water resistant connectors, but this one has an open connection (the ground wire doesn’t exist as it grounds itself on the sump).

If water got on this, would it short at all? I’d be using an insulated spade connector so it’ll be somewhat water resistant, but not massively.

Any help would be great!

Cheers

2

Coat it with grease/Vaseline??

3

It’s going to get very hot though…

4

Not much more than 100c
Brake grease should do it

Failing that, coat it with silicone sealant

Btw, Motorbikes have exposed connectors that get very wet, eg horn and they don’t short

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5

It’s a track car so the oil will get very hot, and I’d need to disconnect the electrical connector to remove the plug to change the oil. Some nice ideas though.

That’s interesting about the bike connectors. The way I’m thinking is that it can’t short much due to the fact that there’s only one connector, so I’d assume it would be fine? It grounds itself out on the pan, so I just needed to confirm that it would be fine.

6

Hmm, a couple of suggestions based on items I’ve used in the past, but I’ve not found specific current examples that will fit, partly because I don’t know the diameter of the insulator stub.

  1. Adhesive-lined heat-shrink sleeve protecting a wire tail going to a standard waterproof automotive connector tied back to a safer cooler less exposed place, the sump plug will never reach the shrink temperature.

  2. A standard connector boot, same idea as a satellite dish type but smaller, however it might not survive the temperatures and there might not be enough insulator stub to hold it on.

I’m sure there are other solutions, and it all depends on environment and how long you want it to last.

1 Like
7

That’s not a bad idea, an insulated spade connector with shrink wrap covering the join of the wire. That’s pretty much all I can think of at the moment.

Thanks both, I’ll see what I can do!