Originally Posted by fishbust

Well then, so much for removing the intake manifold. LOL.

Great job Endeka and for refusing to give up!

Originally Posted by Endeka

Alright guys; I did it. I did it without removing the intake, because I was feeling stubborn, using the video's instructions. That video is SEVERELY deficient in a couple areas. Honestly, it took me about an hour to do it (not counting the hour I wasted last night trying to figure out what was going on), but no joke, I could do it again in 25 minutes knowing what I know now.

The problem with the video is really twofold. First, that the insertion of the socket is harder than he makes it out to be; that foam hose I indicated has to be pulled up the firewall till its almost out of the bracket on the back of the fuel rail, then the ratchet will go in where it needs to. Once it's back there, it goes on the sender almost by magic; it's the only thing that sticks up in that area.

Second, and this was far more heinous of an oversight, I'm 6'3", and the guy that made that video must literally be the size of my shoe to have gotten even one finger into that hole. Not only couldn't I do it, but my 7% body fat fitness-freak wife couldn't get more than two fingers down there, and went back inside saying "I can't believe there's someone on earth who can get their hand in that space." I needed a new game plan. The silver bullet, that makes it all happen, is a set of these:

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog

(I got a MUCH cheaper set at Tru-Value, since its right down the road, and I don't anticipate needing them frequently).

With these, extracting the dropped old sensor, and plugging in the wire all took 10 minutes. That was the breakthrough that made the whole thing work. Here's a run-down of what I did:

1. Mark the new pressure sensor with a strip of bright, high visibility nail polish, or white-out, on the region where the clip attaches. This will help you figure out how to attach the clip once the sensor is inside.

2.

3. Then, use a coat hanger to grab the tab of the wire and pull it off. This took 5 seconds on the first try. The wire connects high up, so you don't even need to worry about losing the end down there. Just drag it up and out of the way.

4. Take a half inch drive ratchet, and connect it directly to a ten-inch extension, connected to a 1/2" wobble, connected to a 1&1/16" deep socket. Insert the socket that cranny, maneuver it down, and into the region of the sensor it went right on for me, after about a minute. It might be helpful to take the socket off the wobble, and push that down and towards the passenger side, until you get the end past that PCV hose, then carefully re-attach the wobble and push the socket down the rest of the way. Like I said, it went right on after 1-2 quick re-seatings. You'll know you've got it when you feel resistance.

5. Pull the assembly out. Be careful that the socket chain doesn't break, but if it does, you can easily grab the pieces with the pliers I showed above, since the mess of wires there landed everything I dropped on the lip with the oil pressure sensor, all 6-7 times I dropped it. Maybe it's possible for the chain to fall into the abyss, but it never did while I was doing it. Now that I know what stress it can take, I wouldn't lose it again.

6. Since, as we established, you have to be literally 4 feet tall to be able to reach the socket into its place with your fingers, I suggest you grab it with the pliers and get it started. Alternately, you can do what I stupidly did before I bought the pliers, which was to pack the 1&1/16" socket about 1/3 full with very tightly packed (rammed down with a screw-driver) toilet paper, and then seat the new pressure sensor on top of that, so that the threads just stick out the bottom, but no part of the hex bolt part of the sensor does. I also made a loop of single-sided scotch tape, with the sticky side out (like you'd use to affix a birthday card to a package) that was the size of the metal hex-part of the sensor, and stuck it inside the tip of the ratchet. This held the sensor in so it didn't drop out (the sticky part never touched the sensor, it was just the added size of the tape made the fit of the sensor in the socket much more snug). However, even though I didn't do it this way when I did it, the pliers should work much, much easier.

7. Insert the ratchet chain (with the sensor in the tip, if not already inserted). Find the hole by trial and error (took about 2 minutes of shuffling around), and tighten down. Again, you'll know you've cracked it when it gets tight.

8. pull the assembly off. It should come right off if you didn't load the socket with all that crap like I did, but if you did, the pliers will bring it up in as many pieces as are left down there, in seconds. It took me 1 minute to extract it.

9. Look at the new, seated sensor. Look for your mark. If you can't see it, it's in a very small, 30° region that is not visible, and that region is where the clip goes. Now situate your wire accordingly so it is in the right position to go on. Then, (and this is important), if you want to get the wire on easily, don't grab it by the plastic parts (any of them); grab it by the wire directly above the plastic plug. That will give you the firmest hold and the best position to shove it in. I was able to re-insert it in about 45 seconds.

Remove your tools, push that PCV pipe back down to where it was (just to be safe), and fire her up. Fixed!

Final note: If the pliers were the MVP of this job, this was a close second:



Take the mini-maglite, pull the top off and put it aside (not on the bottom). Then tie dental floss, twine or similar around the string hole in the end, and tie the other end to the oil filler cap, or anything else convenient. Then you can stick it or dangle it wherever you need. Excellent light for this job, though I strongly suggest attempting the job outside, during the day. You can't beat the sun's overpowering, diffuse light with anything that plugs into your house.

In summary:

Removing the wiring harness and securing it: seconds.

figuring out how to get the socket in the hole-1 hour 30 minutes, but mostly because of timidity and being unfamiliar with the LS1's layout.

Removing the old sensor-about 10 minutes.

Packing the socket to deliver the new sensor, and getting it in-about 15 minutes.

Re-attaching the wiring harness-seconds.

So you're looking at like a half hour job tops, if you don't make the mistakes I made. Sorry for no pics, it was abysmally dark when I did this, but if it ever goes up again, I'll use my Go-Pro Hero 2 to make an HD video with no cut-outs that illustrates what the original video did, but in much more detail, and without glitzing over the parts that are actually hard. I'll save taking the intake off for when I get the fast LSX intake.

Originally Posted by vettebk

Tony's Corvette Shop in Maryland did the oil pressure sensor in my 2000 C5 57K miles yesterday in about 90 minutes. Used that thin wall socket and had no problems. No need to remove the intake.

Ed did the actual wrench-work and he is very skilled at Corvette repair.

Originally Posted by ftroop211

I live in MO and they want $385.00 to change it. My problem now is a hose in the way it goes to back end of drivers side valve cover and i'm afraid of ruining it try to get it off it feels like a plastic line wrapped in foam housing. Can't figure how to take it loose .

Originally Posted by cadillac531

It really is so much easier to get the manifold out of the way.

You can then get your sending unit socket and ratchet or wrench in there so much easier and you can be assured it's sealed when you're tightening it up.

Just my .02.

Originally Posted by cadillac531

I just changed out the oil pressure sensor in this new 98 I just acquired. I will tell you that it is so much easier to remove the manifold than it is to fight with no space to work for the sender.

I was going to go the "Not Remove Manifold" way, but when I saw how tight it was, I figured I would just remove the manifold. Since the manifold is sealed with o rings, there's not conventional gaskets you have to worry about. It really is so much easier to get the manifold out of the way.

You can then get your sending unit socket and ratchet or wrench in there so much easier and you can be assured it's sealed when you're tightening it up.

Just my .02.

Originally Posted by ftroop211

Thank you Mr Cad guess it sounds easy and best to remove intake, it just looks like a lot of work, will give it a try, keeping fingers crossed

Originally Posted by bow tie guy

https://www.amazon.com/General-Motor.../dp/B008Y8UF6Y

Guys if you use the part numbers for the PCV hose assm. you can search google for the bargains rock auto may have a better price as well

I recall seeing this for a lot less $$ But I need to look some more, CRS you know

This is the LS6 style valley cover for PCV updates
https://www.amazon.com/Chevrolet-Per...2GMBM4CRXM7HJJ