3.6 Pentastar oil pressure sender woes.....

By the way there are updated seals for the upper and lower intake gaskets. If they are white that are throw away, not to be reused at all. If they are blue they can be reused. This is as per Mopar. I myself always replace them what ever color they are. Don't want to have a do over.

well shoot, the uppers and lowers were white but both were proud of the mounting plane so they still had some spring in them. Now the cooler O-rings were as flat and hard as rocks so they were definately ready to be replaced. Got it all back together and the code came back, took the NEW sender out and put the junkyard one in and it worked like a charm. I am the master at doing these senders in the minivan now. I did the entire R&R in about 5 minutes. The correct socket is key, deep 1 1/4 that fits over the socket (mine was a GM Mr Goodwrench) and a 6" extension. Grease the outside of the socket as it seems to ride on the water hose in there and it really creates an artificial drag. I used some long nosed pliers and removed the plug (the hardest part) put the socket on the old one and removed. Put working sensor in socket (tape the threads or put some sealant on them) and work it back into the threads and tighten to 15 ft/lbs. put plug back on and your ready to reset code and cross fingers.

I also found a knock sensor with a broken plug, the slot the wire bale lock rides in was broken so I zip tied it, Mickey Mouse! You can see all the crap I had to suck out of there with the funnel-vac. It was piled higher than this sensor wire! That all aluminum replacement cooler assembly is ~$350.

pishta said:

That all aluminum replacement cooler assembly is ~$350.

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not that much if you look around a bit.

Dorman 926-876
$166 at Summit
$200 at Oreily's
$238 at Advanced

But the water/oil Cooler block assembly changed in 2014 so it technically doesn't fit your 2012 without updating to the newer cooler.

F me running.....The whole cooler assembly is trash. Upon reinstalling it after I replaced the knock sensor plug and installed blue gasket O-rings. I determined the black plastic base was warped (common from the aluminum Dorman replacement product site) , I could see light under the cooler stack. I removed the metal cooler stack and the 4 O-rings were as flat as the housing so there was very little compression left in them. Tried to work with what I had and put it all back together and now the thing is leaking water pretty good down there. I found a brand new one on Ebay in LA so its only a 4 day delivery time. Brand new assembly, including the 2 sensors AND the oil filter cartridge! I've had this intake off so many times I may as well put a zipper on it. Got it down to about 20 minutes with all the tools on hand. So to be clear the housing actually has 10 O-rings: 4 set in the base, one external around the oil stub, 4 under the metal cooler and one on top of the removeable plate on the bottom. 2 clips and some prying will pop it out but I doubt that one ever goes bad. Mine is leaking under the metal cooler stack to the base. Those 4 gaskets are 1/2 as much as an entire new housing.


or just an entire new one

I JUST did this in November.... Mine is leaking again, but not as catastrophically as before. You're faster than me, my fastest time all back together was just under 60min. Looks like i'll get one more chance at a new personal record.

20 minutes to remove it. I aint a pit crew member! If you need the $14 base gaskets, let me know. Mine are still new.

Thanks for the offer on gaskets! I already had a set and not knowing what I needed i ended up getting a new cooler (no body) which came with another set except for the o-ring which was very odd.

The last fix (October 2021), i retrofitted the aluminum housing which required a 14+ cooler, and filter cap as well. For The new housing, you are supposed to swap the sensors and cooler onto the new body. I got it apart this time in just under 20min including dealing with a broke injector plug lock tab. Inspection after disassembly the valley was NOT full, but oil was all over transmission. I was initially guessing the pressure switch spraying that direction. Turns out there was oil between the body and cooler that could only have got there if those gaskets were leaking and some of the bolts were 'loose'. The left side bolt holes are not as deep as the right side and the distance between the screw head (when bottomed out) and body is larger than the cooler flange is ;-/. Bought the next available size shorter bolts (M6 1.0 x 10mm) and reassembled with a dab of loctite.

Might want to check that molded brake booster vacuum line. Mine is about ready to break right where it goes onto the manifold nipple. I probably got too heavy handed it with it when i pulled it off last IDK. Might be heat/age related also considering its right next to the heater Y hose that i replaced 2 years ago. Either way definitely not one that you want to leak.

if someone wants to retrofit the 14+ style housing, i have a nearly new cooler ;-)

pishta said:

Victory! I went to the boneyard and grabbed a crusty one off a wrecked '06 Commander (right in front on block), plugged it in and got more or less correct voltages in circuit, ie .26 or something KOEO. Drove it a few miles...no codes. So the OEM stuff off a junker is better than the new aftermarket stuff....again!
Maybe a word of advice: When you buy a new car or truck, maybe the first thing you should do to the motor is unplug every weather-tight sensor one at a time and put some silicone grease in each one so they actually come off when you need them to instead of snapping the plug retention or breaking the F'n lock tabs! Some of these are near impossible to unplug without a pair of pliers.

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I've had issues there....

pishta said:

F me running.....The whole cooler assembly is trash. Upon reinstalling it after I replaced the knock sensor plug and installed blue gasket O-rings. I determined the black plastic base was warped (common from the aluminum Dorman replacement product site) , I could see light under the cooler stack. I removed the metal cooler stack and the 4 O-rings were as flat as the housing so there was very little compression left in them. Tried to work with what I had and put it all back together and now the thing is leaking water pretty good down there. I found a brand new one on Ebay in LA so its only a 4 day delivery time. Brand new assembly, including the 2 sensors AND the oil filter cartridge! I've had this intake off so many times I may as well put a zipper on it. Got it down to about 20 minutes with all the tools on hand. So to be clear the housing actually has 10 O-rings: 4 set in the base, one external around the oil stub, 4 under the metal cooler and one on top of the removeable plate on the bottom. 2 clips and some prying will pop it out but I doubt that one ever goes bad. Mine is leaking under the metal cooler stack to the base. Those 4 gaskets are 1/2 as much as an entire new housing.
View attachment 1715858012

or just an entire new one
View attachment 1715858013

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Man, I'm having issues with my 3.7 , that the Pent replaced. If you're going through all this, I need to flip my truck and go back to the 90s... You're a Damn Good Mechanic. I've been following this thread, and the **** give put up with, and dealt with on that engine is impressive... sorry for rant. Seriously Man, there Is no way I could deal with that. It seems way to technically advanced, not to mention tedious.. Great Read here! Thank You!

UPDATE>>> we got the cooler in and running (the torque specs on that cooler are pretty tight!) and no leaks so far. The unit I took off could have possible been not torqued to spec (~108 inch lbs!) but that didnt explain the inches of oil and coolant from the last one. Anyway, the new unit ($50 on ebay free shipping!) came with new sensors so I said what the hell and installed them as is (the oil pressure is now serviceable with an extension and my socket procedure , no problem) BUT (and this is a big but.....) now I got a code 128. I was about to pull my hair out if it were the oil pressure code but this one is coolant temp not up to 160 in 15 minutes or something like that. I was looking at the temp gauge and its only about 1/4-1/3 up the scale and its usually right at the middle. I reset the code (128 and 128PD) and hope it wont come back but perhaps the crappy new sender that came with the housing is not the right range? I did save the old one but almost rounded the flats trying to get it out, that thing was on tight! This has new coolant in it as I had to drain the rad at the petcock to replace the cooler. The temp sender is NOT serviceable from the side as its at an upward angle so if this thing has to come apart again, I'm not gonna be happy although I can do it in my sleep now but I'm not sure how many more cycles are left in the injector plugs. What a clustertruck!
>> I also marked the 25NM torque spec on the 15/16 hex oil filter top to body with a pen so I can make sure its close but not over. wouldnt want to crack the new one<<

pishta said:

I can do it in my sleep now but I'm not sure how many more cycles are left in the injector plugs.

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That is EXACTLY what i was thinking... "NO way am I going to do this again, so I'll use this AL body in it so it doesn't warp and cause issues". see how well that turned out for me.