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How To: Replace the Oil Pressure Sensor (5.7L V8)

138K views 36 replies 20 participants last post by  britton95624  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well, I started my car today to find the code P0520 coming up with my check engine light, so, I looked on here and discovered it was the oil pressure switch that was causing the aforementioned code.

There was no real how-to on this, so I might as well make it.

Part Number 05149062AA at the local stealership will run you about 56 bucks. I dunno where else to find it, and I like using Mopar parts.

So, the sensor is located behind the alternator....which means you have to drop the alt if you want to get at it, which is a kinda big pain in the ass, but not too hard.

You'll need your basic tools, as well as a breaker bar, in order to loosen the tension on the drive belt.

-Disconnect your battery, we'll be dealing with the altenator here....

-Start off by jacking up your front end, and place your jackstands appropriately, you're going to be under the car for quite a while.

-Remove the oil pan cover, and then take off the front most plastic cover under the car for ease of access to the alt and oil pressure switch.


-Prop your hood with your custom PVC irrigation prop rod if your gas struts are shot like mine are
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From this point you really cant even see the dang switch we're replacing, but trust me, it's in there.

-Take the belt off the alternator by placing a 3/8ths inch breaker bar into the square hole in the bottom of the belt tensioner, and turning it clockwise. Reach over and slide the belt off the alt. I don't have a little breaker bar so i just used my socket wrench with a hunk of pipe on it for torque.

-I pulled off my intake tube and airbox cover to access the belt better.

-Take the bolts out of the alternator, there are 3, all 15mm.I removed the bottom 2 bolts on the alt first, to keep it from falling on my face while I was under there. Then remove the top bolt, and slide that heavy sucker out of the way. (i have no idea who designs this crap, i could see no way to pull the alternator out of the engine bay without removing the radiator hose or something equally stupid.)
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-disconnect the plug and wire from the back of the altenator I would double check to make sure you disconnected the battery at this point...there's nothing like a big scary arc of electricity to make this fun experience into a dangerous one!

-Now you can see the stupid switch, from the bottom only though. It's the white thing with the plug hanging next to it. Remoig the plug was a pain, you need to slide the little red tab out to be able to pull it off.
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-Once you have it unplugged, its time to get creative with extensions and wrench adapters, haha. You'll need a fat socket to get this thing off. its a 1 and 1/16" bolt, and it'll need to be a deep socket. I use harbor freight deep impact sockets because i know i wont break em by hand, and I have no impact wrenches.
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-Turn the wrench for what seems like an eternity, then turn some more, eventually it''ll come out. Old compared to new. You can see the old one was weeping a bit.
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-After that, put the new sensor into the little hole, and again, tighten it for what seems like an eternity, evntually it'll be all snug.

-Once you got that in, plug her back in! I broke the clip while doing this...hope that isnt too big of a problem....so be careful.

- all plugged in! You can see the alt just propped up above where I was working.
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Now, reverse your procedure!

-Replace the plug and wire on the back of the alt
-Screw the alt into place (i started with the top bolt)
-Replace the belt onto the alt by using the same procedure as above
-Replace your airbox, intake tube, and IAT sensor
-Replace all the stupid plastic covers under the car, blah blah blah.
-Remove jack stands
-Smile

I think thats about it. I accidently started the car without the IAT sensor so it threw a P0113 code at me, but I reconnected it.

My car no longer has the P0520 code, and all seems to be well...

Except that my bellhousing seems to be leaking...oh jeeze.
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If I missed anything, I'll add it in later. I hope you all find this helpful, i wish i had a good step by step guide to doing this, it would have taken half the time.

I took about 2 hours to get this done.
 
#35 ·
I realize that I'm resurecting this thread after almost a year, but I wanted to extend a big thank you to the OP for taking the time to document this process as well as everyone else that has contributed. It was invaluable and made my life a lot easier today. My P0520 code and check engine light are now gone :) I'm just hoping that it stays gone. Fingers crossed!
 
#36 ·
Had my mechanic change mine when he did the brake upgrade. Since I retired, my wife allows me to take it to a great independent mechanic. I used to do ALL our car repairs. But I'm really, really TIRED of laying on the concrete to get to things. And my indy mechanic does great work for a fair price.