Which Oil Pressure Sensor To Get???

The high pressure oil pressure sensor on my 96 B4 is leaking past the blade terminal out the top of the sensor. IDParts says my car takes the grey sensor. But the leaky sensor that’s in there now is the white sensor. So should I replace it with a new white sensor? Or go with the grey sensor? The only difference I can find is that the white one is designed for double the pressure of the grey one. I’m not getting an oil pressure light in the dash nor a buzzer at the moment. I found this in one of my searches.

Blue - 0.3 BAR
Grey - 0.9 BAR
Black - 1.4 BAR
White - 1.8 BAR

I’m also running full synthetic 5w/40 T-6 Rotella oil if that makes a difference.

There's a sensor table at the end of this HOW-TO:

http://vincewaldon.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=28

and yup get the right one, or the buzzer will drive you crazy!

Thanks for that table. I guess what I’m really asking is if there is any advantage or risk in using another white sensor instead of a gray sensor like IDParts says. I’m leaning toward thinking that a 1.8 sensor (white) would alert me to a drop in oil pressure before a 0.9 (gray) sensor would. What do y’all think?

I agree with your thinking and that's what I'd personally do.

That said, I wrote that HOW-TO in part because many people with high-mileage MK3s run into slightly-low oil pressure and were trying to figure out why the buzzer was coming on sometimes. And... one of the ways to deal with low oil pressure is to turn your back on the issue and install a lower-value sensor.

Hopefully ID Parts is listing the wrong sensor accidentally. I suppose it's possible that the white one is NLA? Or perhaps they are listing the head sensor where the filter flange sensor should be.

Well, since I have the white one in there now and not getting any OP lights or buzzers, I’m thinking that I’ve got plenty of oil pressure. So I will go with another one of those if I can find one. All the local parts stores only list the blue, gray, and black... but not the white.

IMHO black would be a reasonable sub if you have to.

Ok, now that I’ve cleaned it off and gotten a better look at it, it doesn’t look white. It looks more like a really light grey, though not like the darker grey in the pictures on the IDParts website. It also has a “G” imprinted in the side of the plastic part of the sensor. Should I assume then that I have the grey one and not the white one?

That would be my guess.

Is this the oil pressure sensor on the oil filter flange or the one on the driver's side of the head?

Mine has both on the filter flange. Low pressure (blue) on the passenger side and High pressure (grey?) on the drivers side. However on my other 96 B4 it is the way you described. Low pressure (blue) on the drivers side of the head. There is a hole for the blue sensor on the oil filter flange, but it is plugged and there is no wire going to it. There is however an oil temp sensor wire there not connected to anything.

mustangmarty said:

Mine has both on the filter flange. Low pressure (blue) on the passenger side and High pressure (grey?) on the drivers side. However on my other 96 B4 it is the way you described. Low pressure (blue) on the drivers side of the head. There is a hole for the blue sensor on the oil filter flange, but it is plugged and there is no wire going to it. There is however an oil temp sensor wire there not connected to anything.

Click to expand...

Grey is the typical arrangement but I have seen others too, I assume substituted for ones where the party didn't want to order the preferred replacement.

The grey one is unusual, I've never seen it on a non-tdi car except for one instance where it was on a very early Mk3 Golf with the 2.0 engine and that sensor became a donor for my Mk3 tdi where two meistersatz sendors failed very quickly. I'm still running that JY switch too.

If you have both oil pressure switches on the filter flange then your turbo oil supply line must be coming from the side of the cylinder head.

Steve