I was at VIR this week running my GT350 for the first time. First the good news. The car is awesome and I ran my fastest lap times ever at VIR in it. Ironically the fastest time came after I almost had a really bad event happen.

My buddies were behind me and after the session they came to the garage and asked what happened to my car. I looked dumbfounded because I just ran my fastest lap of the day and only came in because my oil temps were 289! Granted it was about 100 degrees at VIR Thursday. Anyway they proceeded to tell me that a ton of white smoke blew out underneath my car going through NASCAR. We put the car up on jacks and there was oil everywhere under the car. It had blown all over the exhaust, etc. A real mess and very concerning. Opening the oil filter door revealed oil dripping from the filter so I immediately assumed the oil filter had worked it's way loose. #$%@#$^!!! But when I tried to re-torque the filter it was already around 18ft-lbs. So I torqued it down to 25ft-lbs and hoped my problem was solved. I also had to add 1qt of oil to bring it back up to full.

I didn't sleep well that night and didn't have confidence in driving the car on the track the next day. I didn't need a major oil incident for all the bad things that could come with that. So I decided to drive home the next morning. I kept one eye on the oil pressure gauge the whole time ... About halfway home, I stopped at a rest stop to check on things and I could tell oil was still leaking. Crap! At this point I still had plenty of oil, only lost about 1/4 of a qt so far and I needed to get home so maybe against my better judgement I kept driving. Finally made it home to a royal mess AGAIN. Still thinking the oil filter was the culprit and maybe the seal had blown I cleaned up under the car the best I could and then replaced the oil filter. Back out on the road to test ... still leaking!

Now since I knew it wasn't the oil filter I started looking around more closely. That's when I discovered what I think is the oil pressure sensor, had backed out and was very loose. This is the source of my oil leakage. According to the Ford factory manual, high-temp thread sealant is supposed to be used on this. Maybe the factory forgot to use sealant or maybe this is another pending weak point of the vibrations of the FPC. Instead of tearing the car apart myself to get to this and to fix it, I'm taking it to my buddy at the dealership next week to fix.

I will keep you posted but for now, this is just a FYI to pay attention to that, especially when you are tracking. Thanks for the use of your tools @dirtroadtrip It was nice meeting you as well.

@AMPowerJ, first off it was great meeting you. I was surprised when after you checked the filter and it was already torqued - good thing you trusted your gut and headed home.

@AMPowerJ glad you made it home with no major issues. I'm curious how many miles you have on your car? I'm doing track prep this morning and I'll have a look at this. It appears it's visible from the top by the header? I've done 6 track days so far with no leaks anywhere. Once the oil line issue was discovered my car mostly sat until it was replaced as I didn't want to have any issues on track. The oil filter is also concerning and if it's really an issue I wish Ford would just step up and install the cartridge setup on all of the early build cars.

I had the same issue on my '15 GT - fortunately the loose sensor/leak was caught during my pre-track inspection (coincidentally before a weekend at VIR as well). Sorry to hear it ruined part of your weekend.

I finished my track prep and no leaks that I could detect.

VoodooBoss said:

@AMPowerJ glad you made it home with no major issues. I'm curious how many miles you have on your car? I'm doing track prep this morning and I'll have a look at this. It appears it's visible from the top by the header? I've done 6 track days so far with no leaks anywhere. Once the oil line issue was discovered my car mostly sat until it was replaced as I didn't want to have any issues on track. The oil filter is also concerning and if it's really an issue I wish Ford would just step up and install the cartridge setup on all of the early build cars.

Click to expand...

I have 12,000 miles on my car. This was my second track day.

Glad nothing serious happened and thank you for sharing so that others may learn and inspect.

I'm taking my car to the dealer today (on a rollback) for this to be inspected and fixed. My service advisor did some research and this is a known issue for other Ford vehicles. Not sure which ones but he said the GT350 isn't on the list (yet) but he thinks it's the same thing. I'll report back any more details that I can gather. I'll definitely be putting witness marks on mine to watch closely going forward.

Any follow up? My <200 mile GT 350 is in the shop for the exact issue. Haven't even made it to the track yet!

Man, This seems like something you guys shouldn't have to deal with or worry about! Seems like Ford dropped the ball some where along the way. I hope it doesn't trickle down to my Boss down the road.I've been trouble free for over 6 yrs now........except for my occasional lapse in good driving practice judgement once in a while....

Just had my dealer identify the oil leak on my 2017 GT350 as coming from the oil pressure sensor as well. Car is relatively new (3 months old) and only about 650 miles. Lots of oil all over the pan under the engine.

I'm curious, did we ever get a reason for these sending units backing out? My dealer wants to get a new sending unit and it's back ordered.

Update: Dealer replaced the sending unit with CM5Z9D290A oil pressure switch. He claims it's an updated version. I'm not sure. Anyway, so far no more leaks.

According to the work order, it was leaking around the threads. Seems like they were overly cautious in replacing the unit, because it simply could have backed out.

Anyone else have this problem. On the GT350 Owners Facebook page, there were several people who had the same issue: some said it was the oil pressure sensor leaking around the threads and needed to be tightened and spec was 24 lb/ft.

MAY I ASK A QUESTION....
Was the sending unit leaking around the thread or through the sending unit itself.
If it leaks around the thread section then the only thing to do is to change or add some more thread sealant. Leaking through the sending unit will call for a redesign. Do you know which was the cause for sure?
Leaking around the threads is a very simple fix. There are so many thread sealants on the market it's not funny. Could it just maybe be a torque problem??

have a 017 gt 350, 2800 miles, started leaking oil but i caught it before the oil disappeared off the dipstick. The dealership is a few feet away from me and i idled it up there,pulled it in and the oil was barely on the stick,5 minutes later it show nothing on the stick.so they pushed it into a bay and there it sits,waiting for a new oil pressure sensor. Thanks for the pictures,the sensor looks like it's less than an inch away from the exhaust header. What were they thinking, putting it so close to all that heat.That sensor boss should be plugged and welded shut and remounted somewhere on top of the block,which would mean drilling and tapping,not something i expect to see on a handbuilt engine like this
Been waiting two days so far for the part so i may not get the car back till monday, which would be seven days. They claim they can't tighten the old one because it's under warranty. Has anybody fixed this problem and is it a lasting fix or does it keep loosening up?

@Edward W Whitaker Jr welcome to TMO and nice first post. I'm sure Ford is well aware of the issue and hopefully they will find a solution. Seems like using safety wire is a prudent decision. Others are installing a hose clamp around the oil filter so that it cannot screw off. Good luck with your GT350.

This is the second post about loose oil pressure sensors on 350's in the last 2 weeks (that I've seen). Jeez, another thing to put a wrench on.
Thanks for the head's up guys.
#rattletrap

Add one more to the list. Dropped the car off at the dealer today for an apparent leak from the oil sending unit. 2017 GT350R, 650 miles.

There has to be a way to safety wire the sensor to the engine without drilling.
Any ideas?