[pontiacpetey]

72 lemans 455 ho engine.

I've been chasing an oil leak and my oil gauges have been really erratic, bouncing from 0 at idle to full pressure while driving and all in between.

After reading a bunch of posts I've determined the leak is from either the oil pressure sender or the housing is cracked. Oil runs from the top of the filter down the side and is blowing all over the transmission. Oil filter is brand new, just did an oil change 10-w 30 non synthetic.

I found a new sender at a yard along with the housing, good deal for 25 bucks. The spring is shot inside and the circular tab that holds it in is rusted, can I use those parts from my old housing? were the springs from the 455 engines different from the 350 engines? I can get the spring and tab from my old 350 of needed.

Would the cracked housing or leaking sender cause my crazy oil pressure readings?

I've been keeping my eye on the oil and its leaking about a quart per 100 miles or so. It does not leak at idle or when the car sits, maybe a few drops coming off the bottom of the transmission where it sprayed.

The engine was rebuilt about 10 years ago but only has about 4000 miles on it since then.
Is it possible the oil pump would cause the erratic readings?

Also when installing a pressure sender do you use thread sealant? the sender on the car now had Teflon tape on it, I was wondering about the electrical conductivity when using Teflon tape.

Sorry im a noob at this, thanks for any advice. ALso sorry for the jumbled questions im not much of a conversationalist at typing..

Thanks,Pete.