Well, I knew it was too good to last!

After a few days relaxing at Marble Hill strand, we headed off to another of our regular haunts; Malin Beg [also in Donegal]. It’s a bit of a trek to get there, through some pretty remote and mountainous roads. So, with the LTs’ legendary hill-climbing abilities, it always gives Herman[s] a good work out.

Anyway, after we’d been there a day and night and were planning to move on the next morning, we went for one last mosey down the 160-odd steps and onto the beach.

Later, when we scaled the steps again and were walking back towards Herman, I noticed the familiar sight of another bloody patch of oil near his passenger side wheel. So, up with the engine cover and in with the torch and I spotted that –no doubt jealous of the attention its brother had been getting of late– the other Oil Pressure Sensor had decided to spring a leak this time! [This one is the low pressure sensor which detects if the oil pressure is too low and the one which leaked previously was the high pressure sensor which detects if its too high]

Not being anywhere remotely near a VW Centre, it was time for yet another ‘Operation Botch Job’. At least this time, I had the prior experience of my problems with the other sensor to serve as a guide. So. I didn’t waste time trying to change washers or use gasket sealant to try and improve the seal between the sensor and the engine block. The other sensor had turned out to be leaking from the upper casing, where the electrical lead plugs in, so I went straight for this as the likely source of the problem.

Luckily I had some Epoxy Resin in my toolbox, so I mixed up a good blob of that and encased the upper half of the sensor in it [also using a bit of wire to extending the connector on the top, otherwise I’d have had to glue the lead from the wiring loom into the sensor, which wouldn’t have made changing it later much fun!]

The epoxy’s time til ‘fully cured’ was listed as 24 hours, so that kind of forced us to stay another day at Malin Beg while I left it to cure overnight. And, as we were living in the van, this also meant the additional hassle of putting the engine cover and mats back on til morning, when I’d have to take them all off again. But things were cramped enough, without having to squeeze the engine cover under the duvet with us.

Having to stay another night at Malin Beg meant suffering the hardship of drinking more booze and chomping more home-cooked food…

…and putting up with a dismal evening like this:

And so, we come to the next day…

The epoxy had hardened up nicely overnight and felt solid as the proverbial. So back in it went and [touch wood!] another leaking Oil Pressure Sensor had been defeated by the powers of ‘Botcheneering’.