I noticed this wire hanging down from the drivers side of engine block and I don't know where it goes.. The engine was way low on oil and I had no alerts on the dash or a check engine light.. Is that my oil sensor wire?? If so where is it supposed to go?
Thanks

 

that wire runs to your knock sensor

 

wonder why I was so low on oil and no alert went off.. I was 2 quarts low and no check engine light came on

 

There is no oil pressure monitor to the ECU (and so no check engine light), just the low oil pressure light that should come on at start and go away in a couple of seconds. It goes out above 8 PSI. Two quarts is a lot in a week. Many perform the weekly underhood check weekly. Not sure about a D2, but D1 owner manual says check oil level every 250 miles. Maybe they were trying to tell us something....

 

Where does that wire route too?? can you give me a place to look to trace it?

 

There is one on each side of the engine. They route back to the ECU. It listens to the "Disco beat" and adjusts timing slightly to correct for poor quality gas, engine load, etc. Bet it gets tired of listening to that song for the last 140,000 miles.

If you look in the electrical library of the RAVE, on page 507 and 508 there they are on a Rover that is kept inside a jar and only taken out for photos. The wiring diagram is in the circuits manual, page 55 of 152. The wire is a two conductor plus screen (or shield) to keep out spark plug electrical noise.

The oil pressure switch is c187, see that one on page 300 of the electrical library, it is near the pulley and belt system. It does not connect to the ECU, it just turns on the dash light when starting. No engine run = no oil pressure, switch is closed, light should be on in positon 2. After running, pressure reaches 7 PSI quickly (not so quick in winter with 20W50) and light goes out.

 

Note - if you have cut this wire for knock sensors that is shielded, you have to use good techniques to re-splice it.