Help -- Oil filter housing leak or crack?

[300sd2000]

Hello,

Today as I pulled in to my driveway on my older 300SD I noticed a huge oil leak...underneath the hood, I found that it was dripping steady from the oil pressure sender....

The sender had been going bad I figured since for the past month it reads 3 bar (wiring okay as reads 0 when grounded). It was on my list of things to do soon...

Upon removing it today and instaling a new sender and tightening it, I notice that it just spins freely in place...I cannot engage it all in the threads.

Which leads me to think the oil filter housing is cracked or the threads are now stripped...I tightened just by hand for 90% and then used a 19 mm wrench with one hand on the remaining. I'm usually careful not to cross thread and I can't see how I ruined the threads and now embarrased and upset that I've got an expensive repair on my hands.

It's definitely coming from right where it screws in. I removed it and put another one from the other car (a extra unit that had gone bad and same result...the threads are worn, stripped or cracked?

Another problem: I tried another sender that had been lying around (from my other car's replaced sender)...I installed it there temporarily (it engages in the threads.

Anyway, what do I need to do? I'm thinking new oil filter housing? How much would this even cost? Is there some way to replace the threaded area without needing a new housing altogether?

Will ground the car for now. Probably still driveable to the garage as the leak is minimal now after tightening it slightly and it's fairly snug, just not wrench-tight.

confused: