Trip to Berkeley
So last weekend I drove to Berkeley from SoCal to see some friends; I decided to take Blue for a check out drive. Here is the story.
The drive up on Friday was long as usual, but went without any issues. I had just reinstalled my power steering pump with the new flange, so the power steering fluid was needing topping up every so often...no big deal. Saturday it rained, hard. I have a leak somewhere and water is getting into the drivers side footwell; didnt know about that. It was obvious that I need a defroster, so I need to get the heater fixed. Everything so far had been great. The clutch had been a bit hard to push and gears not always going in like it had been. I need to check the clutch slave cylinder mount that I made to make sure it is holding up.
So Sunday is the drive home. I leave around 2 or 3pm to make sure I can get home if something happened....this was a good plan. I stop in Atascadero to get some food and when I get back to Blue, I notice that one of my belts is on the ground under the truck. This gave me pause. I pop the hood and notice that the AC compressor is hanging off of its mount. The nut has disappeared somewhere on the 101 it seems. Alright....find a new nut....I dont have a spare and dont have one that I can pull from somewhere else. So I figure that the compressor, which isnt connected to anything yet, must have been on there for a period before it fell off, so I mount it back as best I can. I cant take it off because the dip stick tube is mounted to it. I then drive the three miles or so to Home Depot. In the HD parking lot, I remove the bolt and go get a nylock one....good plan. So when I am putting the bolt back on and getting it all back, I have to move compressor around quite a bit...it is close to the exhaust pipe.
I start driving.
I then start to smell something burning. My first thought, since I was bit flustered with dealing with the AC was that it was someone else. So I drive a bit further but I can still smell it, ok time to pull off. I pull into a Holiday Inn since they have overhead light and get out of the truck which is smoking. Awesome. I see that oil is everywhere. I get some guys to help me push Blue into a parking spot and start figuring this out.
So remember that dip stick pipe? Yeah, turns out I pulled it out of the engine, so when the engine was turning, oil was spraying everywhere. ****. So I need oil. Now, I didnt bring oil since I had never had a problem with oil yet. Wrong plan. It is too late for an auto-parts store and the kmart (no walmart) is 5 miles away and I have no car. So I am trying to figure this out and calling friends back home who can come help. Someone then mentions that gas stations have oil. Now, this is something that I simply didnt know. When I go to a gas station, I get gas (now Diesel!) and maybe a candy bar, not oil; so this was a pleasant surprise to me.
I bum a ride to a gas station and get some 20W-50 (I have used 15w-40) and put in two quarts into Blue and off I go! I did get home a few hours later than planned and with quite a bit more knowledge under my belt, so it was a great trip!
Driving the truck was easy and it drove wonderfully. It feels great at 70-75 and go 22+ mpg for the trip. I would like to get cruise control though.
In other news, the truck is registered as a diesel with the great state of California!
I also have some 4+ sliders that I need to weld on and install the u-bolt flip kits and my Front Runner roof rack. The smittybuilt console is not in yet...I am blanking on how to get it mounted; I am considering getting the non-radio one if someone is interested in my radio one. There are a few places with exposed metal that I need to paint. And a few places where I have mounted things that need to be reinforced to help reduce metal fatigue. I need to fix the horn (anyone have a .22LR shell they can send me?) and I'd like an FJ62 steering wheel; mine is shedding stuff when it gets wet from my hands when it rains.
I also need to sell/get rid of a bunch of stuff from the build: bumpers (front and rear) in good shape, 2F starter, alternator, fan clutch, igniter with coil, a bunch of mud flaps...a few other things. I need to post it to the classifieds, but if someone wants stuff, let me know, I will get rid of it cheap (or trade for stuff...I want spare axle shafts and birfs) and its even better if you can come get it!
To fix:
- leak into driver footwell
- heater (defroster)
- AC mount
- AC belt
To look into:
- Clutch slave cylinder mount
- Cruise(r) Control
Lessons:
- nylock nuts are good when stuff goes shacky-shacky
- Bring Oil.
- Dont Panic
- Diesel Land Cruisers are awesome!
To do:
- u-bolt flip kits
- mount/weld on sliders
- finish smittybuilt install
- sell stuff
- mount Front Runner Roofrack
To get:
- FJ62 steering wheel.