This vehicle is new to me, 92fj80, has 236,000 miles. I just purchased and drove it from Birmingham, AL to DFW 2 weeks ago. I have noticed oil on the bottom of the engine (pics below). I have almost 0 experience working on vehicles but I am wanting to learn and not just take this to the mechanic. Some direction as to where to start or process on diagnosis is my ask
I'll have to let the 3FE guys chime in, but welcome to the party. Pretty common for these things to leak like that. Valve cover, oil pan, etc. I can't stand it, but a lot of people leave it alone for a long time. Helps prevent rust ! Not bad places to start you mechanic career. On a 1FZ there is an upper and a lower pan, the upper is hard to get in and out with the crossmember in the way, don't know if the 3FE is the same.
I was thinking that was a wiring loom wrap that I wasn't familiar with, but you know what, I think someone has tried to RTV the crap out of it, on the outside, to stop the leaks.
A suggestion regarding tools: check on ebay for used Snap-on hand tools. New, they're very expensive, but you can sometimes get good deals on used stuff.
Why Snap-on? They're professional quality, USA-made, and last a lot longer than the Chinese-made stuff.
A word about beginning mechanics. Back in high school, I bought a '46 H-D Knucklehead. It needed a carb rebuild (an old Linkert as I recall), so I rebuilt it.
When I finished, I had a couple of brass washers and a screw left over.
This vehicle is new to me, 92fj80, has 236,000 miles. I just purchased and drove it from Birmingham, AL to DFW 2 weeks ago. I have noticed oil on the bottom of the engine (pics below). I have almost 0 experience working on vehicles but I am wanting to learn and not just take this to the mechanic. Some direction as to where to start or process on diagnosis is my ask
No worries on the jabs. I am going to get some better pics, and some further back and will check back. I am also going to clean it up will watch and try to identify the source. Thanks for the advice on the tools. I’ll will follow up. Appreciate all the feedback.
Crazy thing is I prefer driving this over my 2020 Trail Boss, even going slow.j
Peace
Just wanted to provide a quick update. There 2 areas that I’ve found leaking just a bit, the side plate on the head, and the front seal. I may get a nickel size drop on the floor every other day, since I started watching this last weekend. I am going to do a thorough job cleaning the oil off the engine, change oil and send off for analysis, and continue to monitor before I tackle replacing the side panel gasket.
