One more post before I have to get ready for work. Next up in the “while you’re in there…” series: the oil leak that decided to stop being polite.
I changed the oil at end of the day, went home, came back the next day and—boom—actual puddle under Yellr. Now, to be fair, I’d had a little drip-drip situation before. Enough to annoy me, never enough to trigger full investigative journalism. But this definitely changed the math. Didn't take a picture of the puddle, use your imagination - but is my reference to the picture under Yellr in Kearney. That was where my go/no-go decision was with shakedown from Omaha.
So out came the new oil, and after a little detective work it became pretty obvious what was going on. There’s a nice little dimple in the oil pan right where the drain plug seats. See finger in picture below.
This was a big deal - I really didn't want to risk ruining an engine etc. driving out to CA. This was a total sideways turn.
Quick call/message to
@orangefj45 at Valley Hybrids to see what options existed. And I’ll say this—his and his staff responsiveness was fantastic. Calls, texts, emails… quick answers the whole way through. Really appreciated that.
Turns out they could get a pan from Toyota, but suggested I also checked locally here in Nebraska. Thanked them and called. Missed the day’s order cutoff, but Toyota could still get one in about two days. Get this, Valley called me after two days to see if I got the new pan and if not then could get me something. Now that I made to Sacramento, damn sure I will make it to Stockton...
Oddly enough, I already had spare oil pan gaskets sitting around. Apparently Past Baker occasionally makes good decisions.
So off came the pan.
Ian (@RevISK) sent me link to Georg's writeup for oil pan gasket - I did it before when I build the engine, but had the luxury of the engine on the stand and could turn it upside down....
F, 2F, 3F and 3FE rear main seal, oil pan gasket and clutch installation instructions - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/f-2f-3f-and-3fe-rear-main-seal-oil-pan-gasket-and-clutch-installation-instructions.1338727/
Cleaned everything up, shiny enough to make me feel like I knew what I was doing, and got the new pan/gasket installed. The cleaning was the longest part. Used Toyota FPIG like I did building the engine.
Then came the famous phrase: “Well… while you’re in there…”
I’d also had a leak where the oil filter bracket mounts to the block for the longest time. I already had the gaskets for it, but could not find my motivation pills to tackle that project. Honestly, that leak had probably been more of an issue than the oil pan for a while anyway.
So off that came too. Cleaned it all up, new gaskets in, everything buttoned back together. That part took forever and included a couple self-inflicted learning opportunities, but overall it went pretty well.
Tech tip for anyone doing this in the future:
There are four bolts on that oil filter bracket assembly. The two toward the rear are longer than the two toward the front. They look
really close in size… close enough to make bad decisions.
I didn’t have a good profile view while reinstalling everything and accidentally swapped two of them. The bolts wouldn’t fully seat, but from my angle it wasn’t obvious - the bolt stopped/tight. OK, that is a lie. I had the ability to look from the side and check, but didn't think to do that. @solomrus did though and immediately noticed one bolt sitting proud. That’s when the light bulb came on and Russ did Russ things and corrected my efforts.
So if you tackle this job someday—pay attention to bolt length even if they look basically identical.
Anyway… no more puddles - and after a few hundred miles down I-80 still dry.. feels like progress even today.
frankly I’m amazed. I went through that out and lasted this long. I’m betting there are storieswe can tell that would shock a lot of people today