A lot of updates to provide from the past few months...This brutal winter really slowed on progress on the FJ80 because I work outside. In the last month or so, I finished installing my new radiator, fan clutch, and water pump. Rebuilt my leaky power steering pump (which still seems to leak but maybe leaks less now?). And I even got the sound working in my truck in 3 of the 5 speakers - I am happy with that for now. I changed the oil last week and continued to chase down intermittent coolant leaks and loss.
Since my oil change 2 weeks/50 miles ago, my oil turned into a dreaded chocolate milk color indicating coolant contamination. Sigh. The oil in the truck prior to that was brownish but not the color of a latte/chocolate milk. The irony is that I was buttoning up the other parts of the leaky coolant system the past few weeks because of the intermittent coolant loss, which seems to have raised the overall operating pressure of the system exposing the coolant/oil mixing problem. In a way, I am actually glad because I suspected this for the past 6 months but couldn't prove it through looking at oil color, compression test, and radiator exhaust gas test.
I called a local shop and they quoted me 2k - 2.5k. I am guessing parts and machining alone would cost me around $1k if I did it myself. I think I could do it myself but I am not excited about taking on a big job in my parking lot at the moment. I am too busy with a lot of other things.
What do you guys think of my situation? Pay for it, do it myself, did I miss anything in my analysis?
Since my oil change 2 weeks/50 miles ago, my oil turned into a dreaded chocolate milk color indicating coolant contamination. Sigh. The oil in the truck prior to that was brownish but not the color of a latte/chocolate milk. The irony is that I was buttoning up the other parts of the leaky coolant system the past few weeks because of the intermittent coolant loss, which seems to have raised the overall operating pressure of the system exposing the coolant/oil mixing problem. In a way, I am actually glad because I suspected this for the past 6 months but couldn't prove it through looking at oil color, compression test, and radiator exhaust gas test.
I called a local shop and they quoted me 2k - 2.5k. I am guessing parts and machining alone would cost me around $1k if I did it myself. I think I could do it myself but I am not excited about taking on a big job in my parking lot at the moment. I am too busy with a lot of other things.
What do you guys think of my situation? Pay for it, do it myself, did I miss anything in my analysis?
Last edited:
