The Good:
I finally got me a new Defender Roof Rack! It came in handy on my first road trip. The Cruiser felt a little heavy fully loaded down, but it ran well. Does anyone know if 12 MPG is typical for a loaded Cruiser? I thought that I had better service than that, but thats all it came out to. All in all, a nice camping trip in the Cruiser.
The Bad:
The week before my trip I changed the oil pan gasket, because it was leaking like crazy. Simple job right? NOT! It took me 8 hours, 3 screw drives, 3 lb. mallet and a crow bar to get the damn thing off! Oh, then 1 1/2 hours to s****e the old gasket off and replace it with a new one. I figured the worst was behind me....wrong!
The Ugly:
I noticed while I was cleaning up all the old oil and mud off the oil pan and drain plug that the there was an plastic gasket, Teflon tape and some high temp sealant on the drain plug. It kinda got me thinking...what was the PO thinking? Well, after cleaning off the pan I saw why. It appears the the idiot PO was attempting to take the drain plug off with a pair of tweezers and a hammer! The idiot left the oil pan drain area pretty UP! I continued with the re-install of the gasket and filled her up with oil. All was good until the next morning...there was oil leaking from the drain plug! So, I had two choices...replace the oil pan (meaning order one or try and find one in a junk yard) or Mickey Mouse It the way the PO did. Since I was leaving on my trip in 3 days there was not enough time to complete the first option....so it was the Mickey Mouse Option. Well, option two worked well...but what a pain in the ASS! Hope none of you have to go through it....
Here are some pictures from the trip....
I finally got me a new Defender Roof Rack! It came in handy on my first road trip. The Cruiser felt a little heavy fully loaded down, but it ran well. Does anyone know if 12 MPG is typical for a loaded Cruiser? I thought that I had better service than that, but thats all it came out to. All in all, a nice camping trip in the Cruiser.
The Bad:
The week before my trip I changed the oil pan gasket, because it was leaking like crazy. Simple job right? NOT! It took me 8 hours, 3 screw drives, 3 lb. mallet and a crow bar to get the damn thing off! Oh, then 1 1/2 hours to s****e the old gasket off and replace it with a new one. I figured the worst was behind me....wrong!
The Ugly:
I noticed while I was cleaning up all the old oil and mud off the oil pan and drain plug that the there was an plastic gasket, Teflon tape and some high temp sealant on the drain plug. It kinda got me thinking...what was the PO thinking? Well, after cleaning off the pan I saw why. It appears the the idiot PO was attempting to take the drain plug off with a pair of tweezers and a hammer! The idiot left the oil pan drain area pretty UP! I continued with the re-install of the gasket and filled her up with oil. All was good until the next morning...there was oil leaking from the drain plug! So, I had two choices...replace the oil pan (meaning order one or try and find one in a junk yard) or Mickey Mouse It the way the PO did. Since I was leaving on my trip in 3 days there was not enough time to complete the first option....so it was the Mickey Mouse Option. Well, option two worked well...but what a pain in the ASS! Hope none of you have to go through it....
Here are some pictures from the trip....