Got er Done
Well folks it's up and running, Thanks go to the whole crew that made this happen those with us physically and remotely this is a good thing we done this weekend. :thumbsup: Slim & his Dad showed up about 12:45 we were about ready to give it a whirl just waiting for the pieces & parts to make repairs to the coolant crossover and add fluids & such.
For Justin's truck I think we got to it before something really bad happened, the project really started a week ago last, when Justin showed up at a meet & greet & can signing in Grove City Pa when we saw Justin's truck puking oil out the CDR vent tube spraying oil all over the side of his truck.
Water found in the crankcase, pushed out all the oil, we did a dump & fill Justin did another dump & fill half way home that trip, he did not use any water on the return trip, I suspect what was happening that when he was running hard the clearance between head and block heated up and allowed the leak to become pronounced.
In our post repair debrief this afternoon, Justin shared with me that for a while he had run hot 210+ filled with water and within 50 miles was running hot again & out of water, but after our dump and flush the nite of the can signing truck was running great with exception of the other morning when it left him stranded, but then he was able to get it home. (more on that later).
We got the heads off and both front cyls were leaking some, but not a lot evidently, the oil that was drained from the 2nd dump/fill was black but looked & felt like "normal" oil. As I said earlier the intent was to drop front diff then pan, but just not enough hours in the day to do the "ideal" things.
This was what I'll call a field repair, you work with what you brung, and you have a deadline so make the best repair you can in the time alotted.
While there we renewed the 4x4 adapter orings to my pleasure no metal shavings or metal past was found in the sludge caught in the adapters void cavities in it's base, also a eduction on proper maintenance of grounds, all of them were loose, I showed Justin how to use a meter to verify electrically how to KNOW the grounds are good, not just by looking good, I suspect his dead engine the other day was the loose gnds at back of the engine passenger side (THE most important ones) that go to the PCM, which were just finger tight, the gnd that goes from body to engine was also rotted off, all are good now @.003 ohm exact reading as my DMM probes touched together.
We had a problem with the heater core supply quick disconnect it was rotten & snapped off, I tried to fracture-then cut it but it wasn't gonna give up easy, no 1/2 NPT tap to be found, Slim thought he had one & could bring it today, turns out he had a 3/8" NPT, but did bring a 5/8" drill bit that we used to drill out most of the old fitting and with a prick punch Slim picked out the remnants of the fitting using the new fitting as a tap with some Kroil (Thanks Joe) we chased the treads.
Cleaned off the Kroil and then applied a liberal coating of pipe dope to the threads,and snugged up the fitting tight, taught Justin how to make gaskets with a ball-peen hammer, and snugged it up. Added fluids, did a crank over a few times, then once with a few lines on injectors loose purging air from the IP, a distinct healthy 6.5 rattle emerged from Justin's "old girl".
We added 1 pint of sea-foam to the oil, let the truck come to operating temp ran good once air finally purged from the fuel system, did another oil dump and filter change, going to let Justin drive that for a week easy driving no towing or hard driving, dump and fill with new oil filter after that. I cut open the old oil filter after we flushed with sea-foam, it looked good no metal found there so this one I think we'll be okay on.
Jury out still on the 97 with low oil pressure, with the tech manual open we showed Justin what to be looking for and how to drop the pan, he going to pull a couple of rod caps and main caps, take pics and show us what he finds, also will cut open that oil filter on that one as well.
Guys I think every muscle in my body is sore, guess the years are catching up to me, it's been a while since I did a marathon wrenching session, but its a good ache. Again not enough can be said about the generosity of the "Family" here at DTR, the comedic relief of Wrecker & Stacks was missed the 2nd day into the job, it was very easy to feed off the comic relief they bring, sort of a cmedy catalyst that you see in the Smothers Brothers, Mutt/ Jeff, Ralph Cramden/Ed Norton, actually Friday nite it more akin to a session of the Blue Collar Comedy troupe all of us contributing something, or maybe at 01:00 everything seems funny.
In all seriousness, at the end for me it was almost a religious experience doing for another member in a bind, I hope this becomes the genesis of more good deeds done through DTR, though hard work, it really is a whole lot of fun you guys should regionally consider helping each other our in your regions, or madbe even pick a project in the neghborhood and turn it into a DTR meet & greet/can signing.
Thanks again folks for helping me/us have a weekend that will long live in my memory banks.
(Pics coming, I need to upload them)