Oil Spill

I bought Blue Scout to use as a daily-driver.  Well that's not really true.  I bought Blue Scout with the requirement that it had to eventually be daily-drive-able.  The last thing keeping it from daily-driver status is (I think) the oil leak from somewhere on the top side of the engine.  It's leaking a significant amount of oil and most of it is not dripping on the ground.  The oil is running down the back of the engine and covering the transmission, transfer-case and chassis.

My guess where it's coming from is the valley pan gasket and with no indoor space to work I don't feel like I can tackle that.  So last week Blue Scout went to a REAL mechanic for some new parts.  The parts being replaced are - three radiator hoses, thermostat, two thermostat gaskets, two valve cover gaskets, valley pan gasket, and two intake manifold gaskets.

He sent me pics as he went thru it.

 

Very clean, I'm surprised.  I'm certain now that the odometer reading is correct.   

UPDATE - That was actually a month ago and it didn't fix the problem completely.  As it turns out, oil was only part of the problem. The upper thermostat housing gasket was leaking quite a bit of coolant and the new gasket didn't help at all.

I enlisted the help of a friend (with a garage) and we discovered that the surface of the thermostat housing wasn't flat and it had become pitted in one area.  We blued the surface and using a brand new file we took off just enough material to get a good seal.

(sorry, no good pics of that process)

I couldn't find a gasket at any of the four auto parts stores in the area so I bought a roll of gasket material and cut a fresh gasket (better than the store-bought one that I scraped off).  I drove it home at the end of the day and found no new leakage and then warmed it up this morning and found none.

While it was in the garage we diagnosed the problem with the horn and repaired it, and we got that awful front bumper off.  It looks pretty good without a bumper but I can't leave it that way.

I've always liked this bumper.  It was on Orange Scout when I got it.  It's strong and (relatively) light.  It seems to be made from 1/8 inch cold rolled steel.  It has plenty of character.

I had to use that small sledge to get it in place but the frame of Blue Scout is a little wider than Orange Scout so I guess this one is out.

I visited Kalamazoo Air Zoo last week and for some reason they had this International Harvester example on display.

Oh and a few days ago I got in Blue Scout to go for a drive and noticed this.