Oil bath

[claymore]

Since this site tries to always bring you accurate up to date technical info and not keep bad stuff to ourselves I had a bad day today.:(

I installed my gauges exactly 4 years ago today and never had a problem......... until today. Went to the store on a quick run and stopped when I got back to my house to open the gate. When I pulled in and went to close the gate I saw what I thought was water from the A/C on the ground but it didn't look right....... It was oil.:(

Put my groceries away and popped my hood and found oil all over my battery and dripping on the ground. I knew the oil pressure gauge pressure tubing went in that area but couldn't see anything wrong.

So I bit the bullet pulled on the handbrake, popped the transmission into neutral, rolled drivers the window down and reached through the window and fired it up. And quickly found the problem... a tiny pin hole sized hole in the oil line that was squirting oil right into the side of the battery and it's plastic case.

Thankfully it was in a position where I could get right at it and I had a replacement oil pressure gauge installation kit in my tool box. It was only an inch or so from a junction fitting where I jointed two kits together to make it long enough.

So I checked under the dash and behind the glovebox and found some slack in the line and fortunately there was enough slack so all I had to do to fix it was cut out the bad section and reconnect it using just a new ferule on the old line.

Now that the leak was fixed I still had to clean up all the oil on the battery and battery box as they were covered in oil. Took the battery and box right out and gave them a hand wash using some floor wax soap and they came out nice and clean. Now I had to use windex and paper towels to clean up the inner fender and the battery mount on the fender and washed off the parts of the steering and underside of the car.

I had to add two liters of new oil to replace the stuff that got squirted out.

Found that the battery hold down was starting to get some corrosion under the plastic protective coating so I stripped off the coating and gave it a good coating of black spray bomb paint. When the paint was dry I coated the hold down with a light coat of grease to prevent the corrosion, cleaned the cable connections and reinstalled the battery and then did the radio code, setting stations and time thing on the radio.

Turns out the edge out the metal battery bracket had a slight rough spot on it and it rubbed right onto the plastic hose to make the pinhole. SOOOO to prevent it from happening again I found a length of clear plastic fuel hose I had leftover from another project and split it lengthwise and slipped the new bigger hose over the small oil pressure hose and it works great to prevent any further chaffing. If I ever take it apart again I will slide the bigger hose right over the smaller one as it's big enough and that will eliminate splitting the larger hose.

Now I can no longer say I have never had a problem with any gauges I have used for 40 years:( It gave no warning and I still had oil pressure at the gauge and no Idiot light on the dash.

In the future I will be carrying the extra installation kit in the hatch with my spare tools instead of at my house like I used to do. It's a small package and weights next to nothing so it will be my insurance on the road.

[manxman]

Wow John! That could have been a much worse disaster if the leak had developed in the middle of a long, hot drive. No matter what your level of mechanical skill is, flaws in materials can still do you in.

I was driving my '87 Ford Bronco home, pulling my trailer loaded with about 800 pounds of new, empty, cardboard boxes that I use for shipping my products out to dealers. When I came up to my usual freeway exit in the mountains, I took my foot off the gas pedal but the truck kept on accelerating. The accelerator cable was now disconnected from the throttle body and gas pedal. I "stood on the brakes", and fortunately had converted the rears to disc, and got the truck & trailer slowed enough to make the tight turn on the freeway exit. Still riding the brakes, I was able to find a place to pull over on a side street and turn off the racing engine.

Looked under the hood, and found that the throttle position sensor was held onto the throttle body with two bolts, which had vibrated loose and let the sensor fall off. The sensor has the only spring that keeps tension on the throttle cable, is the only device that holds the throttle open, closed, or anywhere in between, and it had fallen right off the throttle body and the cable had fallen right off the top of the gas pedal.

Your practical skills and mine have taught us to carry tools and spare parts to handle the most likely bad surprises on the road. I had everything that I needed to fix my situation, and drive right on home through the mountains.

[macbuddy]

Claymore,
Dude! You really had me going there. When I read the title of your post, I was anticipating a kinky French Maid video! :)

[manxman]

HeeHee! Good one Mike!

[claymore]

HUMMMM now you guys are going a bit overboard. :D I thought the maids were cute.

But anyway yep it helps to carry a few basic tools for emergencies. But the tube is soft enough to just fold over putting a kink in it if you want to shut off a leak then just hold it folded over with some tape or an elastic band and drive home.

This is one reason I connected it with a "T" and still have the stock low oil pressure warning light working. I know we are close but nobodies perfect yet.

Fixing it was no problem but the oil clean up was the worst part.:(

[macbuddy]

Fixing it was no problem but the oil clean up was the worst part.:(

Hey John,
Have you ever tried spraying down the engine bay with "Simple Green?" I usually spray it on, let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse it off. If there is a stubborn spot, I spray it again, and scrub it down with a brush. I do try to be selective in what I get moisture on however.
-macbuddy-

PS-I agree, the maids were cute!:D

[claymore]

I would but we don't have simple green over here:( I used a soap called VIM that is used for floor washing etc it cuts grease and oil. It wasn't hard to do just time consuming getting at all the small sections to wipe them down with an old "T" shirt.