Wake the next morning feeling Terrible. Under a car in the mud with a grinder, my eyes ache, I’ve burns on my face and forehead. Feel I have had the briefest taste of manual labor in years. Body sore all over, and sort of pissed about the amount of work I needed to do to get the car ready to leave.
There’s also the matter of an old land cruiser in my driveway now, under my care, expecting maintenance…
I do need to go to work, but first thing I need to deal with the Washington State Licensing as the BC Travel Permit is only good until the end of the day. Licensing is good and wonderful, but I need to pay a bunch of money for sales tax, or import tax, or whatever they want to call it. Then they reveal that washington state requires both parts of the BC Insurance Registration form. They can’t actually register the car until they have the second half of that form. Shit. I text the seller, he’ll mail it to me asap.
I get temporary washington plate taped to teh back window, and head to Discount Tire to replace the tires, at least the two rear ones which are missed and dangerously old.
Discount tire is empty and has a reasonable selection. The guy there admits that while my front tires (Michelin ltx at) are too old for them to touch, he thinks they have plenty of life left. There’s quite a range available, from off-road to highway. As this is primarily a highway/snow vehicle I’m looking for a highway tires that can handle the weight. Michelin LTX AS are popular with minivans, quiet, good grip and 80k mile guarantee, I get a pair for the rear. The swap is complex:
- rear wheels are rusty and crappy
- I’ve good shiny wheels in the back with tires that went through a car fire
Discount tire puts the new tires on the shiny wheels. I keep on of the current rear tires on crappy wheel as a spare, and discount tire disposes of the remaining 3 tires. Yes?
Handling of car is greatly improved with same-size tires on the rear.
On way home I stop at Toyota Dealer for my first oil filter and gasket. Parts lady is very helpful, oil filter is $5.50, gasket is $1.25. I decline to purchase a fuel filter for $83 or an air filter for $58.
Oil change is super easy…
- Undo oil fill on engine
- Sit under the vehicle with paper towels at the ready
- undo enormous drain plug and ensure that oil falls into drain pan
- replace drain plug
- using funnel, pour 6.5 quarts of oil into engine (until dip stick reads full), I used rotella t6 5-40 (same stuff as in motorbike and Porsche 930)
Now replace filter. I undo the oil filter sized canister on the side of the engine… wow, its rusty. Been a while since it was changed. Wow, its really on there, need a filter wrench… Whats this… diesel! Shit. I’ve just undone the fuel filter. I screw it back on and go looking for oil filter. Down under the engine, in another honestly convenient location is a huge oil filter, a Mahle OC374. Dang, Toyota parts lady gave me a filter for a Camry or something. Ok, I’ll change the oil filter later.
Start engine and smell diesel. See diesel dripping from fuel filter. I tighten with wrench (a no no according to book) but leak is still there. Shit. Probably the filter gasket is toast.
Look on internets, this is 3b motor, fuel filter is a Napa 3386 (wix 33386). I drive to Napa for the filter. Guy looks up vehicle, his machine says it takes a Napa 3396 (wix 33393). I get the 3386 anyway: $5.50. Also get an oil filter, a Napa 1515 (which is slightly smaller than the Mahle that was on there before).
Return home and install the 3386. Engine has a little priming pump built-in on the side:
- take off old filter, pour fuel into yoghurt container
- rub some motor oil on the new filter’s gasket.
- hand tighten filter to filter mount
- tubing over nipple next to filter mount and into yoghurt container
- open nipple with wrench
- priming hand pump is built into engine about a foot below the filter mount
- pump primer until fuel comes from tubing, keep pumping until all air is out
- close nipple with wrench
After cleaning up I start the engine. Still leaking! I remove filter and take photos of filter mount. It looks good. Feel around… feels good. Hmm. I dunno. Defective filter?
I call Napa and ask him to compare the 3386 and 3393. He says the 3393 has a slightly smaller diameter gasket. Shit. Well, that would do it. Gasket too large won’t seal against the smooth surface.
Back to napa and purchase the 3393. Dang its an inch longer and $10 more: $15.50. At this point I’m sort of shaking my head. Why the heck would the diameters be different?
Sure enough the 3393 seals perfectly. No issue at all except maybe it now extends quite close to the engine now, might be tough to fit a filter wrench on it when its time to remove.
Hopefully doesn’t spend all its time like this.
Back under the car for the last step, the oil filter. Fortunatly the oil filter is MOSTLY right side up so removing it doesn’t pour oil all over everything. Filter looks to hold about a quart! Unscrew and a bit of blackness spills but mostly contained. I fill the new filter with new oil, not quite to teh top, slick a little round the gasket and screw it back on. definite benefit to lifted truck, the maintenance is comfortable!
Start the engine, sounds better, cleaner. Maybe psychological but the engine seems to be waking up from a slumber. Next morning is below zero and car had a much easier time turning over, I credit that to the 5-40 oil. Some people worry that the first number is too low. The first number in oil weight is the cold viscosity (thickness), second number is hot viscosity. Cold oil is naturally very thick, like syrup. It thins with temperature until it has the consistency of alcohol. Having oil that’s thinner when cold has little to do with its ability to protect the motor when warm. When oil is too thick it won’t flow properly on startup. Motor oils with a broad viscosity tend to fall apart sooner, but the shell is proven stuff so no worries there.
Next steps will be air filter, transmission fluid, transfer case fluid, and fluid for both diffs.
Lots of steps to go but vehicle sure looks like it needs it.
So, for reference, my 1984 BJ60 wants:
- wix 33393 fuel filter (napa 3393)
- wix 51515 oil filter (napa 1515)
- wix 52159 air filter (napa 2159)
For motor oil I used Rotella T6 5-40 (which is probably overkill in every way, but should ease start-up).
Hey kid, watch that sugar drink doesn’t spill and stain teh seats!
CanadianBJ 