FJ40 I call Shipwreck

[SuperBuickGuy]

oil leak. This is a new one on me so I'm posting - wasn't going to.
It was leaking oil from the valve cover onto the intake

notice the mission stanchion?

tacked back in place... it was odd because I've never seen one come apart like that - the motor was making an occasional ticking (like lifter rattle) but not always

[SuperBuickGuy]

back to the welder. ummm... neat new, smaller box, template needs some work, though

easy enough to make one

and they blind studs... well, I'm not a fan - tomorrow rivnuts

[SuperBuickGuy]

fun, if it worked today, I could have used it to help someone out up on Naches.
getting there, though

replace alternator

installed

Premier sent a cool cover for free, can't use it... ah well, thanks guys

[SuperBuickGuy]

back to it. when the Colorado got hit, it damaged the winch. Still arguing with my insurance company about whether or not they'll pay for it but there is no way I'll ever use it again except for parts... thus, I needed a new one. But I'll put it on here - this has some features that work great on the '40. The one on it now has wireless remote - and that will be key in the new bumper on the Colorado

Interesting aside there - I could probably send the winch back to smittybilt because they have a lifetime warranty.... but I need the control box for my car trailer winch... so this works out okay.
onto voiding every warranty... this time, wire edition

so with much shorter wires

and the alternator in place and hooked up

it's alive!

and the regulator is now mounted

also now have a closed system on the transfer case... the 4:1 gears seems to kick a lot of oil up and through the vent... ah well, fixed


one fun fact - so I need an ignition hot wire. That should be the ignition wire. it's not as it is... there's a positive bleed (and explains my need to leave this on a battery maintainer)... so tomorrow
1) find an ignition hot wire without a bleed
2) connect the throttle control
3) then make sure my oil leak is solved...

[SuperBuickGuy]

dammit I thought I'd fixed this (truth - I knew I hadn't but the lights didn't come on anymore so I could live in denial)

snip snip problem solved


so I've volt tested - it could either have been the tailights electronics or the steering column. It's the cheap chinesium steering column. Let's travel back on the way back machine. I bought this column for the 50 sedanet but was motivated to get the 40 running so I borrowed it. It came from ebay and it's got loads of problems such as the lower bushing falls out, the ground in the internal workings of the column is terrible, and now whatever they used as a signal device must have a short in it....
fixed for now but hand signals are going to get old (still have brake lights/tail lights just no signals)

[SuperBuickGuy]

it was the hazard flasher that was junk. pulled it off, everything works as expected.

[SuperBuickGuy]

here we go, finishing the welder install
cable to throttle

not thrilled with the hookup but it'll work for now

[SuperBuickGuy]

so a couple frustrations... first, I hate leaks - but this one might get a boat-well diaper to simply soak up the oil because I cannot find its source


in other news, I'll call Premier power.... welder doesn't work - think the regulator has an issue.... but we'll see

[SuperBuickGuy]

This is winning

it works


what was wrong. Instructions. I got the 'new' Premier welder. Easy to tell, it doesn't have a plug in it. Problem is with most new things, instructions are a work in progress. Apparently, the tag on the heavy red wire said "only attach this to the alternator" ... okay, I thought, I only attached it and the prior load feed wires to the alternator (but didn't attach the other red wires from the welder to it.... see the issue? I followed instructions.) Had I even thought a second about it, I would have realized that by attaching those wires the battery was no longer isolated from the welder (it's what keeps the car running when you're welding)...

the customer service guy at Premier was great, figured it out in 5 minutes and I fixed it and tested it tonight.

Instructions, like badges, we don't need them.

[SuperBuickGuy]

starting to move things to Sandpoint. This is up. Corvette is already there


so fun happened. Got to our new place - and met one of my neighbors - he was coming down the hill and I was going up. ... on ice.

His Ford 16' flatbed dually was not going back (thankfully he didn't slide into me on the one lane road). I started backing and was sliding all over the place but got back far enough that he could dive into a neighbor's driveway..... then I couldn't go forward. Cool, use the new winch on my Colorado.... nope, I couldn't get the controller plugged in... worked great in the shop but not there.... what to do. Well, I'm not in a straight line and the '40 has a winch.... so I winched the trailer, Colorado and '40 far enough forward to unload the '40. by the time it was done. I had met all of my neighbors, saved 3 of them.... once I got the '40 off the trailer the Colorado had enough power to pull the empty trailer out of the way. Then the neighbor tried to drive out of the driveway.... slid into a tree. Ever try to pull at 12k lb truck with a 5k lb '40? So I buried the '40 in the ditch and pulled him out. Once he was out, I had to winch out the ditch because there were trees that wanted my roof and window frame if I'd gone forward (yeah, I saved myself twice).... but got to meet all the neighbors and they deemed me 'handy'.

for the odd troll who still is here.... on one lane roads, the vehicle going uphill has the right of way - so technically the neighbor should have yielded... he couldn't but so no big deal.... and lordy is it a mess up there now - it went for -6 for a high last week to 36 for a low...

but the most important part is I drove all over my property in the snow (big grin).

[DanStokes]

starting to move things to Sandpoint. This is up. Corvette is already there


so fun happened. Got to our new place - and met one of my neighbors - he was coming down the hill and I was going up. ... on ice.

His Ford 16' flatbed dually was not going back (thankfully he didn't slide into me on the one lane road). I started backing and was sliding all over the place but got back far enough that he could dive into a neighbor's driveway..... then I couldn't go forward. Cool, use the new winch on my Colorado.... nope, I couldn't get the controller plugged in... worked great in the shop but not there.... what to do. Well, I'm not in a straight line and the '40 has a winch.... so I winched the trailer, Colorado and '40 far enough forward to unload the '40. by the time it was done. I had met all of my neighbors, saved 3 of them.... once I got the '40 off the trailer the Colorado had enough power to pull the empty trailer out of the way. Then the neighbor tried to drive out of the driveway.... slid into a tree. Ever try to pull at 12k lb truck with a 5k lb '40? So I buried the '40 in the ditch and pulled him out. Once he was out, I had to winch out the ditch because there were trees that wanted my roof and window frame if I'd gone forward (yeah, I saved myself twice).... but got to meet all the neighbors and they deemed me 'handy'.

for the odd troll who still is here.... on one lane roads, the vehicle going uphill has the right of way - so technically the neighbor should have yielded... he couldn't but so no big deal.... and lordy is it a mess up there now - it went for -6 for a high last week to 36 for a low...

but the most important part is I drove all over my property in the snow (big grin).

Sounds like Hell to me. But to each his/her own.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Sounds like Hell to me. But to each his/her own.

If I was a Rico Suave like you, then sure, but I have a snowsuit body, not a bikini body.

[silver_bullet]

[SuperBuickGuy]

Well, Shipwreck is back.... moving is a lot of work, so I've been avoiding fixing this issue.
The short is the power steering pump leaks. It shouldn't leak, it's got 4k miles on it. But it leaks - I've been avoiding taking it apart because I figure I'm opening a can of worms. Between the adding of the hydroassist steering, the hydroboost brakes, and the heat generated from all of this - I think I'm on borrowed time with the pump... plus, it didn't make noise and it would leak down past the hole and be fine.... fine, I say.

but it's time to figure out - mostly because I'm going to be at SEMA and I figure that if I diagnose the issue, I can look for solutions there.
This is pretty easy to take apart, it's just a front drive from a Tahoe

but first, look for the leak

I have no idea
The level it won't leak
hard to see but just below where the dipstick shows empty


and, of course, the fun of this is I'm not sure I know where my power steering pulley puller is.... moving... ugh

[SuperBuickGuy]

to remind

I pulled the pump enough to get a good look at the back and my 'assumption' doesn't appear true

I filled it with more oil tonight and cleaned the snot out of it - but it really appears to be leaking from either the adapter or from the front seal...

so the question is:
do I upgrade? it'd be nice to add capacity which would aid cooling and get rid of the sheet metal tank....