Toraku Puraburemasu
My truck is having problems. :/
Wed. evening, when I got home, I could smell coolant vapors coming from under my hood. That might be no big deal in the summer, when things are hot, but this time of year it sets off warning bells. I looked underneath and saw a good stream of fluid coming from up in the engine. I poped the hood, but could not see where it was coming from. I had changed the water pump around four years ago and the thermostat around five years ago. I did a good job sealing them up then so it couldn't be leaking from there.
I was able to limp back and forth from work, losing a gallon of fluid each way, for the next two days. I finally was able to tear into it on Saturday and found the gasket that seals the timing chain cover to the engine block had a blown part of it's gasket, near the top of the engine, about 1/8th of an inch wide. The waterpump mounts to the case and there are a couple of ports that flow through it to the engine block. I guess after close to 240k miles and 12 years, the seal finally gave out.
So I looked up in my repair manual what I am going to have to do to replace the seal. The job was going to be big, I wasn't sure if I could do it bymyself with the tools I had on hand. I know I would have no problem if I was up north, I have access to everything I would possibly need, here, that's another story. I had to bum a ride from my coworker and do some tool and parts shopping, $250 later I had everything I thought I would need.
I pulled more parts off the engine and got down to the harmonic ballancer on the end of the crankshaft. I tried to lock the transmission in gear to keep the crankshaft from spinning while I turn on the bolt holding the harmonic balancer on, didn't work. It was dark for 2 hours at that point and all I was doing was spinning the gears in my mind, so I gave up for the night.
Today, I went to the hardware store to pick up some materials and more tools so I could custom build a rig that would hold everything in place while I turn on the bolt. I took two threaded rods, 18" long and bent the last 3 inches of one end on each. The HB has two holes in it that I put the short part in and than put the rest of the rod through some holes in the frame. I then put a nut and washer on the bolt to lock in in place on the frame. I was then able to put a long breaker bar and a 1 and 1/4 inch socket on the bolt and pulled with everything I got to get it loose. The threaded rods started to bend and stretch, but the bolt broke loose just as I was running out of strength to pull! ::phew:: I took the bolt out and then put on the puller tool and extracted the HB. I then spent the rest of the afternoon and a couple more hours past dark removing more engine parts and cleaning dirt and grease iff the engine block.
Tomorrow I am going to take off the last two bolts holding the cover to the oil pan and take a pic of the offending gasket and the most I have ever dissassembled my engine. I can then put the new gasket in place and start the reassembly process. I won't be able to finish it until a special tool I ordered online gets in to reinstall the HB. That one cost me a cool$110. :(
Total cost of tools and parts, $400. Cost if I took it to a mechanic, $1000 min. probably more.