Thankfully I pulled the dipstick the other day before I ran the start-up procedure.
It was bone dry!
The second-to-the-last time the oil was changed was in Long Beach, and besides putting in 5W-30 instead of 10W-30, they used a gasket on the drain plug that was too big, and didn't seal properly. When my son and I changed the oil last fall, I reused the gasket, as it looked "OK" to me. Over the last 10 months, it's been dripping slowly, and lost ALL the new oil we put in. Just happy I had cardboard and carpet scraps under the car, but I'm going to have to pressure wash "my" side of the garage. Since I use the pressure washer to wash the car, I'll give it a try when I have the car out in the next day or so.
Trip to the auto parts store got me a selection of new gaskets, AND a magnetic oil drain plug, which I was going to use. With the magnet on the new plug, it goes into the oil pan far enough to hit the oil pickup, meaning I can't tighten it, meaning I can't use it.
Oh, well.....One of the gaskets in the kit fit the OEM plug, so that went back in, with the new gasket.
It's been holding a pan full of oil for about four hours now, and not a sign of a drip. I'll run the car tomorrow, and check again after I shut it down to see if it dripped any after warm up.
Hopefully, the gasket and OEM plug hold. Too bad about the magnet plug.
ReplyDeleteThere's a recess in the "oil side" of the OEM plug, and I could put a small magnet in there. I just don't have any "small magnets" right now. One of the gaskets in the assortment fit the OEM plug **perfectly**, and it looks like it's holding the oil in just fine. I'll find out for sure tomorrow when I run the engine and everything warms up.
DeleteI've got a couple of neodymium mags (from an old electric toothbrush motor) that are probably small enough for the OEM plug. Let me know if you want me to snail mail them to ya.
DeleteThanks, but I found some in a box of "stuff" I was cleaning out.
DeleteKeep improvising and soon you will qualify as a Colorado redneck!
ReplyDeleteJust need some bailin' wire and twine!
DeleteIsn't it nice when 'professionals' do their jobs correctly and you pay for it?
ReplyDeleteYeah. Been there, done that, drove out, around the block, right back into the shop (over their objections) and onto the lift and tossed the keys at them and said "Fix it. Next time I'll use big words you won't like" while looking at the line of oil that, well, circled the block.
Amazing how difficult it is to look on a computer or in a book and find the correct part numbers and pull the correct parts and then put them on correctly.
They put the 5W-30 oil in it because "Nobody uses 10W-30". Most of the people on the Celica Supra forum say it's OK, because oils have improved tremendously, but I just think 5W oil is a bit thin. Plus, they didn't use "High Mileage" oil, which is a bit shaky on old cars. I'm sure the gasket they used was as "close as we can get", but it was a one-time-use gasket, so it didn't seal very well the second time. Got a whole box of the little critters now, courtesy of the Toyota dealer.
DeleteWhew... That was 'close' to a mess. And yes, ALWAYS recheck their work.
ReplyDeleteThat would have been hard to do, as I would have had to pull the drain plug! Still, I'm glad I caught it, and now have a bunch of gaskets for later use.
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