And Now We Wait And See . . .

I was outside and under the rig a little after 1pm to reinstall our rig’s gasket/oil adapter head/filter combination, and hopefully finally fix this long-term pesky oil leak.

The only problem I had was keeping the gasket aligned with the adapter head.

Oil Rig Adapter Gasket

It’s hard to tell from the photo but the gasket and the adapter head are keyed and the bolt holes only line up in one position.

When I installed it the last time the gasket was stuck to the adapter head with the Permatex stuff so I had no problem with it shifting around. But without the sealer I had to just get one bolt started very loosely, and then used a long screwdriver to move the gasket into the right spot and then installed another bolt.

After I had all four installed and snugged down with my standard ratchet, I set my torque wrench to 20# and tighten the bolts until the ‘click’.

Oil Filter Adapter and Gasket Installed

Next, after I took a break, I filled my new oil filter with oil and back under rig, I lifted the filter into the place and got it started after a few tries. The real problem with this is that the filter + oil weighs about 10 pounds, and holding it overhead with one hand is not exactly easy. But finally I did get it started and tightened down by hand.

Then I used my filter strap wrench to do the final 3/4 turn to snug it down tight. And I was done.

A couple of our blog readers suggested that I let things set for 24 hours or so before I crank it up for a leak test. So since I’m not in any real hurry I’ll wait until tomorrow to give a high-idle (1000rpm) test for 30 minutes or so.

I had originally planned to do our 120 test drive this coming Sunday, but now I think will wait until Sunday week, the 28th.

And then we’ll see.

If it all looks well, we plan on heading up to Alabama for a family and friends visit. Really looking forward to it.



Thought For The Day:

A Little High and To The Left 

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