these events led to a reassessment.

so i decided to trade my old family heirloom ‘69 ford truck for fixing all of the doors and windows plus some other frustrating items on the van.

i decided to try one of those 5 minute engine flush mechanic in a can deals, so i drained the oil out, putting back the flush plus 4 quarts or so.  running the van after that was interesting, the metal between the exhaust manifold and tailpipe glowed red hot while it idled.  sounded like crap, too.  after changing the oil and filter i went for a drive. 

results?  shifting better, no smoke, idles better.  i have to admit i was feeling pretty good about my efforts for the day.  unfortunately, it was hard to find anyone that interested in my brilliance.  oh well, i finally won a round!

 my friend janet gave me a van for my project- 1985 gmc safari cargo van.  it had been sitting for 2 years with a day of driving in between.  v6 with a carbeurator, automatic.  the air conditioning doesn’t work, the power locks and windows are both out, and one of the back windows is shattered.  i am up for a challenge!

so here is an approximate parts cost talley for the van so far-

valve cover gaskets: $20

locking gas cap: $8 (i just wanted one)

miscellaneous vacuum stuff: $15

air filter: $6

fuel filter: $2

rtv sealant: $3

5 quarts of oil: $15

oil filter: $4

1 gallon antifreeze: $12

piece of fuel line: $4

battery: $70

barryman’s b12: $3

degreaser: $3

manual choke: $10

exhaust stud kit: $4

i also had to get an oil filter wrench- $3, a set of ignition wrenches- $15, a set of easy-outs- $10, a multi-purpose funnel- $2

i have replaced the filters, surface cleaned and unplugged the carbeurator, replaced the driver’s side valve cover gasket twice, changed the fluids, replaced 2 out of 3 driver side manifold to exhaust studs (thanks for the help, ken!) but i still have to get the last one out.  i took a copy of the veci sticker and drew a diagram of the actual hoses and components on the van, and discovered that the pcv valve, egr valve, and efe valve are not functioning.  worked on the pcv valve today, hooking it back up to the carb.  i think that the head is clogged from it not being hooked up to vacuum. 

with high hopes i headed off for oklahoma city (from norman, 25? miles away) made it to moore (halfway there) when a lady at a stop light flagged me, yelling fire!  i pulled in to taco bueno and sure enough, oil was once again leaking from the gasket, and had indeed caught fire on the efe valve. oh yeah, i bought a fire extinguisher for $20.  works great, put the fire right out.  so i ate lunch and headed back home.  back in town i hit a series of stoplights and the oil light started to peek on.  i pulled over and turned the van off.  that is when it dumped its oil.  put 4 quarts of oil in (probably 1 too many) waited a bit for it to cool down and limped it home, this time with the engine cover off.  it now makes a nice little knocking sound, spaced out by about a second when idling, and speeding up to a clock like ticking when driving.  there is some scorching in the engine compartment from the fire, but nothing too bad as far as that goes.  i think the fire burned the valve cover gasket. there has been oil standing on the head when i took the cover off and quite a bit of sludge in there. 

i have so far spent maybe a weeks’ worth of time on it, including waiting for things to soak, cool and dry.  this has been spread out greatly because of the relentless array of rain storms that have been happening.

so i am wrapped in anticipation.  since the air cleaner fire incident much has transpired– i spent all day saturday in the autozone parking lot.  i figured at least they had loaner tools and parts if i needed them, not to mention dry asphault to scoot arount on instead of the rocky mud puddle at my house.  the rain has been slowing down repairs and i am getting anxious. 

let me say here that mid-eighties vehicles are the worst- miles of worn out vacuum hoses and strange and expensive emissions control devices in questionable repair.  more likely than not many are missing and they all can affect “driveability”  so i look at the veci sticker and copy it as well as make a new diagram of what actually exists in the van for comparison.  what i know is there is an oil leak involving the driver side rocker arm cover and an exhaust leak between the ex manifold and the tail pipe.  the veci sticker comes up from trying to figure out the item installed in place of  the gasket i thought i had to replace was.

not really wanting to relive the whole thing, and aggrivated at helm publications for not sending out the manual i ordered, i will skip to the funny part.  determined to get back home, i clamp the tailpipe back on over the broken studs and fire up the van.  now the leak is worse, pouring oil on to the tailpipe and filling the van with white smoke.  every time i took my foot off the gas, the van would die, so i had to restart it at every light.  and the windows don’t work, so i had to lean way close to the windshield to see through the smoke.  almost home, but the last stretch was a bit too long, so i had to bail out.  i opened the door and smoke billowed out, the inside of the van looked solid.  i was standing on the other side of the road letting it air out and this guy i passed before i bailed out walked up and said ’smells like oil, i think you blew something.’  i told him i had it under control and got in and drove off.

today i redid the work from saturday.  thought a lot about american car culture.  two other michaels stopped by to keep me company and help out.  beautiful day for a shade tree mechanic.  i gotta go to bed now, but lots to think about.