As any of you that have read my posts the last 3 weeks would know, I am not a good mechanic, but I am just stupid enough to try anything. Here is a little verification of that fact.

Yesterday I posted that among other problems with my new engine install, I was not reading any oil pressure on my gauge. Well due to all the issues I have been trying to overcome I did not sleep a wink last night. While sitting on my porch at 4:30 this morning having a smoke it came to me that the blk/brn&blk/wht wires I was asking about yesterday had to be grounds. Needless to say instead of installing the new starter I bought last night, I ran new engine to firewall ground and then grounded these two on the engine.

After doing that the starter was just a cranking machine, so now I am ready to tackle the next problem which just happened to be the oil pressure gauge. I went trotting up to checker auto to buy a new oil pressure sensor and figured I would just change it right there in the parking lot then head to the junkyard to see what else I could scavenge.

Being the intelligent thoughtful mechanic I am, I broke the plastic head off the sensor when trying to get it out, no biggie I figure checker has all the tools I need to take care of it, ooops they have nothing bigger than a 7/8 open end and no sockets at all (store tools just for parking lot use). I sat there with some oversized pliers trying to get it to break free, no use wasn't happening. Went back into store to see if they had a soucket I could buy.

Again I had no sleep last night. I pulled out my new sensor and tried to find a socket that was deep enough to go over it and loosen the 1-1/16 hex on the base. Their deep sockets just wouldn't quite go down far enough. So now I borrow a crescent wrench and I try and try to get an angle on the hex to be able to break it free. Just couldn't get the angle I needed.

The guy at checker says sorry that is all we have. Well I been screwin around with this thing in the parking lot for almost an hour now so I figure since I only live about a mile away I will just go home and deal with it.

I get in the truck and try to start it, fortunately I still had the hood off as I am still trouble shooting, a 1/4" dia spout of oil comes shooting out of the engine covering 3 parking spaces (no cars thank god) and the front doors at checker. I look under the truck and there is about a 4 ft puddle of nice expensive synthetic oil dripping from every inch of my engine compartment.

I go heading back into checker and apologize for my stupidity and mention that not getting it out here was really not an option. I take a 1-1/16 open end wrench and go fight my way through the oil slick and crawl up into the engine compartment. I used the open ended wrench and a pair of pliers for leverage to get the base of the sensor out.

Long about the time I get it out the lightbulb comes on, because I had broken the plastic top off the sensor, any socket would have worked just fine.

Needless to say I sheepishly head back into checker and give them back the new off the shelf inventory 1-1/16" open ended wrench and asked if they had anything I could use to clean up my mess. All they had to absorb the oil spill was ice melt. I took the ice melt and spread it all over and they hand me an old straw broom to sweep it up with. Then they tell me they have no dustpan.

Ice melt is not a good oil absorbent. sweeping sucked and I had to leave it in a pile by the curb. Now that I have cleaned my engine and am not feeling quite as embarrassed I am heading up there with some kitty litter and a decent broom amd dust pan.

Yall have a great day!

Lee

 

lol, some days just arent worth getting out of bed.

 

oh damn, I have had those days, luckily ya didnt bust a knuckle or two on the firewall...haha

 

Thats funny! LMAO I really like the part where you "fight your way through the oil slick" roflmao! However , any auto parts store that doesn't have atleast a couple different size OIL SENDING UNIT sockets in stock (or at least a universal one is bad enough, but to not even have a bag of speedi-dri ,is even funnier than fighting your way through the slick, and I would find another parts store even if I had to drive farther to get to it.

 

I did bust a knuckle but left that part out. now my friggin vacuum port switch has a broken teat and imma use my dremel and some glue to fix it. Also catalytic converter is just a bangin.

This truck was such a bargain at 500.00, yipppppeeeeee!

 

Believe it or not, you will save time , money ,effort if you get the right tools. They don't have to be the best money can buy.

 

I feel guilty from deriving enjoyment from other peoples misadventures, but this made me feel a whole lot better about all the time i spent putzing w/ my dak since I got it...

I had the same problem you did only with my o2 sensor. Even after a week of fighting with it and every tool imaginable (except of course the 02 sensor socket) i gave up and took it to 3 repair places, my usual, new favorite, and one up the road. All three told me theyd have to drop the tranny and replace the y pipe. My solution? move it about a foot back, and make my own bung lol. So i have a stud of the origional in still, and then i welded up a new one that i drill and tapped. The drill and tapping was the second biggest pain. I spent 3 days finding the right size (ended up being 18mm awkard thread) I spent over 50 bux in tools, only to go to the most expensive store around to find not only the tools i needed... but cheaper.

ah good times...

oh yeah did i mention getting stuck 200 mi up north w/ no crank signal about 500lbs of camping supplies and a boat? It sat in the local service station parking lot for 6 weeks (longest 6 weeks of my life...) fried wires ruined my whole summer...

 

Ouch!! I feel your pain. I think I woulda stayed on the mountain until somebody volunteered to come fix my truck.

I got another quick question and am too tired to look up any threads. How critical is the air cleaner gasket? I am still running extremely rich and pinging like a ping pong ball.

Tomorrow is map coolant iac and whatever other sensors i can find.

Gonna leave that durn o2 for last and we all know what that means.

 

Nice! LOL I like that story. Something similar happed to me, once in high school I had a low 89 TA I hated the speed bumps. I would grind my frame. This once I guess I hit the bump wrong. And when I got out of school there was a huge puddle of oil over the next 6 spaces or so. I was stupied enough back then to try to dive it to the gas station around the corner to put in oil every few blocks to get home (not to far). I got an egine knock around half way home. Thank God Chevy parts are cheep.

 

sounds like you had a good time. i fought mine for a while and then just said screw it and spent the 8 bucks on a socket and it turned into a 5 min job! but when i was putting my engine together i forgot to put the oil sending unit in when i was priming it up on the stand, it was pretty bad, but had really good oil pressure!!!