the oil pan dilema...

Well guys... got around to doing the dreaded oil pan gasket after I tried the filter adapter and the valve cover. Here's how she went...

Friday night: Wife." how long you think this'll take?"
ME : " book say about 4hrs, but guys ( insert your name here) say about 10-12.
Wife: " 10-12 hrs!!! ( very loud )
Me: I'll deal with the leak if you'll knock it off ok?"
Wife: no you probably need to fix it before something bad happens..."

Sat morning 5am: Get up make coffee, had jeep up on jack stands already.
Have new O2 sensor. Bust knuckles installing it. Came out easier than I anticipated.
Jeep 1, scott 0
unbolt sway bar and lower shock bolts. Bust knuckles AGAIN!
Jeep 2 , scott 0
6:45 am oil pan accessable. Get more coffee.
start undoing bolts. Crap falls and gets in my eyes. STOP. Wash face and eyes out.
7am keep taking out bolts. Shoulders a litle sore now...
8:00 have bolts out. Pan stuck. Find screw driver and hammer. Hammer barely gets enough play to seperate gasket. Bang knuckles AGAIN.
Jeep 3 , scott 0
8:30 Pan loose, flang bent pretty good. Have Gloves on now.
8:45 How does this come out? I ask GOD since no one else is around... NO REPLY...
9:15 out the passenger side only. Thanks for your support GOD... He must have had me on a delay or something...
9:30 am start scrapping gasket. Shoulders and back now hurt...
Wife: how's it going?
ME: ok for never doing one of these before.
Wife: your parents will be here in a couple of hours, please help me clean the house.
ME: Ok. anything for a break at this point...
Sat night 5pm back to scraping gasket off. Bust knuckles again... hands looking bad at this point. Find gloves and get the rest of the crap off. start to fall alseep under jeep at 7pm
Wife: 7:15 " how much longer?"
ME: I'm putting the gasket on the block now. Done with the first half in 15 min.
30 min later...
Wife: " Spend some time with us will you!!?! :yap:
Me: Good I could use your hand to rub my back, it feels like its on fire...
Wife: You stink Take a shower.
Me: take shower, try to have positive attitude for Sunday morning...:speepin:

Sunday morning 5 am
Make coffee. Shoulders still hurt really bad, I'm thinking maybe I should have paid someone to do this...
5:20am coffee burnt my mouth. Start undoing the bolts that held the gasket up to the block.
5:45am struggle with oilpan to get back into it's original spot :twak:
6:20am putting bolts in now. More crap in my eyes... Get eyewash solution that I bought yesterday at Wally-mart...
6:30 can see again. All bolts in , but ONE ?? Where the hell did it go?
6:45am found it. It was the one up by the exhaust down pipe in the corner. You know, the one that the oilpan was now covering...:flamemad:
7:30 got all of the bolts out and am reinstalling them. 7:45 Where's the torque wrench???
7:55 start torqueing them down...
8:10 Wife: How much longer??? Your parents are awake now...
ME: " I fell physically worn out, this is like a nightmare, but I am awake and can't escape. My back feels like it is on fire and everytime I have to reach for something I fell like I am going to scream.
Wife: " how much longer??

I now understand how domestic violence happens, though I don't condone it and never would hurt her. But man she's pushing it :twak:

8:20am in shower. All I need to do now is install starter and oil and filter and see how bad it leaks. ( I hope not I tell GOD !! )

10:30am Son takes morning nap with wife. DAMN that looks like a good IDEA !!! :laugh:

10:45 Starter in. Oil going in now. VERY GLAD I stopped drinking years ago...Back is killing me. Feel like an elephant is sitting on me...
Jeep 7, scott 0
11:00 am Fire it UP!! Where's the leak ??? No leaks!! :clap:
11:20am bolting up the suspension whiles its running... Still no leaks.... :clap:
11:30am back out of garage... leave out if front of house running while I clean up the garage.
12:00 Wife sends daughter...
Daughter : how much longer...
ME: Tell your mother the motor blew up...
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP I hear coming down the stairs...Wife :flamemad:
Wife: What is going on NOW !!!
Me: look outside.
Wife: your jeep is running ???
ME :laugh:
Wife : thats not funny...
Me : your just mad, cause despite taking all of the flak from you, busting my knuckles, getting dirt and crap in my eyes, talking to GOD all weekend,and finishing it right with no help from any outside sorces...
WIVES... most just don't understand.

ME: looking at jeep with pride as it has been running for 45-60 minutes with no leaks.

2pm . .go to store in jeep and pull into parking lot. NO LEAKS!!

Back still sore this afternoon, but I would sure like to thank all of you who helped me throught this project:
GOD... you were the only one listening to me, I know my wife wasen't... but i love her anyway :kissyou:

Martin: I know your out there. Thanks for all the advise. Just wish I'd have remembered the 1 bolt I couldn't find. Thought about how you must have felt at that point.

HI style: your info helped out too. Thanks man...

and to everyone else arty:

If anyone find this thread and needs help I'd be glad to talk you through it, just not all at ONCE !!!

JEEP 7, Scott 8 in overtime!!

Also thanks for all the prior threads Eagle. Very helpful!!
OH YES and thanks to FLEXALL 454 for the RELIEF everyone needs after a project like this !!

hehe, very funny, glad you won... but you know in the end... the Jeep really wins! :viking:

:roflmao: Sounds like most of my Jeep projects, except my wife's responses are usually " I'm happy for you" , and "When can I put my jeep back in the garage?". Glad it worked out for you.

i got two words for you (or does it count as 3):

GLOVES,
SAFETY-GOGGLES

:laugh3:

I feel fortunate - my wife doesn't get after me when I'm working on a truck (usually it's hers, and she knows it takes me longer whenever she starts asking questions...) and is willing to run parts for me. Here's the trick to that one - write down EXACTLY what you need, and make sure she knows who to talk to when she gets there. Take the time to introduce her to the parts guys as well - if you spend as much money at the local as I do, it's a good idea to get them to make the association. Make sure to do this BEFORE you send her for parts later!

Why write it down? Because, if it comes back wrong, it's NOT her fault, and she'll be willing to do it again because you didn't get after her for wrong parts (she's got a note in your very own handwriting, how in the Hell are you going to argue it?)

It also helps to teach your wife a little about mechanics, so you can explain things a little easier and she can help you with troubleshooting (believe me, starting with useful information shortens or eliminates the "road test" to find out what broke this time...)

5-90

Wow, that sounds like fun! I have the perfect solution for you! Lift it to at least 8"s and you wont have to worry about half that crap again! :jester: I had to do that job twice on my 89'. Took me a whole 2 hours for each one. Oh and I have to agree with dogtired, the Jeep will always win!

MATT

FANTASTIC play-by-play

Definitely a classic. Well done (both the job, and the report).

:thumbup: :clap: :clap:

Scrappy said:

Wow, that sounds like fun! I have the perfect solution for you! Lift it to at least 8"s and you wont have to worry about half that crap again! :jester: I had to do that job twice on my 89'. Took me a whole 2 hours for each one. Oh and I have to agree with dogtired, the Jeep will always win!

MATT

Click to expand...

dang right skippy! :cheers:

mad maXJ said:

i got two words for you (or does it count as 3):

GLOVES,
SAFETY-GOGGLES

:laugh3:

Click to expand...

Yup. VERY important.

Glad you got it licked.


Rev

Been there done that. though I do lay a 4X8 foot sheet of plywood down, seems I spend most of my time wiggling around on my gravel driveway. The gravel along with my senior citizen status, sure makes for some serious aches and pains.
Wife doesn´t mess with me much anymore, I throw rocks. :explosion

Convince your wife that you are actually saving money by doing this all yourself. This usually keeps them out of the garage.

rws said:

Convince your wife that you are actually saving money by doing this all yourself. This usually keeps them out of the garage.

Click to expand...

My wife knows me well enough to know that it's a matter of personal pride for me to fix my own car, with certain exceptions (alignments, for instance.) Thus, she knows that for me, it's a form of therapy for me to climb under the car for hours on end......

Consequently, her favorite phrase is "NOW what are you finding wrong that needs fixing?"

rws said:

Convince your wife that you are actually saving money by doing this all yourself. This usually keeps them out of the garage.

Click to expand...

I did. I told her that 10-11 hrs at a shop was worth $500.00 or so...

Wife:" When can we go shopping to spend the money YOU saved? "

Pretty sure she was being sarcastic... :laugh:

SCOTT FISCHER said:

I did. I told her that 10-11 hrs at a shop was worth $500.00 or so...

Wife:" When can we go shopping to spend the money YOU saved? "

Pretty sure she was being sarcastic... :laugh:

Click to expand...

if she is like most females, most likely not.

Haha does it really take that long to do? I have to replace mine on my 90xj soon.

My wife is a combination of AZJeff's wife and 5-90's wife. Thank God for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice job. I felt your pain all the way through the write-up.

I'm shocked at the time. It took me about 1 1/2 hours last time.

BrettM said:

SAFETY-GOGGLES:laugh3:

Click to expand...

Latex exam gloves are usually sufficient. Some of us wear spectacles, and safety specs can fog up somethin' bad. This is why I have a clear full face shield on a hook in the garage instead - the airflow behind that helps to preserve vison (and it keeps solvents out of my various facial openings anyhow. Acetone tastes bad, smells worse in close contact, and burns mucous membranes like you can't believe...)

When you haven't wrenched much before (or for a long time) and you are working on stands or ramps instead of a hoist, a small project can take a long time. Just getting up and down off the floor is a lot of work for some of us bigger, older guys.

Still feels good when you fire it up and it all works. And no doubt that you have saved at least $500.
arty: