“I have little patience with people who take the Bill of Rights for granted. The Bill of Rights, contained in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, is every American’s guarantee of freedom.” - - President Harry S. Truman, “Years of Trial and Hope”
Back in late '81, I bought a Toyota 4WD Long Bed p/u with the 22R 4 cyl. engine. In the late '80s, somehow I cracked the block under the back cylinder. It was a long, curved crack and was leaking oil so badly that I was adding a quart of 10W-40 every 100 miles. Switched to 20W-50 and that slowed to 400-500 miles but was a "female dog" to start that winter. The next spring, a neighbor who was a good mechanic, helped me drop the oil pan and look at the crack. Not only was the flange on the bottom of the long block split from inside to outside, the crack arced up at least 6 inches as it curved towards the front of the motor. We cleane3d it out with carb cleaner spray from the inside and saw the spray going all the way through. After getting the oil, grease, and dirt off, I swabbed it with isopropyl alcohol (IPA) inside and out to remove the last traces of oil. Next came the J.B. Weld steel-filled epoxy which I applied to the inside and forced through the crack to the outside. Using a metal putty knife, I scraped it smooth on the inside except on the flange at the bottom. Because the two sides of the crack in the flange were offset by ~1/8", I scraped the epoxy off like you use a 2x4 to screed concrete. This gave me a smooth surface for the oil pan to mate with after it cured.
That repair lasted about three years and, when the crack came back, the oil loss was light and bearable BUT I did "semi-retire" the truck. In '99, it finally threw a rod and I gave it to a neighbor and let him do what he wanted with it. By that time, it had about 185K on it, the floor in the cab had rust holes behind both front tires, and I had a '97 GMC Sonoma to replace it. The Sonoma, while an enjoyable truck, was traded for the Elantra in '11 as the center U-joint on the drive shaft was going out at 125K after having been replaced at 93K a few years before.
Funny thing. The Sonoma had a 4.3L V6 with 225x75 R15 tires and, even with the AC, I got ~18 mpg in the summer. The Ranger only has a 4L V6 with 235x65 R16 tires and I'm lucky to get 14 mpg. Go figure.
“I have little patience with people who take the Bill of Rights for granted. The Bill of Rights, contained in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, is every American’s guarantee of freedom.” - - President Harry S. Truman, “Years of Trial and Hope”
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