^^ Yup, I agree. Long as it's apart, inspect and plasti-gage the bearings. Now's the time to find and fix a problem, not on the first road test

 

Thanks CH and Rock. . . if there is no "obvious" damage, can I assume that a good washing with WD 40 will suffice, or should I pull the main bearings to be sure? I have never worked on the engine to this degree and so I don't want to mess with anything that is not critical (kind of a don't fixt what ain't broken).

 

Besides metal shards in the oil pan, there's really no way I know of to see "obvious" damage. You're going to have to take off the caps to see that. I mean you could gamble and realize that you may be pulling your engine if you don't pull off the caps. But if you catch some light enough damage now, you could replace the bearings and know you're good to go. It is a little bit of surgery, especially doing it on your back. Below are a couple pics to show you what coolant does to bearings (how long and how may miles were you driving when you first noticed the coolant going low?

 

I have alldata and was looking at the specs for the clearances. .0008-.0020 is the specified range. . . as far as how long? I really would be guessing, less than a 100 miles is what I am thinking. When I pulled my intake manifold gasket it was in pretty bad shape. On a positive note, there was very little in metal shavings on the oil plug magnet. . but I am beginning to wonder. Once I drop the pan and get into the bearings, I will post some pictures of what I find.

I wish I could take a week of vacation to do this, but it is wedged between work and family. This isn't my daily driver so I can leave it to work on .

 

I know exactly your pain trying to wedge it in. My goal was to turn the key on my truck a week ago. Things got in the way, and then it began to snow, and snow, and snow...and I have a lot of area to clear. So the truck time was taken up moving white crap from point 'A' to point 'B'. What a waste of life I'll never get back. For any of you SoCal people out there...take it from a SoCal native...if you meet a women from PA (or basically north of the Mason-Dixon latitude)...RUN AWAY!

Anyway, don't get me wrong...no metal shavings in the pan does not mean you don't have a problem. My point was metal shavings in the pan means you definitely have a problem.

The way I see it you have three options: 1) pull all the caps (not at the same time) and inspect the bearing surfaces and crank journal (most preferred); 2) pull a only a couple caps and base the others on what you find (hmmm); 3) don't pull any caps, flush the hell out of it with WD-40, get some oil flush, use that when everything is back together with the oil, run truck for no more than a few minutes, drain the oil change the filter, refill with new oil, rinse and repeat for as many times as feels right to you.

This last method is just plain gambling. If there is already enough damage to the bearings, it won't be long until they're going to make things worse and your crank journals will get eaten up. Then the wife will call you and say "Honey, the truck lost a lot of power and there's a real loud screeching noise coming from the engine." Or, if there is no damage the flushing may displace all the coolant and you'll be golden. Having been there, with as much coolant as you say came out and how much driving was done, I'd probably pull the caps.

I don't know if the coolant actually has some kind of chemical reaction that eats the bearings, or if just because the coolant displace the thin film of oil that is supposed to be between the bearings and the journals....which results in metal on metal. I just know that coolant in the oil is very, very nasty.

 

Well, I plan on doing option 1. I have taken this project from the intake mainfold around to the timing chain, down to the oil pan, so now I am going to do the plastigage on the bearings and crank journal.

I told my wife her garage is going to be taken for a while. . . her reply "lovely"

 

Okay all . . . with the help of my boy we pulled the front diff out. It was awkward, but we did it. . .

Now on to the more pressing issue. I can't remove the oil pan. I removed all the bolts, including the three on the bell housing (13 total). I even removed two 10mm posts that held a bracket against the pan.

So, the pan is loose and moves slightly, but will not drop. I have clearance around the whole pan, so it is not hung up on anything.

The pan should drop straight down, right?

I suspect that someone has worked on the engine and RTV the pan to the block. The only reason I suspect that is a blob of silicone was pulled out by me around the oil line bypass.

Before I take a razor blade around the pan I just wanted a 2nd opinion. Has anyone ever heard of someone doing that?

Let me know if I am missing a bolt. . . I suspect I am not, but then you never know.

Anxiously awaiting . . .

 

did you remove the two nuts inside the bellhousing - there is two rubber plugs that are on the bottom of the bellhousing that are removed to gain axcess

 

Glad I asked. . . thanks for the reply. That will be my project tonight . . .anyone know off hand, are those bolts tough to get to?

 

I ran in a 3/8 1/2" socket on about 9" or so extensions just shoot straight up and remove