Last night was the first night I worked on my "new" TR6 since leaving
on a business trip two weeks ago. So, rather than tackle the list of
things that really need to be done on the car, I figured I'd tackle
something simple and fun, like an oil & filter change.
What follows is a story of my adventure with the oil & filter change.
Let us simply say, that of all the cars I've ever changed the oil on
(at least 10 different ones) the TR6 is definitely the most
interesting! One question I do have, that I'll ask now instead of
make you wait until the end of the story is "What type of oil pressure
should I expect?" The old oil & filter typically gave me about
40-50psi. The new oil & filter gives 60-65psi at idle. Is this
normal?
---------- Ken's First TR6 Oil Change ----------
I have no idea when the oil & filter were last changed. The previous
owner, who never drove the car past the end of his driveway until my
test drive, had not changed it. Before that, who knows?
Well, let's see, I have everything I need -- a new Unipart filter and
gasket, 5 quarts of new Castrol GTX 20W50 (plus an extra quart for use
over the next however many miles), and plenty of oil changing stuff
accumulated over many years of home oil changes. I am ready!
OK, this is no problem. Put the car up on jackstands, remove oil
drain plug, watch my oil-recycling container fill up, and up, and up,
and start to overflow. Ack! I wasn't sure if my 12-quart container
had one or two oil changes in it already -- guess it was two! Oh
well, no major catastrophe, managed to put the drain plug back in, and
only spill about two paper towels worth of oil on the floor. Cleaned
up the mess, drain off a gallon of oil into another container, and
continue...
Time to take the filter off. Gee, how *is* one supposed to turn the
oil filter bolt? Hmm. A ratchet won't fit back in there, maybe if I
disconnect the electricals from the oil pressure switch? OK, that
works, now I can get a quarter turn with a combination wrench. (I
hope it doesn't take too many revolutions...) After a while, the
filter pops off, neatly drops oil into my container, and I'm all set,
except for the oil all over my hands. But wait, how do I get the
filter canister out of this space between the engine, body, and
steering column? Doesn't look like it will fit out the top, maybe out
the bottom? Augh! It *almost* fits out the bottom, but the clutch
slave cylinder is in the way. Maybe a different orientation? Well,
do I really *need* to take out the canister to clean it? I could just
pop a new filter element in. No, this is my first oil change on the
TR6, I should at least take a look inside to see how the filter
works...
Seven orientations later, I decide to take off the clutch slave
cylinder to get the oil filter canister out. (There has *GOT* to be a
better way, does anybody have any suggestions?)
Hmm, this oil filter element is a lot different than the Unipart one I
have to replace it. "Crosland, No. 479, Made in UK." The old filter
looks really nice, with metal top & bottom pieces instead of the
paper/fibre pieces on the Unipart filter. Well, I hope I don't need
to take those metal pieces off to use with the Unipart filter, they
seem to be part of the filter... (I don't need to keep them, do I?)
Put in new gasket, finagle canister and new filter into position,
tighten down, reconnect oil pressure switch, replace oil drain plug,
put slave cylinder back on, pour in 5 new quarts of oil, put car back
on floor. OK, now for the moment of truth, sit down inside, and start
it up...
Two agonizing seconds until oil light goes out, oil pressure gauge
still hasn't moved, three more seconds, and the gauge shoots up to
65psi! Yay! That wasn't so bad, and that's more pressure than we had
before! Well, the shop manual says to check for leaks, let's take a
look. Oh my gosh, that isn't a leak, oil is *pouring* out from
between the filter and engine! Quickly turn off engine. Oh boy, at
least a quart of oil on the floor, in about 15 seconds, and it's time
for dinner! Oh well, some oil-dry on the floor and a basin under the
continuing leak will hold things off until after dinner.
Some hours later, after dinner and a trip to the grocery store in the
Taurus (picking up a couple extra quarts of oil, too), and I'm back to
the TR6. Take off filter canister again, (let's just leave it down
between the body, engine, and steering this time), inspect the gasket.
Looks okay, hmm, maybe the gasket twisted out of place when the oil
filter canister revolved while I was tightening down the bolt? Refit,
tighten again (being more careful to keep canister from rotating on
gasket while tightening), check oil. Gee, only about 1 quart low
after all -- I guess that oil really spreads out a lot on the floor to
look like a gallon... Moment of truth time again...
Start up again, light goes out, 65psi again, look under car -- no
leaks! Hooray!
Back out of garage to let the car warm up fully, clean up mess in
garage, and then go for a test drive! Oh, the bliss of a nighttime
drive through our neighborhood! So *this* is why I bought this car!
Check for leaks afterwards -- everything still fine.
Now, on to the clutch! (and stop lights, and back-up lights, and...)
--ken
Kenneth B. Streeter | ARPA: streeter@sanders.com
Lockheed Sanders | UUCP: ...!uunet!sanders.com!streeter
PTP2-A001 |
65 River Road | Voice: (603) 885-9604
Hudson, NH 03051 | Fax: (603) 885-0631
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