Welcome to my brain. It’s messy. It’s interesting. And it’s all connected if you stick around long enough. "Believe Nothing: no matter who said it, even if I have said it, except it agree with your own reason and common sense. Siddhartha Guatamo, the Buddha.

Chasin’ ghosties

IE-LEAKS,,,

Heres what I’ve done: went ahead and replaced that seal today,,, Didn’t see anything wrong with the one I pulled (other than the fact that I warped it when pulling): no tears or flat spots on the lips.

Ominous feelings creep on me at this stage.

Go ahead and put it all back together, even RTV’d the seal ‘seat’, for good measure, (not the seal itself, just where it sits.) Let it all cure for a couple of hours (till I could touch the rtv and not wear it.) and finished re-assembly.

I figured out one shop tool that is gonna be a “must have”: Leak dyes and a Blacklight detector. (also on that list is a block leak detector,,, the funny pump bulb thingy with detector fluid. they are inexpensive and readily purchased.)

Here’s why. I took Bloo to the store after things were settled down and back in place. Pulled into the lot and parked and took a look-a-see,,,

Same damned washed out drippy mess that I had spent this morning cleaning up.

My problem is NOT the seal. Best I can figure is the oil pan gasket at this stage, cuz everything else is DRY,,, that seal I put in, I reached up there with a cotton swab and it came back dry. It looks like its dripping from near there, but that could be blown up there with road turbulance.

Well, I have no desire to pay $65 bucks for a gasket local, when I can get it shipped to me for half that amount with included shipping. Same damned thing: a Blue Felpro one peice that the locals want my left testicle for (and would have to wait till monday to get,,,). BUT, what to do about that leak in the meantime. I cleaned the whole area up again, and rednecked the hell out of it. Washed it with solvent, dried it as good as I could get, washed it again, then ran a HEAVY bead of Grey RTV over that area, working into the gasket seam as best I could, and the whole she-bang has been sitting since. Gonna let it cure overnight ‘to be sure’.

Yes, its a Frellin’ bandaid,,, its likely to NOT HOLD, but right now, short of spending my nutz on a part,,, Should get me by till I have the part in hand. IF NOT, I park her ass, reload Buffalo, and bite the bullet till proper repair can be made.

I’ll be getting dye and light this weekend. I dislike chasing ghosties,,,

Rilly dislike chasing ghosts,,,

LEARN

Live

Love

Laugh

LOAD!

This entry was posted on January 1, 2026 by . It was filed under Uncategorized .

4 responses

  1. Mike in FLA's avatar
    Mike in FLA

    Those ghosties always bugged the crap outta me! Been more than a few times that some redneckin was happening ’round here, too. Most times it were $$ related, though – make do till a paycheck wuz available.

    Never liked doin that, but ya gotta do whut ya gotta do. Really bugged me – until I learned those magic words in the meme! After that, it were much easier.

    Those earl leaks can be a pure dee beotch to chase down – ‘specially when yer drivin’ it around.

    Keep on keepin on, and don’t let it get ya down! Sometimes, ya just gotta out stubborn the dam thing!!

    Y’all take care,
    Mike in FLA.

    Liked by 1 person

    January 2, 2026 at 5:41 am

    • diogenesoftherifle's avatar
      diogenesoftherifle

      yup! Leaks are always easier to find when you have ‘clinical conditions’ like on a lift in a shop: out in the wilds, they get more feral and harder to track.
      gotta do whutya gotta do. I’m hopin’ this ‘bandaid’ holds for a couple days, until the parts are in hand. But, like said, won’t drive her if’n it don’t. 1/4quart of oil to drive 14 miles: thats not just a leak, thats a hemorage.

      Liked by 1 person

      January 2, 2026 at 7:21 am

  2. Fred Lewers's avatar
    Fred Lewers

    BTDT. Dye light kit and block tester are essentials! And spend the money on good block test fluid. I got some cheap pale blue fluid from a major parts chain and didn’t get great results. The color change was not as pronounced. It might have been old. It was what was in stock… But that UV dye kit has paid for itself several times over! In my early and poor days I used a garden variety black light bulb in my drop light and some yellow sunglasses… It doesn’t show quite as well but it worked.

    Liked by 2 people

    January 2, 2026 at 8:44 pm

    • diogenesoftherifle's avatar
      diogenesoftherifle

      Back in the day, i had a three drawer service cart that held 90% of my hand and air tools (still have that cart) and a largish Box (14 drawer if I recall correctly) that held all the ‘shop’ tools I owned: compression and oil gauges, diag tools, specialty stuff like the pin and block to change Ford Ecotek timing belts. (the once a year type tool) I let the big box go for a song to anotherr up-n-coming tech when I went full time audio. NEVER AGAIN!!! those tools are tripled or better in price now.

      Liked by 1 person

      January 2, 2026 at 8:53 pm