My Second Home

You all know my family from the picture up above. Of course, I’m the bald one in the back. Next to me is Jodie, the first Lab that we adopted. Next is the dark, zany dog, Coco. we got her after Jodie so Jodie would have company. The dog in front is Sandy. We rescued her and her nine pups from a shelter just a few hours before her time was up. All the puppies got adopted, but Sandy stayed around. Last, but certainly not least is my adorable wife Helen, who loves all animals and is the real reason that Sandy still reside with us.

My other love is the motorhome lifestyle to which we have grown accustomed. In fact, I still spend a lot of time with my motorhome and can be found there more often than not.

 

Oops, wrong picture!

There, that’s more like it!

At least Helen knows where to find me, but I’m not ALWAYS underneath. Sometimes I get to go inside.

See? Here I am inside the motorhome, but unfortunately I’m under the bed. It happens.

It’s impossible for me to stay clean, but at least it’s for a worthy cause.

And, this is the object of my work, it’s the thingamaratchefrass that holds the oil filter, which screws on under the black part. Oh, the plate does a lot more! The fitting on the top supplies the lubricating oil for the turbine and when the plate finally came free, I got some anti-freeze on me. So it’s a multifunction piece. I would hate to have to buy another.

The reason for all this is that a small but persistent leak started from the “ear” at the right of the filter mount. It wasn’t much, but it would eventually end up on the right side of my white Jeep and it made quite a mess. When I went to change the oil after our trip to Pensacola, I found the whole driver’s side of the engine was covered with the black diesel oil. I couldn’t tell where the oil was coming from as it was being blown all over.

I changed the oil and filter, then I degreased the engine, twice. When I ran the engine, I looked underneath, but everything was still wet, so I stopped to try another day. The next day, everything was dry and I ran the engine again. This time I found the oil seeping ever so slowly from the gasket between the plate and the block.

I thought about trying to tighten the bolts, but the possibility of breaking one was something I didn’t want to chance. However, when I removed the bolts, a couple of them were no very tight. Is it possible that they loosened up? Should I use Loc-Tite when I replace the gasket? I will get the answer from Ring Caterpillar tomorrow.

More later.