With the stock air filter finally in hand and our latest return home, it was time for some work under the hood. One of the things on my list as well was to determine if the oil pressure sending unit was working or not. You see, after I re-built the dashboard and replaced many of the lights in it, we had an oil pressure warning light ever since.
Our mechanic, Robert at Sunny Services had recommended I find a way to get the oil light to work right or start working towards being able to monitor our oil pressure. Well, the first step was to identify what the sending unit in our rig was so we could replace it.
Once we did that, if the light still was glowing, it was most likely not wired back together correctly during the engine swap. So I went and bought a new unit.
Another issue we had been having is we had gotten a small leak coming through somewhere in the firewall on the driver’s side in the truck cab. Nothing serious, because the bed-liner was doing it’s job, but it needed attended to.
Robert had recommended we open up the cavity under the windshield and clean it out, stating that sometimes debris can build up in there and cause water to drain off where it was not supposed to. Ironically, when we had Gaco treated the truck we hadn’t thought of that possibility, so we had to cut the panel out.
After a few swift cuts and removing the windshield wipers we were in foliage scooping business! Except, there was nothing really in there. 🤔
We gave it a good clean anyway and re-installed the panel and wipers back into place. Next rain we would see if the cleaning had helped. 🤷
While I was outside working under the hood, our support crew was hard at work inside… 🙄
😂
I next began by installing the new oil pressure sending unit, still had a red light glowing. 😓 Which meant we were probably need an oil sending unit and would end up putting in a whole new oil pressure gauge system, but I would check with Robert first.
Before our visit to Sunny Services, we had the next thing on our list to do, which was a biggie for us. This would end up taking us a few days to get all finished. The goal was to move the battery over to the driver’s side of the hood, and re-route all of the wiring over to that side.
The first evening we began by moving the air-horn back towards the camper so the new battery would fit. We then installed a new battery mounting plate, modifying the mounting bracket, and making sure the whole thing went together smoothly and securely.
The next day I put together all of my auto and electrical tools and just drove straight over to O’Reilly’s parking lot, assuming I was going to need something for wiring I hadn’t planned on. It all went relatively smooth, except for one large gauge terminal wire, in which I had to heavy duty house wire nut and wrap tight, due to the whole town of Homer not having one available anywhere… 🤦 That “paradise tax” strikes again… 🙄 I would re-wire it down the road.
Regardless of the challenges, we were lucky to have a nice day for weather to be working in the parking lot. A few hours later we had the battery installed on the other side and all the wiring securely routed to its new location.
It was finally time to install the stock air filter we had quested so long for! I had a few questions though if my plan was the right way to go about it so I called and headed over to Sunny’s with a few questions.
Looking Over Things At Sunny’s
As far as the oil pressure sending unit was concerned, Robert recommended we just buy a kit with a manual gauge and start anew. Tracking where the disconnect might be in the wiring would be a difficult task. So that was now on our list during my next oil change.
I opened the hood to show him our re-routing and new placement of the battery system, as well as ask him if my plan for mounting the stock filter was a good plan. There as small differences because the Ohana’s original engine was a 3.0 L engine, and she had been upgraded to a 3.4 L.
When we opened up the hood, Robert immediately was like, “Well, now that I know you guys are intending to leave Alaska- the air filter setup you have is a better one for you guys.”
😧😲🤯😱😨😵
Wait? What!!!!! I had to double take for a moment.
I looked at Robert and said, “What do you mean? I thought the stock air filter was a better setup for us?” You know I’ve spent way too much effort, (Been up to Wasilla twice) time, (3 months to be exact) and money to get this thing, right?”
Robert looked embarrassed, but explained for our journeys in the south the filter we already had, regularly cleaned and coated with a filter fabric was the way to go. If he had known from the get go we weren’t staying up in Alaska he wouldn’t have recommended the stock filter.
Though disheartened, I understood. Robert helped us out all the time, so I wasn’t upset with him that his quest was not ending like we had planned. A mechanic can only make educated decisions, they aren’t clairvoyant. Though moving the battery had been a pain, it was good to check and update a lot of the damaged wiring that had been in place.
I gritted my teeth and chuckled as I told him, “Wait until I have to explain this all to Laura…” 😮
I knew she’d be okay with things because she is so awesome and supportive of me in fixing up our dream, but it had taken quite a bit to find out this wasn’t the way we were headed. But, we did have some great adventures and moments in the process.
We still hooked up and tested the stock filter and tested it. Though it still had a matching pin layout on the mass airflow sensor it didn’t end up reading working right for our rig anyway.
So that was the end of our summer long quest to get a stock air filter for our rig.
Afterwards I hooked up our old air filter, listed the stock one for sale, and went home to take care of the one we had.
I began by giving our filter a good cleaning, then built a new support bracket to help hold it up, now that it wouldn’t be practically leaning against a battery in front of it. 😆 And yes, I found us some nice sets of panty-hose to make a nice filter fabric over the filter after it was done.
Driving the rig later, I had my throttle stick wide open. I had to pull over and manually toggle it to get it to stop, which I thought was strange because it had never done that before. 🤔
I’ll leave that statement right here as foreshadowing for upcoming events. 🧐
Next I was on to change Our Ohana’s oil for the season!
When she was emptied of oil, I went ahead and installed the oil pressure sending unit, the hose and gauge. The dashboard had a perfect empty place to put the larger gauge, so I had to remove the switch for the super fog lights. I took a switch fill panel and carved it out accommodate the fog switch higher up on the dash. After it was put in place I mounted the oil pressure gauge. Once it was in place I replaced the light inside of it with a much brighter LED replacement.
After everything was in place I put the new oil filter in place and filled it back up with oil. Afterwards I ran the vehicle for a little bit and confirmed our new oil pressure gauge was working great! Afterwards I took our universal dipstick we had installed and confirmed the optimum depth to show when the vehicle oil was full, and finally installed the proper pull ring on the top of it. Last but not least, with everything as it should be I secured the oil pressure gauge tube safely along its course.
With that, our current work under the hood was done. We would be headed on a small trip up the road soon to test it all out, but we will save that story for next time.
I won’t be doing the next blog update until December, but hopefully then I will be able to play catchup on the rest of our fall then. Until then, we are wishing all of you a wonderful November and a Happy Thanksgiving!
‘Till Next Time! 😉
Our Local Crane Family Hanging Out While I Work
Geoff Murphy 11/5/2021