With the trip to Anchorage through rain, snow, and wind paired with the usual wet weather patterns at home the camper remained dry.
This was great news! After some more cleaning and paint touch up it was time to finally put the front window back together. It wasn’t long until our front bed area was re-assembled and back in full operation. 😄
A big part of my story today is “THE TALE OF THE DIPSTICK”. 😬
Yep, the dipstick issue from last summer was still going on! To recap: On one of our trips Laura was checking the oil and the original dipstick broke off. I returned home with a “build your own” installed and put a magnet on the oil pan to try to retrieve the broken piece during my next oil change.
Well, as my luck would have it that dipstick broke too 😵, leaving another piece in my oil pan as well as me doubling my wishes that the magnet would retrieve the pieces.
During that said fateful oil change my magnet retrieved nothing. 😥 But after talking to a mechanic found that it was probably okay- because for those pieces to really cause problems I would most likely have to flip my rig over anyway.
So I measured out and calculated what I thought I needed the new dipstick length to be, and found a donor of the right length. Ultimately the stopper on the dipstick was not the correct size, and as I found myself checking the oil throughout the winter it seemed to be reading low. I had put in 4.5 quarts during my last oil change due to information I had been given, but decided it was safe to put in another quart to match the specs for the 3.4L. After that didn’t change much I researched for hours on the Toyota forums, with many confirming they had put 6 to 6.5 quarts in their 3.4 L setups- so I added another quart- which did not make the change on my current dipstick I was hoping for.
I resigned myself that I needed to research this issue once again, hopefully finding the correct dipstick. More importantly, finding out what the actual configuration of my vehicle and oil pan combination was once and for all. So I went and talked to Robert @ Sunny Services, who gave me some good input. I counted the bolt holes on my oil pan and confirmed it was the 3.0 L oil pan on my rig. And I knew I had the 3.4 L engine- so that was progress! Next I decided to message Tim Johnson (The Original Owner) and ask him if he knew what dipstick they had put in the vehicle when it was converted and how many quarts of oil he put in during his oil changes. That’s when he finally gave me the most valuable information I could have; the name of the shop that had done the engine swap!
The answer was Dooly’s Automotive in Eagle River!!! I called and was sent to a full voice mail box… I called again and decided to wait till later.
5 minutes later I received a return call from a very busy Dave Dooley. Though he was slammed with work, once I told him what info I was looking for he was excited to help out and gave me just what I was looking for; what I had under the hood of The Ohana!
Dave was very friendly and knowledgeable, and I drank every word he said with the greatest of interest. I had been trying to figure out this riddle for a few years now, and this was the moment of answers!
He proceeded to explain that I had the layout of the T-100 pickup with a V6. For a couple of years Toyota came out with a 3.4L engine that sat on the 3.0 L oil pan. The Ohana had the T-100 layout with the a 97 Tacoma wiring harness. The mystery was solved! Now all I had to do was get a dipstick for a 3.4L T-100 or for a 3.0L engine which used the same. So I called the closest salvage yard; Sarge’s Automotive.
I confirmed that they had multiple 3.0L engines on site and I could pick one up for $15 but I had to go fish it out. I drove out that afternoon (and did NOT wear my boots like I had planned) and was greeted by the owner. He directed me the best path to take through the yard because Anchor Point still had quite a bit of snow. I tromped and broke through the snow, soaking my feet in my inappropriate footwear until I found what I was looking for.
I pulled it out and tromped my way back to the entrance of the scrap yard. Once I confirmed the proper part number was a match I offered to pay for my prize, in which the owner said not to worry about it and let me have it for free. 😃
Thank You Sarge’s!
I headed back into Homer and hit O’Reilly’s Automotive to pick up the ingredients I needed for an oil change.
Then it was just a waiting game for a good opening in the weather and I changed the oil for the last time before our launch.
I removed the old dipstick and warmed the vehicle up and was happy to see the very clear oil registering where it should be. Now I would just continue to drive and monitor to make sure this was a truly well conclusion to the “Tale Of The Dipstick”.
Meanwhile; our friends and future property caretakers took a trip down to the Big Island of Hawaii. While down there they picked us up a little souvenir; this sweet bamboo sticker! I had been searching for the perfect sticker to cover the old roughed up area on our dashboard, so this perfect sticker found the perfect home!
Remember last fall? We had found an awesome business in Soldotna called Mickey’s Custom Sewing and Upholstory.
https://www.mickeyscustomsewing.com/
or check out their Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/msewshop/
Mickey and her crew had done a 3 ft extension to the floor of our awning room so it could accommodate the height of The Ohana. They were very knowledgeable and helpful as well as affordable. From our experience, we highly recommend you check them out if you need any work done!
When we had the work originally done it was in the midst of a very muddy fall, so we had to wait until the weather had dried up enough to test out the awning room and not get it covered in mud.
The next day, Laura arrived home from her travels! She had been visiting her Aunt Sue in Phoenix and attending Migrant Conferences in Texas. Though our driveway was still too muddy, we decided we wanted to finally get to test our awning room so we headed over to the dried out middle school parking lot to give it a test!
Here’s how it went:
The room fit beautifully for what we needed! It looked like another dream had come true with lots of proper planning and work! It’s always an amazing experience when a concept comes to a fruition and sits before you in reality. 🤩
We are still working out the details with Mickey, but we are looking at having one more modification done on the awning room to call it complete. I’ll tell you all about how that goes later though. 😉
Overall, we are getting extremely close to launch. Just 49 days left and we almost have The Ohana all ready. Lots of tasks still left on the house and property to get everything in place for our travels- but we will get there!
See You All Next Time- And Hope Life Is Going Well For You!
Geoff Murphy 4/12/2022