Last night I was supposed to head up to Rocky Mt. Natl. Park and do a night hike in up to a high alpine lake and meet up with some buddies for the weekend but I was too tired. I'm bummed to miss it. There would have been plenty of laughs, olives soaked in gin, trout, and bugling elk. Instead I'm gonna help clean the house and then I get to look at Heather's Jeep and see how ugly 2 needed repairs are gonna be.

Her check engine light's been on for a few weeks. When I scanned the computer it came back as a minor evaporative leak. This is part of the emissions system on the Jeep and it contains about a mile of 3/8" plastic line. Usually a small crack develops in a line and it sets off the computer. So I have to trace it down and replace it. It's like finding the head of a needle in a field of hay stacks. The bigger issue is that it's leaking enough oil now to leave a very small puddle in the driveway. If you know me then you know exactly how I feel about leaks of any kind. The Jeep 4 liter leaks no matter what you do to it so I've lived with it for a while now. They generally start to leak from the back of the rocker cover and then it runs down and presents itself like a rear main leak. Or....the rear main leaks. On a lot of motors you'd have to drop the trans to get to that seal but on this one you just need to pull the oil pan, the crank brace, and the rear main bearing cap and then hope the stars are aligned right to get the old seal half that's up in the motor out without nicking the crank. I did this job 3 times on my 96 before I got it right. I HATE THIS JOB. It's always easier on a lifted rig but on hers I'm gonna have to take off tons of stuff to wrestle the pan out. I swore I'd never do this messy job again. I'll know tonight if I lucked out and it's the rocker cover gasket but I already know what's wrong. Nothing beats laying under a motor with no oil pan on and having oil drop on your face, glasses, hair.......bald head.......for 6 hours.