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mini-wini-dan

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Posts posted by mini-wini-dan

  1. I just inquired about back-flushing my cooling system and my mechanic discouraged this if it is not showing signs of overheating. He feels the age of the cooling system may have weak areas that will be degraded by this process. Anyone had experience with this era toyota cooling system back flushing.

    This vehicle always runs under the half way mark on the gauge. Maybe I should well enough alone but I am heading for the southwest in August which will be hot.

  2. Hi,

    It is interesting to hear about your experiences and the head wind in Wyoming? That one is news to me but now I'll be alert to this. I thank you all for sharing experiences and info with me. It was interesting to hear about overloading your toyhomes. I just weighed mine on a scale the other day and it weighed in at 5200 ;bs. and mine is supposed to be 5500 gvw. Mind you we have not even loaded it for our trip but I did fill up the water system so I could purge out the rv antifreeze. The water weighs 8.4 lbs per gallon so maybe we should dump the water while driving. At least until we go through Wyoming lol.

  3. Hi folks,

    I am leaving from NEPA (NE Pennsylvania) on soon and my main destination is San Fransisco to see my son and his family which includes our new grand-daughter!! We are excited and hoping our 87 mini wini is ready for the task. I do have some really good mechanics who have been helping me out and I have fixed a few things myself. I have tools and know enough to deal with minor issues that could come up, however, I am more concerned with possible major repair items and where I might be when and if they happen.

    I have owned this vehicle for about one year and have put a couple thousand miles on it. Mostly driving it to outer banks where our daughter's family lives (more grand-kids too). It has been very reliable even though I have noted some issues in previous posts. Thanks to some advice and shared info on this forum I have made corrections- thanks again!

    So just for the sake of info sharing I have some good mechanics who are honest and reasonable that may not mind if I share their contact info with others on this forum. I will check first and if ok I'll post their ph#'s for possible reference.

    I am sure the same applies throughout the country where many of you live so I am suggesting a list of good contacts or mechanical help for each of us to benefit from.

    Right now I know I will be going through northern Ohio, northern Indiana, Southern Wisconsin, etc on i-80 and then i-90 in South Dakota, then back on i-80 through Wyoming, Utah and Nevada to SF.

    Coming back through California south towards Bakersfield then over to Grand Canyon and East on 40 back to the midwest in MO. Then rt 70 East back to PA.

    I have AAA premium for RV with up to 200 miles free towing and if needed it would be great to have a directory of good mechanics on the path just in case.

    Any ideas of something like this already available.

  4. Yes I see you are right and I have pasted the comment posted on this forum a while back about the use of rotella

    I have just added 2 qts recently and what oil would you recommend?

    fA comprression and leak down test will show if you have engine problems. One thing you might try is seafoam in your oil as it can clean and free sticking compression and oil control rings. Some brands of oil seem to run through cars I have had in the past like sh*t through a goose. If its hot in your area I recommend trying Shell Rotella triple protection 15-40 which is a diesel engine oil. It will also help clean out your engine if it has gunk etc. This oil has alot more detergents because of all the soot in diesels. On a Saturn of mine which are famous for burning oil because of a bad piston design I put seafoam in each cylender overnight and let it soak. I then cranked over the engine with the spark plugs out to blow out any left over. I also added seafoam to the engine oil and drove around a day. Put in the above mentioned oil and oil consumption has gone wayyy down. These things are inexpensive and just might help you out. Good luck!!

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  5. Are you saying 15/40 rotella is a diesel oil? An older gentleman WW2 vet sold Toyotas to me for several years. He was a good mechanic as well aand worked on the cars he sold. Unfortunately he has passed on. He swore on using a 15/40 oil in all of his Toyota engines. I also heard from people on this forum about shell rotella and my mechanic suggested the lucas additive. Neither of these changes have made any difference difference concerning the loss of oil..

  6. I have only driven this vehicle once since my last trip 600 miles to outer banks area. I crawled under it today and did see signs of oil running down the side (driver's side) of the engine. Looking under the hood I did notice a bit of oil collected around a gizmo located just below the distributor. This device is running off the fan belt which means it has a pulley operating it. I thought it might be the power steering pump but did not see any access opening to add power steering fluid. I am sure my mechanic can tell me what this part is doing and maybe it is the source of my oil leak. IF it is the power steering pump then it is not the source of an oil leak and it is just the source of a power steering fluid leak? right?

    Earlier I did say that I have seen oil on the under carriage area and my mechanic found a cracked/broken timing chain housing where we suspected it as the source of the leak. Neither he nor I noticed this leak seen from the top area until I looked today. Does anyone know what this pulley-operated gizmo is?

  7. Recently discovered that If I put more than 6 gallons in my Tacoma I have a leak running down the side of the tank. It is hard to see where it is coming from and I know that I will need to remove the tank to see what is happening. Anyone had this problem on a 2002 Tacoma? Dealer service tech suspects fuel pump bracket?

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