sailfritz Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 Just returned from a 5 month, 18,000 mile trip criss crossing the USA hitting 27 States and Canada and man was it a wonderful "trip of a lifetime"! Only had a blow out on the rear being a bad tire. I posted a new subject needing advice. have 72,000 now on my 85 Dolphin with the 22re motor but using a quart every tankful of gas in the last 3,000 miles. Valve seals? I'm not mechanical enough to do this engine work myself so any suggestions for a good shop in the Bay Area California? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda s Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 Wow sounds fantastic. Have all the kids with you? Sorry but I don't have a mechanic here. Son-in-law is my only resource and he isn't taking new clients. Hell he doesn't even like to work on mine anymore. Guess I ask too much of him. Linda S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailfritz Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 Linda, just us 3 on this trip and we fit just right! We fly to Nicaragua Wed. the 11th and will park it at my church lot in SJ. and have a friend start it each Sunday and drive it round the parking lot each month to keep things oiled up. I don't have time to tear into the engine and so it will have to wait till we return in Sept. for a fall drive to Zion and the Grand Canyon area! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhdbad Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 My wife and I are going to Nicaragua in January ... Any concerns regarding safe traveling? First time looking forward to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vermonter Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 Were you carrying a hitch mounted cargo rack? I feel like I saw you in California when I was on my 10k mile trip from VT to CA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailfritz Posted November 10, 2015 Author Share Posted November 10, 2015 No I had a bike or 2 mounted with a homemade rack on the back and have the 500 series large picture window in the rear(nice) Nicaragua is very safe but use common sense by not walking alone at night etc,................. I have a house on Ometepe Island, Lake Nicaragua (Google it) a must see for most tourists. Also must go to Coco beach south of San Juan De Sur (use the bus or rental car) and stay at a nice B & B called the Pananania. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vermonter Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 I'm pretty sure it was you I saw, it was at night but I remember bikes and a big rear window. I honked but you gave no notice. haha Or maybe it wasn't you, but it was identical to your home and had all the stuff you described. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MontanaChinook Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 I'm pretty sure it was you I saw, it was at night but I remember bikes and a big rear window. I honked but you gave no notice. haha Or maybe it wasn't you, but it was identical to your home and had all the stuff you described. I checked out your facebook page and saw the trip had come and went! Some really cool photos and it looks like a really good time. Oil burning...does it leak, too, or just burn? Does it smoke much? There are some ways for a non-mechanic to get a good idea of whether it's the rings or valve seals which are leaking...but I don't remember what they are right now. I think it's something to do with whether it smokes mostly on start-up, or out on the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vermonter Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 A common problem with the 22r-22re engines were bad front main seals. It's apparently an easy and fairly inexpensive job if you have an afternoon to kill. If you can smell the oil burning, most likely your engine is not "burning it", but rather the oil is leaking from a seal on to the engine and burning, causing the smell. If your exhaust is smoking blue, then your engine is "burning oil". Hope that helps you find your problem. In my case, my valve cover gasket is old and needs replacing, so I leak very little oil but my engine bay is a mess because of it. I drove 10k miles last month and only had to top it off with *maybe half a quart when I was 3/4 of the way into my trip. MontanaChinook- Thanks for following our progress, we had a amazing time! If anyone else would like to see pictures from our trip, find my thread on our honeymoon and click the link I posted in the last comment on the last page! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailfritz Posted November 15, 2015 Author Share Posted November 15, 2015 Seems like replacing the PCV valve and adding the special oil additive "stop seal leaks" did the trick and no black oily mist leaves the tailpipe like before and it never did smoke so weird huh? Keeping my fingers crossed that no more has to be done. Thanks for all the great comments and Vermonter sorry I didn't honk back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MontanaChinook Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 That's great. People have aleady mentioned this, but...a quart every tankfull is a LOT. There is either a major leak or you're burning a large amount of oil. All that oil had to be going somewhere. Either onto the ground, or out the tailpipe. Nowhere else for it to go. Even an extremely leaky valve cover couldn't go through that much. I don't know. Good to hear you don't notice any coming out the tailpipe but I'll be interested to see what you find long term. I can't believe that much oil loss was fixed by an additive and new pcv. Hard to believe it would even really put a dent in it. But time will tell! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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