Sunday, June 28, 2009
Oil Service
After the recent HVAC blower work I wasn't really in the mood for additional work but as I updated my maintenance schedule spreadsheet to reflect the blower replacement I realized I was due for yet another oil service. I accomplished the oil service today without any real issues, but realized I misplaced the socket adapter that allows me to use my 3/8" drive torque wrench with my 17mm 1/2" drive socket. Fortunately, I have a pretty good feel for 18 ft*lbs at this point so I tightened the drain bolt manually. Looks like I'll be buying another one of those on the next trip to the tools store.
The old oil was as black as usual but I decided to pass on an oil analysis. I may perform another analysis at the next oil service, which should be sometime in October.
Upcoming Work
Last week I purchased the parts required to swap out the idle control valve (ICV) and crankcase vent (CCV) and plan to do that work over the upcoming holiday weekend. After the comments I made regarding this work in an earlier post a reader emailed me to suggest that based on his experience I won't need to remove the intake manifold to do the work. A closer look at the job confirms that this should be the case, and frankly, after the blower motor I'm looking for something comparitively easy to do.
Mileage: 178669, Parts: $46, Labor savings $100