trophy

Hi All,

Has anyone ever removed the oil tank and oil lines from their car? Any tips and tricks?

I need to pull everything out for a thorough cleaning.....

bobt993

You can clean the oil lines while still in the car. Tank is pretty straight forward to remove. To clean the oil lines use some diesel fuel or kerosene first go around. You can run a wire mouse through the pipes and pull it through the entire length. Clean it then repeat. To get the oily metal parts out soak the mouse ( use the sponge style) in the diesel fuel and it will help cut the oil holding onto the particles. When your done run a cheap motor oil through the lines to remove any residue. The tank should be ultrasonic cleaned. Attached is a picture of a wire mouse.

trophy

Thanks Bob, this is the job I am not looking forward to.....

berni29

Hi

Yes sounds like a mucky one. I need to do mine at some point also.

Tks for the pointers.

Berni

01coccobet

follow-up!!!

trophy

Nothing yet, just trying to track down the foam mice as suggested by Bob, hopefully this weekend I will pull the tank and start cleaning the lines.

bobt993

Steve, try industrial electrical supply store. You also can improvise by making your own. Vacuum a string through the lines or use a wire fish. Pull a small gun cleaning rag (bore) through the pipes tied to the string. If your worried about small bits of metal this will help clear them since they will stick to the oily pipe. Repeat a bunch of times then flush the diesel through one end with a strainer into a bucket on the other. Repeat until is completely clean then rinse the lines. Your coolers can go to American Cooler in Texas. They clean aircraft parts so it is very intensive.

trophy

Thanks again Bob.... I really need to buy you a beer for all the advice you have provided.

matt777

If you really want to be sure...the industrial guys pump oil through new lube systems with a temporary milk pad (filter) in place. When fluid circulates for 8 hours and the milk pads no longer capture contaminants the system is considered clean.

trophy

Come on down Matt and set this system up for me I think for the cost it would be cheaper to buy new lines

matt777

You can't afford me If you can take the line out to replace it you might as well just clean it. I would only be highly concerned about the lines in between the last filter and the engine. Did you find much debris in the engine and filters?

ps There is a guy parting out a wrecked low mileage '96 in Edmonton

trophy

The only extra piece was a large piece of Thrust Bearing (That was the original culprit) and this was actually where the bearing is located so didn't travel. No other significant pieces were found so far.

The engine looks magnificent internally, bearing surfaces are perfect....

trophy

Update:

Got the oil tank, cooler and oil lines out of the car (decided to pull the oil lines completely). I drained the remaining oil from the lines etc through a strainer to see if there were any metal particles, so far I have been luch and have not seen anything.

Going to start cleaning everything this weekend, still trying to find a company that will clean the oil cooler here in Canada, as a last resort will send to Texas on Bob`s advise.

geolab

is the oil tank easy to remove ? Should the oil thermostat where large oil filter be removed necessarily ? How do the oil lines to the front connect with the oil thermostat ?
The area where the front lines go in the thermostat coincide on my lift arms always, and I don't see how they could detach from thermostat.
As for cleaning the cooler, I have done this on my gearbox cooler with a foam spray can, I purchased from the net from the US. It did super clean the system.
Maybe you want peace of mind and outsource the job.

trophy

Hey Geolab,

The tank removal is not that difficult overall, it does need to come out with the thermostat attached (too hard to get at the nut and bolts that hold it in place while in the car). I actually removed the oil lines, it made the process much easier.

The oil lines are pushed into the thermostat and sealed with 2 orings, and a bolt and washer to stop them from falling out. (see pics) I found to get enough movement to pull the lines out of the thermostat I needed to undo the 2 plastic supports along the sill and the 2 clamps in the front fender well. Since all the mounts for the oil lines were now undone, i just removed the lines from the car.

I found that once the oil lines were removed the tank came out very easily.

Once the tank was out of the car (held in by only 2 bolts) I just removed the thermostat and started cleaning.