- Jun 30, 2004
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I've posted much on this forum about my Android Trooper -- a 1995 Isuzu Trooper LS retro-fitted to bring the electronics and audio into the 21st century.
I was beginning to track and monitor engine-oil and transmission Dexron-III leakage at the end of 2019. Most of the engine-oil leak was coming from a worn oil-pan drain bolt. I fixed that by installing a drain valve with thread-sealer and carefully-cut gasket material. There was still a bit of leakage from the rear main seal of the engine. For the engine, I could drive it for a year with this latter leakage and the dip-stick would still show "full".
The transmission was leaking a bit more cherry juice, but with a loss measured at maybe 4 oz per month, or an eighth-quart monthly from its 9-quart capacity. In recent months, while keeping an eye on the transmission dip-stick, the leak suddenly subsided. There are two sets of holes or dimples on the dipstick: a full range for cold temperature, and a full range for hot temperature. The car needs to be driven for about an hour to show a level in the hot full range. When the leak subsided, the warmed-up oil level falls just a quarter-inch below the lower of the two "warmed-up" full markers.
How might having a slightly over-full transmission oil level cause the leakage I had measured? My service advisor suggested that there was still some Dexron in the torque converter which had been leaking out after parking the car.. Whatever it was, it was drooling slowly from the transmission's front main seal as the Trooper cooled off in the garage.
My obsession with this SUV may subside a bit now, as it is almost "perfect". There had been valve-lifter noise I had noticed since 2004 from the engine which now has 192,000 miles on it. Treating the engine oil with Marvel Mystery Oil over a span of 2,000 miles seems to have eliminated the noise, only to be heard as the car warms up in the morning -- what is commonly observed to be normal. In its warmed-up state, I ran the car by my repair-shop and the mechanic told me it sounded great.
I was beginning to track and monitor engine-oil and transmission Dexron-III leakage at the end of 2019. Most of the engine-oil leak was coming from a worn oil-pan drain bolt. I fixed that by installing a drain valve with thread-sealer and carefully-cut gasket material. There was still a bit of leakage from the rear main seal of the engine. For the engine, I could drive it for a year with this latter leakage and the dip-stick would still show "full".
The transmission was leaking a bit more cherry juice, but with a loss measured at maybe 4 oz per month, or an eighth-quart monthly from its 9-quart capacity. In recent months, while keeping an eye on the transmission dip-stick, the leak suddenly subsided. There are two sets of holes or dimples on the dipstick: a full range for cold temperature, and a full range for hot temperature. The car needs to be driven for about an hour to show a level in the hot full range. When the leak subsided, the warmed-up oil level falls just a quarter-inch below the lower of the two "warmed-up" full markers.
How might having a slightly over-full transmission oil level cause the leakage I had measured? My service advisor suggested that there was still some Dexron in the torque converter which had been leaking out after parking the car.. Whatever it was, it was drooling slowly from the transmission's front main seal as the Trooper cooled off in the garage.
My obsession with this SUV may subside a bit now, as it is almost "perfect". There had been valve-lifter noise I had noticed since 2004 from the engine which now has 192,000 miles on it. Treating the engine oil with Marvel Mystery Oil over a span of 2,000 miles seems to have eliminated the noise, only to be heard as the car warms up in the morning -- what is commonly observed to be normal. In its warmed-up state, I ran the car by my repair-shop and the mechanic told me it sounded great.
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