Tuui
Member
This past weekend I changed out my oil, front and rear diff and transfer case fluids, plugs/wires, air filter and greased the drive shafts' joints. While doing so I noticed a few things.
1. I seem to only have half a front skid plate. Is it two parts? It's tough to tell in this picture, but I only have the bottom half (with 5 bolts).
2. Is the 3.4 prone to oil leaks? When I picked the truck up two months ago it was dry, but I seem to have developed a small leak from the front. The oil filter seemed loose when I changed it, and there was no gasket on the oil drain plug so I'm thinking those may have just worked loose a bit. I'll be keeping my eye on those, but wanted to make sure I there wasn't something I was missing.
3. The front diff drain plug was a PITA. I was on the verge of rounding out the hex so I took it in to the dealer for them to loosen as I have no air tools or a breaker bar. They DID round it out, but were able to air hammer it loose. $29 for that and $15 for a new plug and I feel like I came out ahead on that close one.
4. This is a really stupid question, but how do zerk fittings work? Specifically the adapter on the grease gun. I'm guessing mine was a "universal" adapter, but my method was to slide the adapter over the fitting and tighten it down as much as I could. I then pumped grease until I heard the crackle/pop. The PITA was getting the adapter off the fitting. I couldn't loosen it and pulling it off was just not happening. Is there a simpler way to do this or should I just RTFM?
All in all, the whole process was quite educational. This being my first 4runner (and 4x4) I leaned heavily on the resources on this site. So thank you to all, just for being a part of this community. Up next, a new radiator, transmission flush and filter and new tires.
Tim
1. I seem to only have half a front skid plate. Is it two parts? It's tough to tell in this picture, but I only have the bottom half (with 5 bolts).
2. Is the 3.4 prone to oil leaks? When I picked the truck up two months ago it was dry, but I seem to have developed a small leak from the front. The oil filter seemed loose when I changed it, and there was no gasket on the oil drain plug so I'm thinking those may have just worked loose a bit. I'll be keeping my eye on those, but wanted to make sure I there wasn't something I was missing.
3. The front diff drain plug was a PITA. I was on the verge of rounding out the hex so I took it in to the dealer for them to loosen as I have no air tools or a breaker bar. They DID round it out, but were able to air hammer it loose. $29 for that and $15 for a new plug and I feel like I came out ahead on that close one.
4. This is a really stupid question, but how do zerk fittings work? Specifically the adapter on the grease gun. I'm guessing mine was a "universal" adapter, but my method was to slide the adapter over the fitting and tighten it down as much as I could. I then pumped grease until I heard the crackle/pop. The PITA was getting the adapter off the fitting. I couldn't loosen it and pulling it off was just not happening. Is there a simpler way to do this or should I just RTFM?
All in all, the whole process was quite educational. This being my first 4runner (and 4x4) I leaned heavily on the resources on this site. So thank you to all, just for being a part of this community. Up next, a new radiator, transmission flush and filter and new tires.
Tim
