Hello all, I am finally back home after some time away and back to working on projects. I finally have all of my spare ea81 parts at my house and some of them are going to come in very handy. The last couple of days have mostly consisted of preparing my replacement dash, going over wiring, changing light bulbs, etc. Work on the engine has involved cleaning the heads and getting them ready for reassembly, resealing the oil pump, changing WP and cleaning the oil pan. I was lucky, on the oil pump I just took the 4 bolts out and lightly tapped the oil filter twice and it fell right out. It looks pretty healthy inside. The same cannot be said for the oil pan. When I removed it there was nearly an inch of thick, coolanty sludge on the bottom. The bores, inside of the block, lifters and everything else look really good, but this certainly reinforces my thinking of a significant coolant breach in the past. Regarding the oil pickup, I was hoping some of you could offer some input. I loosened the holder and tried for a few minutes to remove it but it won't budge. The gasket is cracking away and looks unhealthy but if the tube is pressed into the block that well, is there really any worry about it leaking? Or do I need to find a way to remove it and reseal?
The last thing I was working on was cleaning out the hvac box/ heater core. Found a blown HC and leaky coolant control valve that I am trying to deal with. That post is linked below. Any input on that is also appreciated. Until next time..