hawkdriver
Full Access Member
I had a very crappy weekend to say the least. Our son goes to college in Tallahassee which is 2.5 hours away, one-way. His POS Pontiac has been giving us trouble so I've been traveling back and forth for the last few weeks working on it. I went to leave Monday morning around 0500 and noticed a small puddle of what I thought was fuel laying under the truck while it was at high idle as I loaded up tools, etc. I got a half hour away from the house to Dothan and the truck started running rough. When I pushed the clutch in for a light it died. I man-handled it off of the highway and it started up but ran rough. I turned it off and popped the hood. Oil was everywhere. I couldn't even tell where it was coming from it was so bad. Needless to say I couldn't continue my trip so now I have a stranded college student 2.5 hours away and a dead truck half an hour away from home at 0530 in the AM. Got a towing company number and the truck showed up a half hour later. $216 later I'm back home at my local diesel shop (not a dealer). Mechanic says he bets it's an o-ring on the HPOP, they have a history of blowing. After some cleaning and some new oil it fires up and no leak. Sure enough, a lousy fifty cent o-ring cost me a big towing fee, a wasted day, and a still stranded kid. But it gets better- I just had a new Ram clutch put in less than a year ago. Needless to say the clutch is shot it is so oil soaked. So now the tranny has to come out and a new clutch put in. I ordered a Zoom ZVT Variable Torque Ceramic clutch kit and I'm having the flywheel turned. He said there is hole at the rear of the motor that allows even a small upper engine oil leak to drip down the valley to the rear of the motor and thru the hole into the bellhousing area and then onto the clutch. I didn't have time to ask him exactly which o-ring blew but I will find out when I drop off the clutch tomorrow. My entire truck- top, bottom, sides, rear end, engine, tranny- is covered in $20 a gallon synthetic oil. Maybe things will being loosened up now so when I put my Wicked Wheel on things will come apart easier. What an expensive weekend.....
