With my continued gas savings I bought this! (1999 Accord LX)

[Xist]

We don't talk about the lawnmower.

It's not in the kitchen anyway.

I spent 4 hours washing dishes last Wednesday and bought the mat. Mom doesn't want anti-fatigued feet, but she doesn't wash most of the dishes.

She just uses most of them.

As I told FREEBEARD, it is aggravating to have all of this stuff get in the way of my projects, which already take forever.

[Xist]

I used the carpet cleaner on my Accord once and just got clean water. I reinstalled the front seats, added the dye, and drove for 10 minutes. There was a large amount of oil on the oil pan, but I didn't see any above it.

I didn't see any on top of the engine, but my flashlight didn't seem very bright, which might have been at least partially because the batteries were some Chinese brand.. It was the only one I found, at least on Amazon, that was made in the U.S., and everything was written correctly.

Between the ultraviolet light and the yellow sunglasses everything seemed green, but I didn't see any ATF.

I worried if it was correct to test both, but everything was brown, and my ATF is red.

I didn't feel confident, so I called around, and Mobile Medic, whoever they are, were available, so I dropped off my car, walked home, and resumed hosing out Mom's car.

Google says they have been in business for over seven years, but there weren't any mobile mechanics when I moved here. I may have heard of them, but only in the last year or two.

Also, who drops off their car at a mobile mechanic? "We come to you!" is their slogan!

They bought a shop Dawn Stratton took a year or so to sell.

I had just started clearing out the back seat of Mom's car when they called me back. He said the valve cover and oil pan gasket were leaking, but didn't see any ATF leaks, which means that I need to drive on the highway.

Fortunately, he didn't charge to look at my car, because he just confirmed what I figured out on my own.

The valve cover is only 5 bolts.

How was it supposed to take the professional 90 minutes?!

Torque spec is 7.2 pound-feet.

The oil pan is a lot of bolts. The manual doesn't mention removing the exhaust, so I will try to leave it in place.

That sure was a challenge with my Civic!

However, I now know about bolt extractors.

Torque spec is 8.7 pound-feet.

Is 9 too many?!

I don't want to strip anything!

[Xist]

The factory service manual just says you remove 5 bolts from the valve cover.
There are also two hoses and 4 spark plugs wires.
Yay.
However, it takes a while to properly seat the spark plug seals.
I pinched them 5 years ago and they leaked.

However, the factory service manual said that it was just 18 fasteners retaining the oil pan.
It didn't mention the exhaust pipe in the way--or the transmission cover (which looks like part of the transmission)--or the sub-frame blocking the side.
I removed the transmission cover, unbolted the oil pan, and broke loose the exhaust bolts, but I just sprayed them with WD40 and put away everything.
If they aren't loose tomorrow I will use that impact wrench Mom bought me.
Zoom zoom!

[Xist]

I slept 8 hours and I still feel exhausted!

I have the sneaking suspicion that the rest of this repair won't go according to plan!

[freebeard]

I slept 8 hours and I still feel exhausted!

Happens to me every day.

I'll replace the bicycle's broken rear axle if you do the Accord. Deal?

edit:
I walked [+ bus] all the way downtown to the one remaining bike shop They didn't have the part and said the hub is likely borked as well, so next I burn gasoline to go to BRING and buy a whole wheel, hub and axle. My price point shall be $5-8.

The Taquitos at the bus stop were good though.

[Xist]

I can usually only sleep about 5.5 hours.

I went to work on my car, I just wasn't happy about it.

Having already removed the 17mm bolt and the 3 14mm bolts in the transmission cover and the 18 10mm bolts in the oil pan itself, I removed the 6 14mm bolts for the exhaust pipe, and 4 14mm bolts in transmission hangers.

How do I break the oil pan loose from the engine block?! Honda bond is super strong!

AutoZone says to not try to pry it apart, whack it with a mallet.

I whacked and I whacked!

Honda says to use a Snap-On oil pan seal cutter.

I need to chase down the Snap-On truck?

Does the driver call out "Ten millimeters! Get ya ten millimeters heah!"?

I cannot find anything like that locally--or on their website.

Google showed gasket separators, but still not available locally--or on Snap-on's website.

Do I need to order something and wait 3-5 days for delivery just to finally remove my oil pan after removing 28 bolts, a transmission cover, and an exhaust pipe?!

Apparently there are wedging points. I put a plastic scraper there and hit it with a hammer unsuccessfully.

A mechanic says to use a screwdriver or pry bar, but I worry that will damage the pan.

So you think my brick chisel would be safe?

[freebeard]

I failed too, we could start a club.

Nothing at the recyclers so I drove a car over to the West Side. All the bike shops that were there are gone. There may be others, but the one booth I talked to at the big shindig, said they were at 1st and Lawrence. Not.

I think the next step is I wll ask the next door neighbors.

At the fair I stopped by the Ninsaki booth for a beer, advertised at $6.50. They would not accept cash. My first time, when it extends to groceries I will sit in a corner and starve.

[Xist]

Some places are cash-only and some refuse to handle cash.

Can we have some consistency?!

I just saw my last client for the day, so I am going to change and try the brick chisel.

[Xist]

I held a brick chisel against each wedging point and tapped with a sledge hammer.
It is weird how you need to drop the right side and then the left; you cannot drop it straight down.
It sure made a mess!

I am letting the engine block drip into the pan while I clean the oil that got anywhere.

Are there bigger oil pans, ones onto which you can drive?

In the Army we had giant and unwieldy black things we rolled out. The sides propped up like a rectangular kiddie pool.

We drove our entire huge fuel truck with 2,500 gallons of jet fuel onto it and then propped up the back fence.

I am sure that it could have contained all of it if you were on level ground.

Do you think that one of those would work, but car-sized?

The driveway was uncomfortably hot.

I don't think that black plastic would be an improvement!

However, I would rather deal with a burned back than Mom's wrath!

Since I hadn't really driven since I topped off the oil it was at capacity and the pan keeps overflowing.

What kind of monkey uses a drain pan with the drain pointing downhill?!

When the engine stops dripping I am going to drain the oil, set the oil pan upside-down on the drain pan, and start scraping the engine.

All of this is taking me more than 3 hours!

[Xist]

I wonder how much of a mess I would have made if I was smart enough to place the drain pan with the drain pointing uphill.

I poured dishwashing detergent on all of the oil stains and scrubbed them with my power brush, but I wasn't laying on that, so I will move the cookie sheet up hill and hose off the detergent before leaving for Holbrook.