The little o-ring that ruined my whole week.

[laseron]

I've been rebuilding my 89 FJ engine, and have done all the necessary work in the crankcase, so after doing a few "dry fittings" to make sure everything would go together right. I applied the Yamabond sealant (sparingly) to one crankcase half, and mated the lower crankcase half onto the upper half, and torqued down all the bolts to spec. Then I started attaching other parts to the block, and installed the clutch basket. Whew! What progress!

Later that day, I found, on the floor of my garage, the little orange o-ring that goes inside the crankcase, which I suppose seals an oil channel between the two crankcase halves. I guess it fell out of its position as I was doing the test fittings. Time to increase my antidepressant dose!

So my question is: how much of a leak in the oil passage would the lack of the o-ring cause? Would it affect oil delivery to the upper crankcase to an unacceptable degree? Should I try woodworking instead? What's the meaning of life?

I've already resigned myself to taking everything apart again to put said stupid o-ring in its proper place, but thought I'd put this out there to the FJ crowd.

Ron

[T Legg]

At least you haven't re-installed the motor yet.

[laseron]

Positive thinking! I like that. Yes, it could certainly be worse.

[Old Rider]

I've been rebuilding my 89 FJ engine, and have done all the necessary work in the crankcase, so after doing a few "dry fittings" to make sure everything would go together right. I applied the Yamabond sealant (sparingly) to one crankcase half, and mated the lower crankcase half onto the upper half, and torqued down all the bolts to spec. Then I started attaching other parts to the block, and installed the clutch basket. Whew! What progress!

Later that day, I found, on the floor of my garage, the little orange o-ring that goes inside the crankcase, which I suppose seals an oil channel between the two crankcase halves. I guess it fell out of its position as I was doing the test fittings. Time to increase my antidepressant dose!

So my question is: how much of a leak in the oil passage would the lack of the o-ring cause? Would it affect oil delivery to the upper crankcase to an unacceptable degree? Should I try woodworking instead? What's the meaning of life?

I've already resigned myself to taking everything apart again to put said stupid o-ring in its proper place, but thought I'd put this out there to the FJ crowd.

Ron

I know the feeling this is normal i know how it feels because i had similar experience when i fixed my engine and had to split the cases 3 times .
Are  you sure that you did not replaced the orange o-ring with a black one ? because the new type of that o-ring is black.
And dont forget to check that the little pin on the transmission output shaft bearing is in its slot because i did forget.

[Waiex191]

When we rebuilt my '99 Saturn, we left out the two oil rings that seal the oil pump passages from the timing cover to the block.  Took us a bit to figure out why we were not getting oil pressure when cranking with plugs out and fuel/spark disabled.  That was heartbreaking but we recovered.

When we built the aircraft engine, one of the lifters fell out as we were joining the case halves.  We didn't realize it until it was time to install the pushrods and shim the rocker arm pivots.  Again that was heartbreaking but we recovered.

I can't really complain though.  In both cases this was a project with my kid, and he was really despondent.  It was a good lesson that a setback is not the end of the world.

[laseron]

I'm sure I didn't use a black o-ring to replace the orange one. So I'm pretty sure there's no o-ring there now.

Well, after tearing down the engine again, I'll be even more familiar with the assembly process. That's not all bad. And I don't have to completely disassemble the entire engine - just enough to separate the case halves.

And besides, it's winter, and we're still in the midst of the pandemic. I've got time.

Stay tuned...

[laseron]

I've been rebuilding my 89 FJ engine, and have done all the necessary work in the crankcase, so after doing a few "dry fittings" to make sure everything would go together right. I applied the Yamabond sealant (sparingly) to one crankcase half, and mated the lower crankcase half onto the upper half, and torqued down all the bolts to spec. Then I started attaching other parts to the block, and installed the clutch basket. Whew! What progress!

Later that day, I found, on the floor of my garage, the little orange o-ring that goes inside the crankcase, which I suppose seals an oil channel between the two crankcase halves. I guess it fell out of its position as I was doing the test fittings. Time to increase my antidepressant dose!

So my question is: how much of a leak in the oil passage would the lack of the o-ring cause? Would it affect oil delivery to the upper crankcase to an unacceptable degree? Should I try woodworking instead? What's the meaning of life?

I've already resigned myself to taking everything apart again to put said stupid o-ring in its proper place, but thought I'd put this out there to the FJ crowd.

Ron

I know the feeling this is normal i know how it feels because i had similar experience when i fixed my engine and had to split the cases 3 times .
Are  you sure that you did not replaced the orange o-ring with a black one ? because the new type of that o-ring is black.
And dont forget to check that the little pin on the transmission output shaft bearing is in its slot because i did forget.

Yes, I did get the three alignment pins on the transmission bearings correct, otherwise the engine cases won't close up completely. That's what the test fittings were all about. So I traded super attention to detail on one aspect of the rebuild for carelessness on another. They should each other cancel out, right?

[FJ1200W]

I think I know exactly what o-ring you're talking about.
It may be the one for the starter drive mechanism.
Mine was plugged, as the starter drive was removed.
I've put it back.

[RPM - Robert]

Ron,

Steve is correct, the galley you have left the o-ring from is the starter clutch assembly. You need to pull it down and install it.

We do not use Yamabond.  We only use Permatex Ultra Black RTV on all our case halves and found to be much easier to work with.

Also, either before you pull it back part make sure the transmission shifts properly. If it doesn't, check for fork installation because is you install one backward is will not shift.

[Old Rider]

Here are some mistakes i did and reason i had to split the cases 3 times before getting it right

First time after cases was joined and everything torqued down i was
not sure that i had mounted a shim sitting next to 1 gear sprocket .Then i had to open cases again to check and it was there so the job splitting cases again was not needed !

Second time was when i managed to forget to check that the little dowelpin sitting in the transmission output shaft bearing was laying in the notch in the
gasketsurface before i joined the cases .There was no indication that it was placed wrong because the seamline where the cases joins was tight but
i was thinking maybe the dowelpin was crushed completely into the aluminium case or it may have fallen out or  have destroyed the bearing.
So had to split the cases again to check and then i found that the dowelpin was sitting correct in the notch so it was unnecessary to split the cases =)

Third time was when bolting together cases after the dowelpin check. I was torquing the bolts to 10NM then when i came to bolt NR 21 it just snapped off deep inside  the other case with a bang   .That was strange only 10NM on the steel bolt and it snapped off in the soft aluminiumcase fatigue and to many torque cycles maybe ? .So then it was just to split cases again to get the rest of the snapped off bolt out

so don't make same mistakes i did before joining the cases again .

[laseron]

Thanks everyone for your input. I'll be separating the case halves this week, and I'll make sure that little o-ring is in place. Also, I'll use Permatex Ultra Black to seal the cases, and check the shift forks. And if I find a voodoo doll in there (highly likely), I'll be sure to remove it.

Thanks again, and happy holidays!
Ron

[jono]

your talking possible oil pressure, there is no question strip it ,check it ,do it properly