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Pink Caulking


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#1 Joaquin Suave

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Posted 13 August 2010 - 04:33 AM

Pink Caulking

NOT A STORY FOR THE MEEK!

After 2 years of working weekends, evenings, and WAY to much time that should have been dedicated towards clients projects...I have completed the re-motoring of Casa Azul (my Ford F700 4x4 adventure vehicle). Like all complex engineering projects, one can not reasonably expect to just "hop in and go". In all honestly, the "shake-down" process is when all your planning, mechanical skill, and hard work are pitted against the unknown, the unforeseen, and the unreliable.
Well, I am happy to say that other than some loose hose clamps & fittings, a few injection pump tweaks, and a wrong sized O-ring on the modulator that caused the Allison transmission to leak...All was good. NO! IT WAS FRICKEN GREAT!
What was except for some drive-line vibration noise and in all honesty, Casa was suffering the same milady with the old motor too. So I consulted a local truck Guru and he made the suggestion of lowering the transfer case. So I made 1” spacer brackets and bought longer 5/8” dia. Grade 8 bolts then…Got it done, and took a test drive. But DANG!!! The drive-line still sounded worse! My buddy “Big Wave” Dave had an idea and hopped out of the truck then had me roll forward and back as he crouched down and watched the rear drive line (the front was not engaged). Well, he jumps up and gives me the kill the engine sign (you know one-fingers across the throat), then opens the passenger door and proclaims “Your noise is coming from your carrier yoke digging into your PVC water tank”…My reply” OH F@#KING JOY!
At this point I cracked open a Pacifico and contemplated my options. By the time the beer was done (or was the second one. Huh, I can’t remember), I accepted the reality that the tank HAD to be removed so that the drive-line could be made a perfect as possible (remember, Casa now has twice the ponies she used to have)!
So I removed the rear driveshaft and got half a dozen 5 gallon buckets, then climbed under the truck with a sharp knife and cut the hose going from the tank to my filter bank…But nothing came out! Weird, I was pretty sure that I had left the tank about half full???? I guess not.
My next step was removing then screws for the gauge sensor wires, and much to my surprise…Water started pissing out the screw hole! I undid the next one up, then the next one above that one and water came out of both them too. But why not the output port?
Once the water drained down until it was just dripping out of the “tank empty” sensor hole, I unscrewed the brass hose barb on the tank output and was surprised to see that it was clogged with pink caulking.
“What the huh?” I asked myself. Ok, I put the tank in the truck close to 10 years ago, long before I learned that urethane caulking was the hands down best, and to use nothing else. Maybe I used some odd caulking to seal in the sensors or an oversized vent tube. Ten years is a loooooong time ago, who in the hell knows what I did. But it still struck me as odd because I’ve never seen RTV turn pinkish and have the uncured durometer of saltwater taffy. “Oh well” I said, then proceeded to remove the tank and remount the driveshaft.
Once everything was buttoned up and my tools were but away, I grabbed another frosty beverage then went to inspect tank to see if it could be salvaged.

So I unscrew the large elbow that the fill hose is plumbed to and peer inside the tank and instantly discovered where the “pink caulking” came from when I saw the un-decomposed furry flesh and bones of about A DOZEN MICE!

OK!OK! Before you think I’ve been drinking “mouse water”…I’ve got to inform you that while Casa has been going through her “extreme makeover” I have left the doors and tank fill cap (the tank fill port is in the shower) open for weeks on end and that no one has drank “mouse juice”. THANK GOD!

Things I learned from this experience:

 ALWAYS KEEP YOUR TANK FILL CAP CLOSED! (Unless you are filling the tank, of course)
 Fit your tank fill & vent with a mesh screen.
 What may seem like burden (like having to remove the water tank) may be a blessing in disguise!
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#2 craig333

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Posted 14 August 2010 - 12:48 AM

Good advice! Hope I never seen pink caulking.
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Craig K6JGV_________________________ 2004 2500 CTD 4X4 FWC HAWK 1960 CJ5


#3 Barko1

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Posted 15 August 2010 - 02:44 PM

It's probably good for you! Natural you know.
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Granby on an F250 in S. NM




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