Just a quick update to keep this thread somewhat alive, the OzWagon's oil leak turned out to be a compromised head gasket, or so I thought. I was able to observe a small seep/occasional bubble while running from this area on the rear of the engine, right where the head and block mate. This, as well as the coolant loss I was experiencing, made it obvious that it was time for some work.
Fluid was leaking down onto the top of the transmission, then around the bell housing and all over the bottom of the rig. The accumulated oil/burnt antifreeze made everything look a lot worse than it really was on the bottom, but the OzWagon was leaving bigger puddles everytime it was parked.
Not wanting to take any chances, I had the Troopie towed up to Torfab (
http://www.torfab.com) for a head gasket job.
Tor said the engine looked great internally, and the head gasket didn't look compromised. We discussed what this meant, with the possibility of the head being cracked, and what a new head for a 1HZ would cost from Toyota (they have a few in stock in North America, BTW, and they aren't cheap!).
As of this afternoon it has been confirmed that the head isn't cracked, and that I don't need a new one! We're thinking that after 500k km the head bolts might have stretched, and/or the head might have warped a bit, which allowed for the area to be compromised. Either way, the machine shop said they can definitely work with the head as is and I'm hoping to be driving the Troopie again in two weeks or so.
Until then, I'm left looking at the few pictures I took of it on my trip back up from Phoenix and tossing around different interior sleeping platform systems that won't require completely reworking the bucket seat set up. I like em, the lady doesn't, so who knows how that's going to end
