Now 43 and having done an apprenticeship at 17 as a reconditioner/mechanic as my first foray into the big wide work world, I had always stuck with vehicles within my knowledge range. Never pursued the occupation, as other things called. It always stood me in good stead though! Saved megabucks through the years!
1. I don't trust any bastard with my wheels.
2. I am tight. Why pay $60+ per hour for something I can do myself?
My little philosophy/theory came unstuck with the recent purchase of a L300 4by 87 model.
Still awaiting a hard to come by manual from NZ I have had a plague of problems that have been real headscratchers that even those I have approached who are more familiar with mitsus than me. Until I have a new vehicle running right and am familiar with it's quirks, I just can't trust it.
2 days after purchase the reverse retaining pin came adrift and I resolved that one by putting it back in and peining it as
well as putting heavy guage fence wire through it and nippingjust clear of the ends of the pin and peining that over to....the little sucker will never come loose again, the nuts had already been done.
2 days after that undertaking it suffered a loss of power that rapidly escalated into 10km/hr trips up the driveway which is a very mild slope, as
well as the oil light coming on after warm up...
The oil pressure was fine and replacing the sender has failed to fix that one...that can wait.
I decided to eliminate what I could before biting the bullet and taking it into the nearest sevice centre.
Compression checked out fine.
The fuel filter was replaced (genuine is $20 cheaper than the ryco FYI).
Base idle needs to be set and can't do until I have the manual....besides it cant cause the lack of power experienced according to mitsu aware friends.
The oxygen sensor may be suspect but also can't cause the problem.
New plugs gapped correctly were fitted.
The catalytic converter was stuffed and I thought this, finally was the answer...
It is also not symtomatic of injector problems as it idles fine (apart from base idle revs) and no backfiring or missing.
NOPE!
Last night at the point of giving up hope and getting to dark to see I accidentally touched one of the wires that goes into the injector and it caused the revs to drop. Closer inspection revealed corrosion on the connectors and I am about to go
check on no's 3 and 4 as I am pretty sure this will be the root of the problem.
What have I learnt apart from the total PIA of all this?
Well, I figure I am fortunate to have all these problems happen now as I am getting to know the thing inside out and am sure in time I will get to love it dearly and undertake our ventures with utter confidence.