So now I have two cars. The Pajero/Montero for winter/slippery
days,
and the Transit for normal and long distance trips.
The only one that's ever seen a garage is the New Transit as it has
a
Electronic Engine Management System, and lacks circuit diagram for
the AC from the Haynes book.
In fact, for my Pajero/Montero I have one German book, and one English.
The German one is the best, but some times I find what I need only
in the
English one, and other times (mostly) only in the German one.
And some
times in none of them, but that's more on the practical level.
This mixture has to be USED the same day you mix it !
The purpose / theory behind it is like this :
The Oil works just like Oil on wood. That is, it fills up the
empty space
between the plates thats welded (folded) together, thus preventing
air
and water to enter and create rust.
The diesel fuel make the mixture so thin/fluent that it can be absorbed
in the narrow space between the welded/folded plates.
The body cote (Tectyl) makes it sticky, so it stays there for a while.
The diesel will evaporate after a while, and the body coat will harden
to some extent (which is not realy wanted but).
To some extent the Oil will also disaper after a longer time.
This (acording to the book) should be done twice a year, and should
then prevent your car from rusting :-) ......
I've used this method maybe once a year on my older cars. I think
that
it makes the last longer when it comes to rust.
The problem with Body Coat (and especially the cheap ones), is that
it's not getting in between the plates, where it's realy needed.
And when
it gets old it start to flake parlty off, and then it works as a dirt
collector
which again sucks water and lets air in, and then it's rusting Realy
Fast !
So remove any body cote not sticking properly on old (or newer) cars.
The same goes for the car paint. Scrape it off !. Unprotected
steel lasts
longer than steel with loose paint/body-coat on it. Because then
it can
at least dry out in between.
Whatever you put on top of (outside) rusty steel, it will still keep
on rusting
below, and you will have to repeat the work in a year (for japaneese
steel)
or two (for europe steel).
Though outside (not underneath) rust is easy to spot, it's frequently
of no
significance for the approval of the car. Save yourself a lot
of work and
don't do anything about it except for removing loose paint to let it
dry.
If you temporarily want to prevent open steel from rusting, you may
clean
it, allow it to dry, and then cover it with vaseline (yes like for
humans).
It prevents both air, and water to enter, and thus prevents rusting.
And
It's actually sticking quite well :-) ... To your clothes as well :-(
.....
When using stopper and lacquer select the two component types if possible.
They don't let air through as easily as the normal one component stuff,
and
thus they prevent rusting much better.
However, after 10,000Km (normal parlty long distance) driving any oil
is
so contaminated that the contamination itself can start causing wear
to the
engine.
The task of the oil filter is to pick up this contamination, but it
gets full after
a while, and get less capable of doing what its task.
You should therefore always change the oil filter when changing oil.
And
certanly if you want to have your engine see a high milage.
Pure synthetic is twice as expensive, but lasts twice as long, so is
not realy
expensive at all, and besides save you work and time, as you can skip
every second oil change.
The only case for using Mineral oil. Is when you don't drive much
and/or
drive mostly short trips (many cold starts). Because much of
the oil
contamination happen during the warm up phase of the engine (just after
starting) when the fuel is not properly burnt/consumed. (Is not
a problem
with LPG fuel though.) And then you should change more offen
to get
rid of the contamination that would otherwise cause engine wear.
And
then it becomes sensible to use mineral or (preferrably) semi synthetic
oils.
One should also consider that an old worn engine will have greater
clearance between the moving parts inside the engine (worn), and
that a thicker oil is more suitable to fill up that clearance/gap.
This could also influence oil consumption.
Any engine could last twice as high a milage as you think, If you just
keep
that oil clean and renewed all the time (and use fully synthetic).
When engines don't last more than about 200,000Km that's because the
silly owner think the car don't last more than 200,000Km, so when it
aproaches that milage, they stop spending money one it, as they think
it will not last much longer. And then ! ... It dosn't last much
longer !!
It's not the car that's bad, it's the owner that's not maintaining
it any more.
In my experience the more unavoidable cases for the death of a car is
rust
and worn out gear boxes.
The book tells you to take of the lower arm to change ball joint.
That's normaly
impossible. Instead. Loosen the steering ball. The
topp ball. Take out the clip
from the drive accle. Loosen the bolts on the bottom ball.
Disconnect the calipper
hose. Now you can remove the whole brake/wheel assembly, and the bottom
ball
joint. It sound's a lot of work, but it's the only way to do
it.
The DIY books says you need a special tool to tighten the front bearings.
That's
not true. It's loose any way, so just tighten it by hand, which
will gett it just about
right. If you have to tighten more than one or two holes consider
renewing the
bearings (which I've never done).
The upper arm can be tightened at the inside. Take out the two
bolts, and turn
the part the bolts went throug until suitable (not hard) tight.
120Nm On the Bolts.
25/4-2001