[Dinoquad]

Well. I fixed it!
I mean, joining the dots afterwards is so much easier isn't it?
You would think that a simple blown top radiator could be just that hey?
Patch up and correct* fluid top up, on the side of the road, 10 kilometre easy run into a nearby town, pick up new hose, and coolant, fit it and everything would be good, wouldn't it?
* trickle the water in with the motor running. Yes, I have seen some destroyed motors before….
When it got hot, it developed a miss, but the miss was down low and intermittent, and I still had another 700 km before I got home, so I put up with it, and the devastating fuel consumption.
No oil in the radiator, no water in the sump, coolant wasn't getting lost, just #3 cylinder not firing and the occasional random miss from #4 & #5 cylinder, so, it could be worse.....

And the miss became angry by the time we got home. It would shake the doors at idle sometimes, but still overtake with ease. When I got back, I decided to replace the plug leads because they were old and that would be the obvious thing to do. $62 later,,,,,
Still missing. Same cylinders……Running better though.
Do a compression check. All good, real good in fact. Get a set of codes out of the computer. $14 is a bargain from Supacheap. Clear the cache and get the current issues. Coil pack. $72 Replace it. Rotten job it is too.
Still missing. Same cylinders….. Although it is running even better.
Hit the forums. Hmm?
Re-check the BIG book….
Ring a friend……
Talk to the dealer……..
Talk to another one……
This could confuse a genius, let alone a guy who has had as many head knocks as me!
And the guestimates is more than what the old ute is worth…..
They are obsessed with electronics and sensors and I am a bit challenged that way.
Stop and think!
This Ute ran well in winter, last summer it played up a little, the winter before it was good. The summer before I got it and gave it some TLC, but ran out of time and money concurrently.
A service fixed the roughness each time, but it wasn't as smooth as in the cooler months.
Heat related maybe? Possibly….
It has always been a bit sluggish and shy of torque quite low in the rev range, but rocketed in the mid and higher rev range when needed. Consumption around town wasn't impressive and on the highway it was reasonable but not exceptional. Others did better.
And sometimes it would idle would be a bit high, and sometimes the air con wouldn't blow where needed……
Maybe a intermittent vacumn leak would explain all that….
So I get a pot of water, start her up and start pouring water over vacumn hoses.
Nothing under the bonnet anyway.
And the ones behind the dash are a no go zone unless I am desperate.
So I start @ the inlet manifold gasket.
And there you go! Leaking at #3, 4 and 5!
New intake manifold gasket. $22. About 2 hours to fit. Made the coil pack look easy!
I have a diploma in being poor, and am working on my masters in poverty, but for less than two tanks of fuel, ($172 in total) the old girl is crisp, responsive and leaps at a wriggle of the big toe on the throttle.
But it is fixed!