Well, over the last couple of years, as my Turbo Montero was brought over to daily driver status, I've had several issues. I was fortunate enough to spend a couple days last week in Seattle with an old friend of mine and the forums'. He has a wonderful shop, and an even better reservoir of knowledge of cars.
-Tuning. I've had some trouble with a severe over-rich condition, and some backfiring, hot start, cold start, etc. issues with it. He put in on the C0 machine and lo-and-behold... lean misfire! It was running severely lean to the point of misfiring, and therefor dumping unburned fuel. No catalyst = a very rich smell, to the point of burning your eyes. Oh, and really poor MPG. he dialed it in to the point of near perfection on the machine at idle. It would even pass emissions with flying colors. I will soon add a wideband AFR to finish tuning it off-idle!
-Crickets. Recently, I asked about my chirping sound. On my drive down, the sound got much louder, and much more constant. One of you mentioned U-joints, but I passed it off because I had "custom" drivelines made for my trans/turbo/starion front diff swaps. WRONG!!!! Oh yeah, taking two drivelines that have well over 100k on them and having them cut and spliced, does not equate to a new driveline <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. He pulled the driveline, and the rear joint was impossible to move in one direction by hand! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />
Remember the "what broke and fixed my truck" post? I was having phantom vibrations that would come and go. I did bearings, rotated tires, etc. It would go away and drive great, then come back. That day I heard the huge bang, and then smoothed right out??? Had to have been the U-joint locked up and vibrating, then "bang", breaking free and smoothing up. It's all coming together now!
We also aligned everything, including a little T-bar adjustment, and just put things right.
We wrapped up the visit with an awesome afternoon on Lake Washington on his sailboat. Not much wind, but lots of swimming, and just hangin' out!
We headed out for Salem, Or. after that for yet more sailing with another old friend. Another wonderful, relaxing couple days hangin' out with friends and my kids! On the return trip, I was fortunate enough to get to drop in on KevinC at his new home in Portland, and have a quick lunch and a couple trips around the block in each others trucks. Man, his is zippy! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />
My truck ran great from Seattle on! Smooth as silk at all speeds. Still need to work on the whole economy thing though, 11.25 MPG leaves a lot to be desired. (It's hard not to keep my foot in it out on the freeway!)
Now it's back to work to a 16 hour day Monday, followed by a 23 hour day yesterday <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />
