The curvy offroad up to Costila


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Myself and a group of mates got togeather for a boys night out in the victorian high country. We started from walhalla and weaved our way to the donolleys creek gold mining area, this video is from the deep creek one and deep creek four tracks. On the lead up to this trip just about anything and everything that could have gone wrong had and did, but it just added to the fun at the end of it all. The 2.8l diesel 4runner had ceased no more than 2 weeks before the trip, the gq patrol suffered a cracked head only a few days before the trip and on the day before the trip both the patrol and pajero had started developing clutch issues….. but we didnt let any of that get in the way. The landcruiser is a stock 4.2l 1hz diesel with 45mm anti inversion shackles, 33 inch bfg mudterrain km2′s and a richmond gears front auto locker ( this is my 4×4 ) The gq patrol has a tb42 ( 4.2l petrol ) with an aftermarket turbo running on straight lpg, It has a 2 inch body lift and a 2 inch suspension lift. Modified bar work done from home factory rear limited slip diff, open front diff and is running 35 inch simex extreme trekkers. The pajero is a stock 3.0l v6 petrol with a factory rear air locker, its runs 31 inch silverstone mt 117 sports, this vehicle is usually suprisingly capable off road but with a cv joint popping out at the start of the trip rendering his front diff useless ( all power went to the broken cv meaning no drive in the front )the poor pajero needed to get snatched a whole …
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Hey All
In Nov last year on a trip back from Wellington, the old girl started smoking like a side show act, just pouring raw diesel out the pipe (grey/white smoke).
It also began knocking and running really rough.
I checked the vitals, no temp rise, no water leaks, no oil consumption, no increase in oil level (seals) no idiot lights, nothing to indicate something wrong. Although by the plumes of smoke something was definitely wrong. The next day, I took it to the local mechanic, who assured me he was informed enough about 4JX1′s to sort it out and that he’d done a few.

He diagnosed it as a cracked injector that was pouring diesel into the motor, which made sense as nothing was showing up on the codes on the scan II, so it wasn’t an electrically or computer based issue.
Ho does an injector crack? Any how I sourced a replacement set of injectors (second hand 50k vehicle, with guarantee) and also instructed to replace the seals with new vitron seals and injector tubes as it made sense while we were there. Also asked for him to adjust the tappets, again seeing we had the top end stripped down. Unfortunately I have since found a 4JX1 specialist in Mount Wellington who has very generously given advice and lots of it, which makes me think the current mechanic hasn’t really got a clue. As when I pass this info on the mechanic claims “sure we did that, it didn’t work”but the glazed look and silence prior to and during the conversation suggest different.

Result……..
9 weeks later, the truck now fires up but smokes like before, it runs but runs like before and to top it off I found out the Mechanic didn’t do the tappets as I had asked.
He now says that it must be something else and wants to pull the head to check. I asked if compression is OK and he replied it is normal but commented that there is oil in the inlet manifold.
I asked if he disconnected the breather tube was this still an issue (is sump under pressure) he hadn’t checked. I asked had he checked the turbo seals, he hadn’t checked.
He claims it now looks like a cracked head and the only way to go forward is to remove and check it. Keep in mind no water use or oil loss is happening.

I have asked him to tally up the costs to date and write down exactly what he has completed during this process and then give me an additional quote to complete the next stage as he recommends to be completed. I suspect he doesn’t actually know what he is doing and have caught him several times telling lies about the processes he has completed.
I dont see this ending well. I also talked to the since found 4JX1 specialist, and he commented that as the current crowd dont seem to know what they are doing if I take it to him he will start back from scratch and redo it properly. That I get, otherwise he will also be chasing his tail.

So my questions, does anyone have any other ideas on
1 Other issues that may be contributing to this mechanical problem, that doesn’t register on the scan.
2 Any suggestions/advice on dealing with this mechanic.

Sorry for the long winded post, but I am at a loss as to how to move this forward.

Cheers in advance Grant.
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