Frank, our neighbourhood mobile mechanic, fixed the water pump on our van for 20% under budget, and it’s running one notch cooler than it ever has before even though the thermostat is the same, which I attribute to better water flow throughout. Frank also seems to have bled the clutch, and not mentioned it on his bill. If you’re in Perth’s northern suburbs and chasing a good mechanic, Frank trades as C & A Autos on 0414-803-185.
The fixed water pump has allowed me to try out the shiny new injectors and freshly re-sealed fuel pump, too, and the difference is quite startling. Subjectively, it feels about 50% more powerful and while an 1800cc diesel 4WD van isn’t ever going to be popping any wheelies or blowing the doors off anything but snails it is certainly much more interested in keeping up with the traffic, and much easier to ramp up over 3000RPM (its TDC on the tacho; 2500 RPM is about where it starts seriously pulling, and that seems ot last to about 3700 RPM now) than ever before. The injectors and pump were done by Paul (trading as Perth Injector Exchange on 0411-430-576) who covers the entire metro area.
Edit: after taking it for another run and watching carefully, I see that the torque actually kicks in at around 2000RPM now, and the kick-in curve isn’t as steep as it used to be. It feels much healthier all around. There was still a little black smoke this morning — as expected — but the crud seems to have pretty much burned away now, leaving the exhaust clear and... well, not exactly “sweet”, but... (-:
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