Tuning it.
It's gutless and it smokes too much, which is to say not all the time but mainly when I put my foot down, which since it is gutless is most of the time.
Since it is when I put my foot down and not other times, this means it is more likely to be diesel than oil, which is nice. That means either the injectors or the pump.
Since it is also gutless, that too could be either injectors or the injection pump. I didn't know about the pump until later: this is my first ever diesel engine.
So I pull the injectors to have a look, (first pulling the ones from the dead van to see what a shitty engine looks like.)
I think this is good: a nice even grey circular area. All four were like this. I think they are working fine. Didn't bother hooking them up and cranking the pump to observe spray pattern
On the other van, two had black carbon built up a little on the injector head, visibly of a mild thickness. The other two had big fat crusty scabs of igneous-looking gunge filling the entire midsection gap.
The tappets were noisy to fuck after I adjusted them, and the blowback was worse, so I figured I had the gaps too small and they were maybe leaking out the inlet valves, which would lead to lower power, and I had lower power in spades.
After a bit of internet research which I must say is pretty damn good when you type in something specific like "4d56 injection timing" or "4d56 tappet clearance", and there is considerable discussion as to the correct clearances and what temperature you set it all at, and the manuals say one thing and other manuals say another, until lo and behold a forum post contained a story about a guy who was at a campground and an old mechanic walking past heard his van idling, asked "4D56?", guys says "yep", old guy says "0.25mm cold" and walks away.
So I get back to lifting off the tappet cover and recheck the clearances cold, and can barely wiggle them they are so tight. Back to this operation then...
Finish, fire it up, and even cold it is hugely quieter. Smooth too, but still a little under powered. RIGHTO THEN, INJECTOR PUMP TIMING.
See, there is no ignition timing as such, this just occurs when the compression is complete, the injection pump is set to put the fuel in and whether it is put in early or late affects the amount and nature of fuel burning that occurs.
Many vehicles have 4D56 engines: Pajero, L200 ute, L300 van, L400 van, Strada.... and there are a few different injector pump types affecting how timing is set. Mine is fortunately a "loosen the clamp bolts and rotate the whole pump" type.
First, loosen the fuel-to-injectors pipe unions... reaching up from underneath while standing above.
Then loosen the clamp bolts. Two are accessible from underneath, where "accessible" means "just barely, with your arms extended overhead, spanner held in two fingers, and rotating a 12th of a turn at a time".
Two others are pretty much the same but from above.
So you rotate it clockwise to retard the timing, anticlockwise to advance it. If it is full advanced, there is more fuel in there and it compresses more and burns harder, harder on the engine and a bit lumpier. Too retarded and it is gutless and a bit smokey, but smoother. Apparently the range of adjustment is huge on these Tonka-toy trucks. I start of with approximately almost full retardation. Yes it is smooth and quiet, yes it is a bit gutless, and in the mirror there is what looks like grey smoke when I floor it uphill. Grey means unburnt fuel. Ok. Too far retarded. (Toofar advanced, and the smoke is black as the fuel burns too hard & fast and goes all carbony.
Back at the ranch, use a big spanner and a hammer to move it in the advance direction, and give up at a point which is "mostly". Test drive: MORE POWER! LESS SMOKE! I think that will do for now.
I looked up at the underneath of the engine lid, and there is a silver sticker in Japanese with clearly visible "0.25 mm" written twice - inlet and exhaust that will be.
Also, I found another high country section. This one is nearly 900 hectares.
Considering it.
Since it is when I put my foot down and not other times, this means it is more likely to be diesel than oil, which is nice. That means either the injectors or the pump.
Since it is also gutless, that too could be either injectors or the injection pump. I didn't know about the pump until later: this is my first ever diesel engine.
So I pull the injectors to have a look, (first pulling the ones from the dead van to see what a shitty engine looks like.)
I think this is good: a nice even grey circular area. All four were like this. I think they are working fine. Didn't bother hooking them up and cranking the pump to observe spray pattern
On the other van, two had black carbon built up a little on the injector head, visibly of a mild thickness. The other two had big fat crusty scabs of igneous-looking gunge filling the entire midsection gap.
The tappets were noisy to fuck after I adjusted them, and the blowback was worse, so I figured I had the gaps too small and they were maybe leaking out the inlet valves, which would lead to lower power, and I had lower power in spades.
After a bit of internet research which I must say is pretty damn good when you type in something specific like "4d56 injection timing" or "4d56 tappet clearance", and there is considerable discussion as to the correct clearances and what temperature you set it all at, and the manuals say one thing and other manuals say another, until lo and behold a forum post contained a story about a guy who was at a campground and an old mechanic walking past heard his van idling, asked "4D56?", guys says "yep", old guy says "0.25mm cold" and walks away.
So I get back to lifting off the tappet cover and recheck the clearances cold, and can barely wiggle them they are so tight. Back to this operation then...
Finish, fire it up, and even cold it is hugely quieter. Smooth too, but still a little under powered. RIGHTO THEN, INJECTOR PUMP TIMING.
See, there is no ignition timing as such, this just occurs when the compression is complete, the injection pump is set to put the fuel in and whether it is put in early or late affects the amount and nature of fuel burning that occurs.
Many vehicles have 4D56 engines: Pajero, L200 ute, L300 van, L400 van, Strada.... and there are a few different injector pump types affecting how timing is set. Mine is fortunately a "loosen the clamp bolts and rotate the whole pump" type.
First, loosen the fuel-to-injectors pipe unions... reaching up from underneath while standing above.
Then loosen the clamp bolts. Two are accessible from underneath, where "accessible" means "just barely, with your arms extended overhead, spanner held in two fingers, and rotating a 12th of a turn at a time".
Two others are pretty much the same but from above.
So you rotate it clockwise to retard the timing, anticlockwise to advance it. If it is full advanced, there is more fuel in there and it compresses more and burns harder, harder on the engine and a bit lumpier. Too retarded and it is gutless and a bit smokey, but smoother. Apparently the range of adjustment is huge on these Tonka-toy trucks. I start of with approximately almost full retardation. Yes it is smooth and quiet, yes it is a bit gutless, and in the mirror there is what looks like grey smoke when I floor it uphill. Grey means unburnt fuel. Ok. Too far retarded. (Toofar advanced, and the smoke is black as the fuel burns too hard & fast and goes all carbony.
Back at the ranch, use a big spanner and a hammer to move it in the advance direction, and give up at a point which is "mostly". Test drive: MORE POWER! LESS SMOKE! I think that will do for now.
I looked up at the underneath of the engine lid, and there is a silver sticker in Japanese with clearly visible "0.25 mm" written twice - inlet and exhaust that will be.
Also, I found another high country section. This one is nearly 900 hectares.
Considering it.