Hey guys— first post here. I recently joined the LC community with a new old HJ61 VX automatic. I know very little about engines and repair and decided to dive into the deep end with the HJ.
I've been having smoke issues and luckily there's a guy that works on old/JDM LC's here that I was able to take it to. I had the injectors rebuilt since they were mostly at the end of their life— it definitely helped with the smoke and I was able to pass emissions with the worst being 25% opacity at 40mph.
With that being said, I'm still having smoke issues. I live in Colorado, and when I head up into the mountains (5200ft -> 8500ft) I can't go up any real incline without the tranny (auto) dropping down a gear and that's when I get lots of black smoke. The mechanic recommended that in addition to rebuilding the injectors I should adjust the valves, and since it's something that should be done every 10-15k miles I figured it'd be worth learning how to do. Worst case scenario I could take it back to him, but I'm not gonna learn much by doing that.
As I said, I'm new to engines (both diesel and gas) and while I'm eager to learn, this is my daily driver so I can't have this thing in pieces forever. I've been Googling around about general valve clearance adjustment, but having never seen the inside of a 12HT I'd like to just see what kind of guidance I can get before deciding to dive in.
For tools it appears I'll need shims to measure valve clearances. Any other special tools required?
I realize this is a broad question, but any guidance for a noob would be much appreciated!
I've been having smoke issues and luckily there's a guy that works on old/JDM LC's here that I was able to take it to. I had the injectors rebuilt since they were mostly at the end of their life— it definitely helped with the smoke and I was able to pass emissions with the worst being 25% opacity at 40mph.
With that being said, I'm still having smoke issues. I live in Colorado, and when I head up into the mountains (5200ft -> 8500ft) I can't go up any real incline without the tranny (auto) dropping down a gear and that's when I get lots of black smoke. The mechanic recommended that in addition to rebuilding the injectors I should adjust the valves, and since it's something that should be done every 10-15k miles I figured it'd be worth learning how to do. Worst case scenario I could take it back to him, but I'm not gonna learn much by doing that.
As I said, I'm new to engines (both diesel and gas) and while I'm eager to learn, this is my daily driver so I can't have this thing in pieces forever. I've been Googling around about general valve clearance adjustment, but having never seen the inside of a 12HT I'd like to just see what kind of guidance I can get before deciding to dive in.
For tools it appears I'll need shims to measure valve clearances. Any other special tools required?
I realize this is a broad question, but any guidance for a noob would be much appreciated!
