So if you saw my "diesel nailing thread" you'll see that I had a sudden inspiration about where my rattle could be coming from. Yeah, not so much. Now I will say, replacing the injector seats, seals, and fuel rail washers, as well as cleaning the little bit of carbon off the injectors did help some. A little boost in power, by the seat of my hopeful pants, anyways.
However, look at this picture and tell me what's wrong with it?
That's right, the intake is not stuffed with a rag. This is not my first rodeo, but apparently on this particular day I must have been kicked by the bull. I was putting the fuel rail nuts back on the injectors, when one suddenly jumped out of my hand. Yep. I tried all order of mirrors, magnets, magnets on extendable sticks, plus every light I had, and I could not find that nut. (In the back of my mind I was trying to convince myself that there was no way it dropped down the intake). After an hour and a half of searching, I finally gave in to reality. I would have to pull the intake in order to confirm that my engine wasn't about to get a very crunchy (and deadly) snack. This meant pulling the fuel injector lines all the way out, etc. After much (more) deliberation, and pain, I laid my intake on the bench. What do you think was sitting in the port, ready to dive off the edge? Yep. A large, very hard nut. (Sort of like my head). I managed to coax it off the edge with my magnet, then bolted it in place, to the correct number of foot pounds. I may have even added an extra ugga-dugga as punishment.
While I had it off, I gave the intake a good look. It was downright clean as far as diesel intakes go, and looked way better than that Prado 90 intake I pulled a few years back with 100k kms on it. EGR= the devil's work. This old 91 with 275k kms has no such evil witchcraft, and it showed!
We even got to hang out with (my former) Betsy5 Pajero for the day!
The moral of the story is that the washers and seats were already there and functional but replacing them with new ones didn't hurt anything. And maybe it runs a tiny bit better?
In summary, at almost three years with me, she's now running like a top (rattle notwithstanding) and is about as good as she's ever been under my tutelage. Almost zero smoke on startup, climbing hills, etc. Today I went on a hike to the mountains, and my egt's were reasonable, my water temps were good, I could use 5th ascending 75% of the moderate hills, I maintained the posted speed limit (gasp), and we even had a headwind. Disclaimer: Mostly empty, and no RTT on top, so that helps, but still! She is running about as good as an atmo diesel can expect to run at 1100-1600m on a windy day.
Next up: Clutch slave and booster are getting some attention. New CSC is sitting on the bench, and I'm waiting on a rebuild kit for the booster on the (inside) firewall. (CSC is leaky, and sometimes pedal is hard, also shifting is more bus-like than even an H55 really should be).
ZERO white smoke on startup, even on chillier (4 degree celsius so, far) mornings. Almost no black smoke on acceleration, unless I REALLY lug it, and even then its only a hint. I'm not suggesting it's quick. Not even spritely. "Indifferently-lethargic" might be as complimentary as I can get... but it starts on a half turn every time, runs smooth-ish, sips around 20 mpg, and feels like it will continue to do that long after the AndroidAuto in the dash has gone to headunit heaven.