Doing some work on the car

This is a job I've been meaning to do as preventative maintenance ahead of our next big trip and finally I had time to do myself due to being off work.  This work would have likely cost around £1,000 to get the Mitsubishi dealer to do it, but aside from saving money a major reason why I did it myself is that since this car takes us to very remote places (far from where an AA recovery van could come to help us) I think it important to develop my mechanical skills alongside my interest in 4wd touring.

All modern diesel turbo engines suffer from eventually getting gunked up with exhaust soot from the anti-pollution systems that all engine manufacturers are required to fit by law.  My Shogun now has 112,000 km's so I thought it was about time to strip down the air intake manifold and clean it out.

Believe it or not, Spiderman stopped by to help out!

If you click on any of the photos you will see them in full size, just like a photo album.  Cool huh!

Finally the intake manifold coming away from the block.

Some of the removed parts in the back garden awaiting cleaning.

Some of the gunk in the lower inlet manifold.  Not as bad as some I've seen, but a wee bit of restriction there.

Spiderman took a few photos of me working.

Timing chain tensioner - looked fine but I put a new one in anyway.

New chain top guide installed.

Adjusted all the valves and put it back together.  Job done!