Maintenance in Paraguay

Our van is reaching 370.000km. As usual, every 10.000 km the oil and the filter is changed, but this time some more work was needed. The last major work was done in Chile: the rear axle was partly re-welded (it started leaking at the leaf spring supports) and we got some new shock absorbers and tires. Since then we travelled all the way south to Ushuaia and back up north, encountering lots of washboard roads and dust. Lots of dust.

Argentina is -for us and so far- by far the most difficult country in South America to find parts for our Mitsubishi. We did what was really necessary and luckily that wasn’t much: oil changes, some rubber boots for the front drive shafts and two! air filters because of the dusty environment. It is worth to mention the dust: not ever before have I seen such dusty environments for such a prolonged time. Not even the Moroccan desert was that bad.

Anyway, while staying on a camp ground called Pequeña Bavaria, in Paraguay, I decided to do a visual check on the timing belt, because of all the dust it might not last as long as usual. But that is not a quick job because part of the timing belt cover has to come off, and to do that, the fan and the fan belt and the power steering belt have to be removed too. But finally the top half of the belt cover came off and after some feeling and looking, I found that the timing belt was OK.

But then, coincidently, While I was gazing at the engine block, I saw that the belt for the balance shafts was broken… I had heard of this before, but now it was my turn to experience it. Luckily this belt did not interfere with the timing belt after it snapped. Things could have been worse. Other owners of an 4D56 engine mentioned that “you might as well leave the balance belt out, it is hardly noticeable” but I decided to put a new belt on it, because the engineers didn’t design the balance shafts for nothing, right? But, of course I replaced the timing belt as well now, because it had to come off in order to get the balance belt on. Still following? On top of that I replaced the v-belts as well: two for the water pump and alternator, one for the power steering. For now I’ll keep the old ones as backup.

While at it, I wanted to check and adjust the valve play as well, and then one of the plastic rings broke off… a minor part of the adjustment screw for the intake and exhaust valves. Now, my engineering mind concluded that a plastic ring cannot be part of a critical function in relation the the valves, but it does keep the “elephant foot” in place, at least during assembly and possibly adjusting. So, if I could find replacements, maybe it would be better to replace them as well. Luckily things are much easier in Paraguay, and I found new adjustment screws during the first attempt at a Mitsubishi dealer. Replacing the screws was easy, but while taking the old ones out, more of them crumbled to pieces.

Besides the motor oil (and filter) the transmission and transfer case oil was changed too. I could get Eurol oil (from the Netherlands!) It was last changed in Ecuador. Both differentials received new oil in Peru (front) and Chile (rear). So they should be good for some time.

A strange rolling noise, only in the cold morning during the first kilometres, would come from the front right wheel. Maybe the brake pads rubbed the disc brake? Perforated rubbers on the sliding pin of the brake calliper were replaced (making it easier for the brake pads to align). And after that I replaced the wheel bearings: they had significant wear on the outer races. I remember they were replaced in Peru, but then the “mechanics” adjusted them too tight (using a hammer – of course-) and also managed to damage the new seal while hammering it in place (you guessed it, with nothing else but a hammer). I replaced the seal later in Bolivia because the grease ran out of the overheated hub, but now it was the end for the bearings.

And finally an upper ball joint had to be replaced. It was rusted inside because the rubber seal was damaged. Again this was caused by abundant hammering of the local mechanics: they usually don’t have a ball joint splitter tool, so they just hit the eyelet with a hammer until the ball joint comes loose. In that process the rubber seal gets pinched -of course-. They disagree so, better to do these things yourself: parts will last longer that way. At first I didn’t carry a ball joint splitter (too heavy) but these days I do have one. Clearly now I am one of few people to be in possession of such a tool on this continent!

Before we reached Pequeña Bavaria

In Uruguay I already took a shot at some problems we had:

The parking heater was taken apart completely to try and solve the F31 fault code (combustion chamber fan). But to take it apart, I first needed to get some gasket to cut my own custom shape. Because during the break in while shipping to Mexico, they managed to ruin the original spare I had with me. This fault code problem started after some lengthy times on high altitude, where combustion was not complete (less oxygen). Therefore I expected also a lot of soot inside the burning chamber, but that was actually quite clean. Nevertheless I inspected and cleaned everything. But nothing stood out. Finally I decided to adjust the air gap between the housing and the air fan, it seemed that it might rub a little, and that could reduce the speed of the combustion chamber fan (a too low fan speed means less air, which means poor burning, which causes the heater to aborts the process). I put it all back together and after some hiccups it seems to be working again. Hopefully we don’t need it so much anymore. The climate will become warmer anyway as we move towards the equator.

The starter motor gave problems again. We had problems with it in Peru, and then the bearings were replaced. Now, I could not find what was wrong with it, so I took it to a specialist. He refurbished it and concluded that it needed a new gear wheel and clutch. But solenoid and carbon brushes were replaced too. After the repair I could definitely hear the difference when starting: much smoother. So, problem solved.

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