Hello @capsat bhai. Thankyou for reading out an entire fairytale. Today morning, before heading out to work, I got my car checked by my ustaad type mechanic and he tested the car for the misfire. he had immediately identified that either the distributor, the plug wires or the ignition coil were at fault. This all seemed like a trial and hit approach which usually becomes very costly. I had stalled him and went to Iqbal Shahid. despite being a very technical and honest fellow, Iqbal shahid sb has a few opinions which are contradictory to the recommendations of senior members, such as yourself.
My desi mechanic would have made me run for it and would have tried replacing everything he could, "YAAR ISS KA DISHTIBOOOTAR KABOOLI LE ATAY HAIN, PLUG WIRES ULTIMA KA DAAL DETAY HAIN AUR COIL BHI CHANGE MAAR DETE HAIN. YEH CARRONT KA MASLA HAI, TAPPAIT YA WAALL KA NAE" Iqbal Shahid follows a very systematic approach which is justified for servicing a 23 year old faithful. He had also followed a trial and error method but it was not as taxing or dreadful:
- All 4 spark plugs were removed, cleaned and reinstalled. There was no improvement in the misfire.
- Iqbal shahid hates these aftermarket plug wires. You simply cannot convince him to replaced the OEM ones with the aftermarket ultima ones. he hates them. Anyways he had serviced my OEM plug wires and reinstalled them back. There was partial improvement. The drive had smoothened to an extent.
- The distributor cap was in a worn out state and he had installed a new one which improved the idle stability.
- Then he had accessed the valve clearance and had loosened the clearance a little. This showed little or no improvement over the last few steps.
- His final step was the replacement of all 4 spark plugs with brand new ones and this one did it. The car had completely smoothened.
The good thing about Iqbal Shahid is, he won't give up until your car is in its optimum state and nor would he try imposing that the car is fine by saying "BAQI AAP KA WEHEM HAI, WARNA GARRI SAHI HAI, WEHEM KA KOI ILAAJ NAE HAI". He is quickly able to diagnose the fault & works step by step in resolution.
However, he still did something which I was not very approving of and would want you approvals here. He had installed a plastic between the pcv valve and the intake manifold to block the airflow and disconnected the hose that goes into the air filter box, however one end still goes into the tappet cover packing. I was curious as to why this was being done upon which he tried explaining that the engine has some compression issue due to which oil particles are also getting sucked by the carburetor. Please guide me whether this is the right approach or should it be reverted back to its original state? I tried asking him about a permanent fix for this. He hinted that we might have to go for an overhaul after 3-4 years, but seemed very skeptical about it since nobody in his circle is reliable in engine overhauling and he would not take any responsibility. I've asked him to stay on the lookout and befriend a competent and honest overhauling mechanic.
Secondly, iqbal shahid is of the strong belief that such an ageing engine should not have a tstat valve and nor should it be fed with coolant.
Iqbal Shahid, along with almost every other mechanic, are not very fond of replacing the spark plugs at specific mileages and tend to clean and reuse them as far as they can go. I have been reading suzuki manuals which recommend replacing them every 10000 kms.
besides the three reservations stated above, I would still recommend Iqbal shahid over any other desi type ustaad for car's periodic maintenance and tuneup. This guy is always determined to fix the issue.
I have been feeding the engine with caltex havoline 10w40 api SL ever since I had purchased this car 4 years back. The car has clocked 195,000 kms. the current oil is abundant in zddp. However, is it fine or do i need to shift to 20w50 now? Please advise @Xulfiqar
