victoria to montreal and almost back again... :(

[Ursula]

We set out at the beginning of april, on tour.
We visited hornby island, duncan, victoria, vancouver , up to peace river, princegeorge, edmonton, saskatoon, winnipeg, thunderbay, sault saint marie, toronto, montreal, guelph hamilton, london, tobermorrie, then ALL the back.... EVERYTHING WAS AMAZING!, exploring logging roads, finding sweet camping spots, visiting friend's farms... until calgary.
When we broke down just outside town.
Blown engine, they say...
i don't get it. I was keeping a close eye on all the fluids, just had an oil change before we left, wasn't pushing it too much....
yeah.
Proactive's got it. they're gunna try to get a new engine from coombs or "their other supplier" then i'll go pick it up when it's all done....
about 5-6000 dollars.
darn.
We've only had her for three months.
But she's worth every penny...
Just borrowing a little normal car to get around is weird.
i miss my deli.

[crushers]

expand on "broke down"...
over heated?
knocking?
leaked oil?
turbo packed it in?
compression is gone?
blown timing belt?

which tech at ProActive is looking at it?

[Ursula]

They said the engine is dead... two out of four cylinders are at zero compression?
and i don't know which tech is taking care of things, so far i've only dealt with the receptionists.
i should know tomorrow if there's an engine available from coombs.

we were headed up the first hill outside calgary, and the rpms went crazy and up into the red, then as they went down, and we reached the crest of the hill, the temperature gague shot up and we stalled, coasted back down the hill to the gas station.
the previous day we did a non stop drive into the wind from winnipeg to calgary... and you know how they are, when you're against the wind you get almost half the gas mileage... but we took it slow and easy and stopped often for gas and to check fluids.

[Green1]

overheating and then stalled... ends up with no compression in 2 cylinders... that sounds rather like a cracked head... you may not need a whole engine, just the head. (of course there's no way to know for sure until it gets taken apart)

[Ursula]

they said something about the bottom end? i'm probably remembering wrong.
The head was replaced in 2007 by ccauto, could that be the problem again after only three years?
Knowing nothing about engines, i kinda feel at the whim of the mechanics, and i'm not too sure about proactive's reputation, i have heard positive and negative things.

[Green1]

they said something about the bottom end? i'm probably remembering wrong.

If they have it apart they will know better than anyone speculating online. it is possible, though it wouldn't have been my first guess.

The head was replaced in 2007 by ccauto, could that be the problem again after only three years?

Heads don't go with time, they go with temperature, so you can crack a head the day after one is replaced, or one can last until the rest of the vehicle falls apart around it. The reason I suspected head was that you indicated that you overheated as this happened, a frequent cause of head issues.

and i'm not too sure about proactive's reputation, i have heard positive and negative things.

I haven't used them myself, and I too have heard mixed things... unfortunately though, I do not know of anywhere else in Calgary to suggest for this sort of work.

[crushers]

head wind = crazy EGTs
was there ANY sign of over heating? the temp guage move at all?
i just got off the phone with Dean. he is the tech that is working on your van. he is top notch, i wouldn't let anyone but Dean and Mike work on my trucks in Calgary.
i specificaly requested them.
so back to your van, 200+k with severe blow by and no compression. i would say head gasket with another issue in the bottom end (probably rings). i think the best money you can spend is to stick another engine in and call it a day.

you could stick a head gasket in but the labor is rediculous and you still have an engine with issues and potential for more.

sorry to hear.
best of luck, take heart - you have the best guy (next to Mike himself) in Calgary working on your van.
cheers

[Ursula]

thanks so much for the reassurance on proactive! and their decision to go ahead with a new engine.
and calling dean for more info! a little creepy. :) but i really appreciate the extra effort!
You'll have to excuse me but... EGT's? i'm sorry i have no idea what that means.
when i saw the rpm's go crazy, i looked straight at the temp. but it was normal, untill the rpm's started to go down, then the temp shot up and then we stalled. it all happened in about 40 seconds. once at the gas station, we let it cool down, checked the fluids, and tried to fire it up, but to no avail.
It was kinda funny, earlier that day we were at the army surplus store and the guy said "you wanna leave town soon cause there's a snowfall warning for friday"
"ah, we'll be out of town before then"
guess i should have knocked on wood or something.

Really thank you so much for your help on this.

[crushers]

i have been strongy recommending a pyrometer to be installed in ALL diesel equiped vehicles. Exhaust Gas Temp, it tells you more accurately what is happening inside your engine...
maybe get Dean to install one at the same time the engine goes in...
cheers

[Jungle Jon]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.
Don't know if this will help you, but this guy is importing a few 4D56 engines and is looking for someone to split the shipping cost.
http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/showflat. ... age=0&vc=1

[RichD]

This thread made me sad. I've been there; blew an engine after a minor fender bender cracked the cooling system. It happened so fast, then it was all over.

I think you made the case for a pyro.

Best of luck and warm wishes.

[TardisDeli]

Hi Nathan of Ursula, what about you ... do you need a place to stay, warm support from Delica friends? There are many Delica owners in Calgary, and many have stayed at our TardisDeli home so they owe the community (thus they owe you) lots of overnights and food and drink and friendship. Keep in touch, tell us all how you're doing. I can PM you some of the local delica phone numbers. Christine.

[Ursula]

Calgary:
aw, when it was all fresh, we were sleeping in the van with the snow and rain, three people and a dog...it was pretty miserable. we sure could have used a warm couch and a cup of tea. but we've since caught plane rides out west. i was in a rush to make it home for my sons birthday, so i flew home the next day. the others and the dog followed suit the day after that.
I'll be hitchiking out to calgary when i get an estimated time of completion, and depending on how long of a wait i'll gave once in calgary, i might take you up on some of those magic numbers! even just to have a celebration beer for getting back on the road and to dork out over stuff.
Thank you so much for the concern!

Pyrometer:
This tells you what the temperature of the exhaust is?
This will let you know if the engine is working harder than normal? is that right? What are the pros and cons/cost of having one installed? Could someone direct me to a thread about them?

New imported Engine:
It seems like it would be a great option if i weren't so impatient to get back rolling. Also it feels to me like it might just be one more complication i don't need to think about. thanks for pointing it out though!

Finding out today if coombs has an engine for us. wish me luck.

-Nathan

[Green1]

Pyrometer:
This tells you what the temperature of the exhaust is?
This will let you know if the engine is working harder than normal? is that right? What are the pros and cons/cost of having one installed? Could someone direct me to a thread about them?

many threads about them, search for pyrometer or egt* (you have to put the * in there or it won't search for a 3 character term)
Pros: lets you know how hard the engine is working, lets you know how hot everything is, lets you better manage how hard you push things, and how long you idle before shutdown after working the engine hard (to let the turbo "spin down")
Cons: a couple bucks for the install?? it's really hard to come up with a con really, they're cheap and when monitored properly can save you a lot of future hassle.
Some people say they aren't "necessary"... hard to say... I think they are a good idea, that said, I don't have one... just never gotten around to it...

Finding out today if coombs has an engine for us. wish me luck.

If they don't, try CVI and mardy... both have been good at finding such things in the past...

my suppliers for delica specific parts are:
ccautos, mardy, cvi: for used parts
Rocky Mountain Imports: for new parts
All of them have proven to be excellent sources willing to do whatever it takes to make you happy.

[TardisDeli]

Hi Nathan of Ursula, keep us ALL informed. Don't just hitchhike, we can organize hopefully a little chain to get you through to calgary (I will pick you up from ferry and give you a place to stay). We have deli-folk along the way so might organize little drives between each member, and maybe people are driving distances for holidays. There is the new guy picking up his delica on June20 and driving back east (he will probably stay with us a night). Christine.