Cold starts black smoke Calgary mechanic

[on the road]

Just got my 94 deli. Picked up in bc and drove back to Calgary. It seems to run great. But back in Calgary cooler temps in the morning it's realy rough start, lots of black smoke and takes a few trys to get going. other than this it runs great. Had all the service done at cc auto. Does anyone have a good diesel machanic in Calgary?

[aclarker]

Pro Active Automotive in NE Calgary. They specialize in Toyota and Mitsu diesels.
3501 29 Street NE 403 291 2470.

[on the road]

Much appreciated ill check them out on monday.

[Green1]

speaking from experience, there are NO shops in calgary that I would trust to look at such an issue. At best they will over charge you and fix little to nothing, at worst they'll physically damage things while charging you tons of money and making the problem worse *cough*GCL*cough*

sorry to sound so cynical, but my experience with smoke and cold start problems in Calgary has been anything but good.

[bikepoor]

X-2 on that statment! Pro-Active did my Alberta inspection last winter, found a bucket full of stupid little nittpickey things that they claimed had to be fixed before they would release my bus for registration (ex: must replace dual battery tie-down clamp quote $220 installed) fixed by me by replacing the missing nut, and a chunk of rubber hose split down the middle to eleminate vibration. Long story short , $1300 later, They start my van in the back of the shop to tell me all the wonderfull things they had done to it, and proceded to laugh and point out to me that my neighbours were going to hate me for the James Bond cloud on cold start days, because they didn't know of a way to stop it! Smoke seems to be the way a Delica in Calgary tells you it's cold out, but I still started!

[aclarker]

Other than Green1, I have asked for input on Mechanics in Calgary.... The results from the request were disappointing. Therefore I decided to build a relationship with Pro-Active. People are people in any service business give them a chance hold them accountable when they make mistakes. If they take the appropriate measures to correct things for you personally why should I not recommend them. I can spend a tonne of time researching mechanics in Calgary or I can build a relationship with one mechanic who is willing to meet me half way.

My mechanic may not be the right mechanic for the next person. Give someone a chance and they me be the right person for you... Who knows what may happen.

Pro-Active may or may not work for you. In my opinion take the comments with a grain of salt and find out for yourself what works for you.

[robinimpey]

If you're okay with a little drive head out to Fuel Automotive on Hwy 1 just East of Strathmore. Doyle Dubois is the owner of this shop and specializes in Diesels. He is completely honest, has reasonable shop rates and will make sure the job is done right. I take everything to him that I can't do myself. He is generally busy so you need to book a while ahead, but he will do what he can when its an emergency. http://www.fuelautomotive.com/ For the most part I hate taking any vehicle to a mechanic because too often all I do is spend a bunch of money only to end up having to redo things myself anyway.

I highly recommend Fuel Automotive.

[Erebus]

I'll never go to Pro-Active again if I can avoid it. I took my Delica there shortly after I got it in Sept 2007. They charged a high price to do the timing belt & water pump, and took a long time.

I specifically asked them to look at the smoke on cold startup. They forgot to do it, but said it was normal.

They installed an upper rad hose heater -- this was before anyone figured out how to put in a block heater. They did a pretty good job, except they didn't tighten the hose clamps, so I had a coolant leak of about 1/2 litre per month. Took me ages to discover where the leak was. When I did, I couldn't really get at it from underneath -- didn't realize that taking the fan shroud off would have made it easy. But the leak was dripping coolant onto the alternator, with the end result being that I needed a new alternator in 2009.

Another shop I have used -- they did the alternator -- is Stevo (in the Marda Loop area). They are very slow, but seem to do pretty good work for a reasonable price. (Okay, they didn't succeed with Green1's Delica, but no one can fix that engine!)

Robin, thanks for the info about Fuel Automotive.

For all non-dieseland non-turbo work, I use Kirkham Automotive (Heritage & MacLeod). Have used them since 1996 (first with the mothership, then the Delica), never had a problem. They'll tell you if they don't know, or don't want to touch something. More than willing to learn. Supply instructions for a special job (e.g., install manual hubs, give them the instructions and torque settings), and they are happy. They have now worked on most of this forum's Delicas in the Calgary area. If we get enough Delicas going there, they'll get themselves a diesel mechanic.