Thread: A few lessons learnt.

Your right mate, my old bus never gave me any real trouble but it didn't get half the abuse my current one does either.

Since all the dramas started I fitted a bigger intercooler, EGT gauge, external engine temp monitor with alarm & a Donaldson Tops Spin pre-cleaner. Hopefully this time around the engine will last a little longer without giving me to much grief. I just have to get a provent & I will be about done.

The top spin makes a big difference, the 4 days I had in the desert before the balancer spun on the crank left the air box pretty well clean, even with a day driving in a heavy sand storm, there was a light dusting of sand in the element but only a fraction of what I would have would normally have had previously. Shame I waited until I trashed an engine before I learnt my lesson.

The pre cleaners work well at getting the heavier particles out of the air stream but it's the smaller stuff that does the damage.

One of the locals here had a badly fitting air cleaner element that they only discovered after a Simpson trip

That was a few years ago, they've just put a freshly rebuilt TD5 in, I think it started with a head gasket that was leaking and they just kept on driving.
It's a '00 model so probably did the plastic dowels, bloody shame, supposedly cost $9000 so far