Barry

We all went and got matching tattoos last week

I assume you mean the air valve for the 4wd system? Why did you pull the cable off? Check the fuses. Switch into low range, drive a couple of hundred meters, go back into high and drive another couple of hundred meters. If it doesn't switch off it'll need reset. I have the tool to do it.

Just to add, no offense is being taken on my part, I'm just sharing my personal opinion. Any mechanic should be able to rebuild an engine to dealer spec and where I'm from, that's how it is. It's so simple to measure things like clearances, fastener torque etc and follow the spec sheet or workshop manual procedures, use or don't use the correct sealants in the correct places etc. The reality in UAE is that everyone calls themselves a mechanic but in reality the majority have less wit than a professional apprentice in their first year. They're not mechanics, they just screw things apart without thinking and put them back together covered in silicon and shellac with the most basic understanding of how it should work. These people give us professionals a bad name and drive our salaries down to the floor in competition. They will open an engine with zero diagnostics other than a gut feeling and hope it goes back together without any problems. I find it sad that people will choose a mechanic on price rather than quality of workmanship. In my first job in UAE, I remember the workshop foreman stripping down a VW Golf engine then asking me what was wrong with it after it was stripped and I had no way to do any diagnostic work. Zero knowledge or wit but somehow still made it to foreman. The same foreman shouted at me for cleaning the protective coating off a new brake disc before fitting it. I fitted the rest of the discs without cleaning them and the car came back a few days later with the brake linings cooked. The same guy had a car a leaking ABS pump and covered the leak with epoxy. The car came back a few days later with no brakes. Still, this garage got a lot of work because they were prepared cut corners and do jobs like head gaskets for under 500dhs. No quality of work whatsoever, no measuring of flatness, just send the head for a skim, cover it in shellac and bolt it down with an airgun and hope for the best. This is the sort of thing that is going on in UAE, cable tie and duct tape engineering and customers have no idea other than they are paying a low price for repairs. There is zero theory with these guys, most of them have never even read a book. I have read many books and articles on vehicle repair and I know what I'm doing. All good mechanics are similar. Sometimes I feel sick when I think of all the unpaid time I've spent educating myself on how to be a good mechanic/technician/electrician and end up having to do a job for a quarter of what it's worth just because someone with far less skills than me is being allowed to dictate the market price. I might rant more later when I'm not so busy.

Assuming the crankshaft is the problem (I don't know, I didn't diagnose it) and the top end is known to be good, surely it's better just to replace the faulty part rather than risk an unknown quantity of a second hand engine when the current engine is known to be ok apart from a faulty crank. The crankshaft is incredibly easy to change, you don't even need to remove the cylinder head and disturb the gasket. It can also be done with the engine in the car if the gearbox is removed. It is important to ensure that all bearing caps are properly torqued to manufacturer specification and bearing clearances checked with plastigauge. I recently had a case where a customer didn't want to repair a simple engine fault and instead wanted a replacement engine. By the time I had fitted the third engine it would have been cheaper and less time consuming to address the original problem and the old engine would have been running as good as new. My other concern would be why did the crankshaft fail? Fitting a new one without addressing the cause of failure could lead to the new one failing. Was it a faulty oil pump, blocked gallery or sprayers full of sludge, lack of servicing or just the good old wrong grade of oil, not this 3k, 5k Dubai bs. I assume the mechanic will have checked oil pressures, cleanliness of galleries etc before ordering or fitting any parts?

As a mechanic, a proper rebuild is always better than a replacement engine, and I do stress the word PROPER, not a rebuild full of sand done at the side of the road. When you rebuild an engine, you know what you have and what you're dealing with. When you buy a second hand engine, you're buying someone else's problems and the same potential problem further down the line. You don't know who had the engine before you or how they drove it. There's no reason a mechanic cannot build an engine to factory standard, in fact many mechanics build an engine better than it was when it left the factory. Look at companies like Connaught engines or cosworth for example. Manufacturers engines rebuilt to a higher standard than when they left the factory.

Here you go my friend, full time locked differential for the price of a handful of welding rods. I've had a couple of cars with the rear diff welded. It has its good points and bad points. Good points, you can drift in something with low power. Bad points, it's prone to understeer on corners then sudden oversteer when you're not ready, it's a nightmare to park, your wheel will go eek eek eek when you're reversing into a space and people will stare at you. Good point, you can drift. Im sure you could also engineer a solution with a brake bias valve mounted beside the handbrake to lock either the front or rear wheels with the foot brake. It will let you do huge burnouts too. If you want to get really creative you could use 4 solenoid actuated valves, one for each wheel and put some buttons on the dashboard. There are ways and means, it just depends how much time, effort and money you want to put in.

What a stupid idea. I saw a guy change a bottom pulley before. Put the new pulley on, started the engine and bent nearly every valve.

You can swap some of the parts with Ford Focus stuff.

Congratulations. Keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down.

If the oil is black it's the rear crankshaft oil seal. If it's red it's the gearbox input shaft seal. That's assuming the oil isn't leaking down from the top of the engine, rocker covers etc. Good news is the seals aren't expensive, well under 100 dhs. Bad news is the gearbox has to come out to fix it so expect a labour bill somewhere between 600-1000 depending on the garage. Best to change both seals when the gearbox is out rather than have the other one fail in a few months and have to pay labour charge to remove the gearbox again.

You can metal bumpers under 1000. @DiamondDallas where was that place we where at in Al Awir?

Make sure you get a proper 4 wheel 3D alignment done afterwards. A guy came to me a while back after getting a lift done at a monkey shop, complained that the car was unstable. The problems was massive positive camber like in the picture below. A lot of these people are good at swapping parts but when it comes to setting up, adjustments, anything technical, they haven't got a clue.

That is wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to start. It's basically the same as having a broken exhaust. Some exhaust gases are released before they get to the silencer which is what creates the noise. RTA will fail you for it. The police will fine you for it. There's the risk of fire hazard because of the hot exhaust gases being released under the car instead of out the back. You could end up melting the petrol tank or setting fire to the carpets inside with the heat. There's also the danger of exhaust gases getting into the passenger compartment and poisoning everyone. A guy and his girlfriend died in England in a similar manner a couple of months ago. Here's the story, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-39339063 Theres full information on the U.K. car forums if you want to read the full story but the guy had done more or less the same as you're suggesting. If you want more noise, get a proper exhaust system. @Gaurav can recommend a shop that custom built a system for his Pajero.

Yes, that is a strut brace. It's generally for cars with a monocoque chassis on road and track. Ive never seen anything like that done on a 4x4 but then again I was never really into 4x4 before.

What? Sounds crazy to me.

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head. The first reason is safety, the second reason is rigidity. If you push a car hard, then push the same car hard again with a roll cage, you will feel the difference in the corners. A car body has an unbelievable amount of flex and a cage takes this flex out. All the stresses are transferred to the suspension where they should be and the suspension can do its job properly. For fast road use, you can achieve a similar effect without a cage by adding front and rear strut braces. It's a lot cheaper and less intrusive. Seam welding the body shell is another method used to reduce flex and increase rigidity. Ill also add, never drive a caged car without wearing a helmet. Not even for a short journey. When you get flung around in an accident, your head will get badly cracked open on the roof bar. The cage should be padded in areas where your body can impact and a helmet worn to reduce injuries.

I have a lot of good contacts in U.K. and France. Cheap parts are available in the time it takes the scrapyard to remove them. The real question is is the customer prepared to wait for them to come to UAE?

The 206 CC you mean? The convertible? Very popular car in my country and I have a lot of experience with them. Generally, they're good cars if you buy a good one but like anything, there are a lot of dogs out there. The weak points are, Radius arm bearings in the rear axle. When they fail, the back end can wander. Look at back arches for signs of the tyres rubbing on the inside. Easily repairable if caught in time. Between me and @shadow79 we can repair them, I've done maybe 20-30. COMMS2000 unit. This is the unit that houses the indicator and wiper stalks. It also houses the airbag and horn clock spring wires and these can break over time. Telltale sign is the airbag light coming on when you are going round corners or parking. Easily replaced if you know what you're doing. £60 for a second hand unit at home so I guess around 300 dhs here. Roof stops working. 9 times out of 10, it's the control relay in the back or a fuse. Not an expensive fix. Theyre not bad cars but make sure it has been serviced according to schedule. Timing belt, oil and filter, and if it's automatic most importantly the transmission oil. The autos will only run on clean oil and you generally only get one chance with them. When it's cooked, it's cooked and they need a rebuild. I was dubious that you said it was 2009 model so I checked. Apparently they built them up to 2016 in GCC. We stopped building and selling them in 2006. Every day is a school day.

Can anyone recommend a battery charger for the below battery? It's 12 volt but the problem is it needs a 0.36 amp charge. Anything I have will fry it. I would like an out of the box solution, I don't want to mess around building one. Sorry for the upside down picture.

Good information. Thanks guys.

Fevistick 🤔 I use a tiny dab of silicon in each corner just to hold the gasket into the cover. Makes life easier when fitting so it doesn't fall out. But in theory, you do t need any sealers on a new gasket.

Pajero is king of the desert

What do you mean by "has gone bad"?

A few noob questions here. Has anyone taken or know anyone who has taken a hire car to the desert? What happens if you break something? Are you insured or do you have to pay for the damage? Are you even allowed to take a hire car to the desert?

Did you happen to refuel it? When petrol sits for a long period of time it loses its potency. I've had cars that sat in a shed for 4-5 years that wouldn't start. Added fresh petrol and they went like new.