THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF YOUR FIRST SJ

By Darren Church

A Suzuki SJ410 runner and only £60.00. Now a offer like that doesn’t come everyday. Its a hard top and 16 years old. Hardly any rust and sort of mechanically sound. Oh, I forgot to mention it looked like it had been put on its side at some point, as the offside front wing had seen better days along with the rear offside edge to the roof.

With the help of my good friend Bob and his trusty seies 3 the Suzuki was dollied down to Steve at S.D.EDMUNDS (tel 018840266243), who also did the work on the yellow SJ from issue 11.The plan was for Steve to do a couple of bits of welding but more importantly sort out the engine. Blue smoke was appearing, a sure sign of the piston rings being worn. As always a simple job to start with, progressed to some hair pulling moments for Steve. I was in constant touch with Steve and had every confidence in his ability. Which was duly rewarded when the SJ came back.

Bob and his series 111 were once again called upon to dolly the Suzuki back home.

It still needed an MOT, as there were a couple of jobs still left to do. The rear fog needed replacing, the indicator fuse replaced, two new wing mirrors were needed, and some TLC.
The Suzuki was to be used mainly for my good wife to use during the week and for me to play (carefully) with at the weekends.

The engine was to be "run in" for the first 1000 miles with an initial oil change at 500. This meant taking it steady and not revving the backside off it. That would allow the piston rings to "bed" themselves in and everything to settle down.

It was noted that the temperature gauge was not functioning so a simple test was done by taking the wire connected to the sensor and grounding it with the ignition on. The gauge should then rise to the HOT mark. This will indicate the sender is faulty. To replace, simply unscrew the unit and replace. Remembering to apply sealant to the thread. With that done we realised the thermostat had was buggered as well. Another easy job, undo the hose connected to the stat, two bolts holding it in and replace. Put a rag in the housing while you clean the surfaces were the old gasket was. On both jobs always re-check the coolant level, as you will loose some fluid during the procedures.

The next job I did was to take out the fuel filters from under the offside rear wheel arch and put a new inline filter in the engine bay. This is to enable me if necessary to check/change the filter without lying in all the water and or mud. You undoubtedly know of "sod's law", which is "if its going to break down it will do it in the most inconvenient time and place", normally when its chucking it down with rain and whilst you are in the muddiest track on earth. Anyway when fitting the new filter it was noted that the fuel return pipe was blocked off. So a new pipe was inserted between the fuel pump and the rigid pipe along the chassis. Please take into account that this job was done after work, outside, in the dark with only a torch for light, so buggered if I was going to take it for a test drive (I was desperate for food). However I did turn the engine over to make sure it fired up.

06:10 hrs the next morning and I dutifully set off for work. I hadn't gone more than a couple of miles when I noticed the fuel gauge drop drastically. Now to a normal person that would cause alarm bell's to ring, not to me, as the fuel gauge was temperamental in its reading. I still had another nine miles to go and the gauge was now reading below empty. Don't ask me how, but I managed another five or six miles before the tell tale signs of no fuel. It stopped. I’m not a believer in the reincarnation although if I was, I must have done something right in a past life. The SJ stopped just as I approached a garage. There was enough momentum left in the old girl for me to coax her onto the forecourt. My past life couldn't have been as good as I first thought the garage was shut. So I waited, and waited until it opened up. £5.00 of petrol later and I started her up. Fuel p!$$#d out the back by the tank. I pulled over to the side of the forecourt, switched off, got out, kicked the SJ, looked underneath, stood up and kicked the bloody thing again.

After checking it was o.k. to leave the SJ I blagged a lift to work. Returning that evening with my resourceful friend Mark, we put some petrol in. Mark subjected we clamp the return pipe in the engine bay after I explained my escapade that morning. A set of mole grips gripped around the pipe, and the engine was fired up. Not a trace of petrol form the tank, so with the engine running ht e mole grips released and almost instantly fuel gushed out again. Hastily the grips were replaced and the fuel stopped gushing out. Mark followed me back to our second home E.H LANDROVER. Jan the owner allowed me to use their ramps so I could get underneath without crawling. Once the tank was dropped the problem was obvious. The return pipe had become disconnected from the tank, this meant instead of the fuel being pumped back into the tank it pumped it all over the road. A new piece of pipe fitted and the tank bolted back up. The SJ fuel tank is held on by four bolts, which you can easily get to with a socket from underneath.

Half way home and I realised I had forgotten to sort out the bloody sender unit on the fuel tank. I would have kicked the damn SJ if I wasn't driving.....

Ah well another job for another day.

(no harm was done to the SJ in any kicking incidents reported in this article!)