Lean and hot

so here is a funny follow up. got the rig running right, trims and everything else. drove to TX in 100° days, got 21.5 mpg on the open road parts. after a few days in with family 4Run developed a miss which i found by swapping the coil packs. so autozone for a coil pack and a plug because the failed coil was on a failed Denso spark plug. Thought that would settle everything down, but another miss traced to failed injector. failed dead. i was on a ranch that was remote and no transportation of my own. autozone quoted $70 for one injector, but [a m a z o n] quoted the same for six injectors, so i bought 6 chinese injectors on the theory that spares are good. when the fuel rail lifted, two injectors left their plastic nose cones in the bore. so three of the six injectors went into bank 2. buttoned it up and went on a 2600 mile part b shakedown. so 5600 miles in scorching heat and 19.6 mpg average.

Negusm has been a friend in need this spring in the hair pulling episodes, but I do not agree with him that the only way to make an engine run is to spend the highest price for genuine parts. Toyota parts can fail just like any other part can. There are Millions of these vehicles in the world and most people use whatever they can get to keep them running. I got genuine lower ball joints from a genuine toyota dealer for a really decent price, and saved hundreds of dollars. You can visit three dealers and get three different quotes for parts. There is a LOT of competition for parts, and junk yards are combed every day for a lot of them. You can save hundreds of dollars and still get genuine toyota parts because it is an active hot market and some dealers want to keep the market viable and sell far below other dealer prices.

The problem of faked parts is not limited to the car industry. Commercial aircraft that you fly in often have non-genuine non certified bolts and other parts in engines and wheels and the rest of it. And not all airlines turn up their noses at parts they can afford.

So, for me, I will buy what I can afford, keep all the parts that survive for future use, and consider the $Hundreds I am not spending on labor as profit to me, and that finances what I buy, and pays for my operating expenses. Sweet deal as far as I am concerned.

If I were younger and quicker I would troll the wrecking yards, there's good stuff there. Used to, when I was younger and quicker and didn't take as many naps.

Hope someone's helped by this tale, and hope Y'all have a good night and better day tomorrow
Ciao Runners