'I told you so!'

[Fishcom]

Just a note of thanks - I thought I'd have a browse as my third Maverick has been very well behaved (touches wood) for a while now, and I may as well spill the beans on my experiences.

MINI FILTER: I bought my current 2.7TD off Ebay in 2007 - it seemed very flat, but having had a petrol one previously, I wasn't sure about what to expect performance wise - and after a few short miles, it ground to a halt. It would start & tick over, but die as soon as you applied any load to the engine. The AA turned up & trailered it to a local mechanic, who p***ed about for a couple of days, swapped fuel filter & drained the tank, charged me a fair few quid & left me with a vehicle that would rev to 2,500, but then smoke, clatter & bang. He said the fuel pump was probably knackered. I checked this site & decided to clean the mini filter in the pump: Hey presto, 15 minutes & a spanner, job done - I was amazed. After 18 months of ownership, it was concerning me that the Mav still was pretty sluggish, although it would cruise at 80 (although it got hot towing - see below), I checked the message boards & was told to check turbo boost, the vacuum hoses, etc., it all seemed too complicated & I seriously considered changing the car for a TDi, so one very bored day I took the filter out altogether. The difference is incredible, I just felt a complete t**t for not doing this in the first place. There is a real 'kick' as the turbo cuts in at around 2k revs in the lower three gears. To put it into context, I picked up a 2002 Disco TD5 from Glasgow yesterday for a mate - a 600 mile round trip - my Mav is certainly as quick & as quiet.

RADIATOR: As above, any towing in warm weather would cause the needle to go into the red. The radiator's fins were pretty crap, so I replaced the rad (www.aaronradiator.co.uk - very quick & VERY cheap). Much better. I assumed my viscous fan was fine as you could always hear it 'roar' for a minute or so after starting, but never made a noise at any other time.

VISCOUS FAN: Checking the posts on this site, there seemed great confusion on the workings of the viscous fan. Put simply, the Terrano & Mav have a viscous coupled fan attached to the water pump pulley. This allows the fan to turn at a different speed to the engine. The theory is that it uses less power when not needed, but a rise in temperature in the engine bay causes the coupling to force the fan to spin at the engine speed. Many posts mentioned it 'cutting in' whilst towing, which confused myself & others into thinking that the poster was referring to an electric fan. I now know differently. My water pump started leaking, so I replaced it along with it's coupling (Ebay again). I immediately noticed that it 'roared' for a lot longer on starting, but the shock came last summer when queueing in traffic. On moving off in traffic, the roaring reappeared, as it now also does when towing large loads. It's a cheap & simple job to swap a pump, I'd recommend doing so to anyone experiencing overheating.

The moral of these tales is simple: LISTEN TO WHAT THE MEMBERS SAY HERE - THEY KNOW THEIR STUFF!

Keep up the good work,
John.