A Busted Radiator, A Blessing in Disguise

In my last posted I told you about my busted radiator. However, what I did not tell you was that with my vehicle grounded, I am now walking to work and back everyday. This is one of the best things that has happened to me in a long while.

Ever since I got a vehicle, I have gained weight and I believe it is because I am not as active as I used to be. When I was in school (high school and college) I would walk. There were basically two reasons for that.

Firstly, I did not like the crowding in buses. The other was because I did not have enough money to spend on public transport everyday. So when I was in Grade 12 I used to walk from our house at Telikom village in Waigani to Gordon every day and back.

In college, I would catch a bus from Waigani bus stop to 4 Mile and then walk down to DBTI. It was my daily routine and exercise.

I continued this practice until I started working, and then taking public transport became necessary. However, when I bought my first vehicle (a used Toyota RAV I imported from Japan) I stopped walking and said goodbye to public transport.

Over that time, I have to be honest, I have gained some weight. I used to compete in the 75kg division in karate but I am up to 80kg now.

Anyway, although the busted radiator is a bad thing and an unbudgeted expense for me, it has also forced me to start walking again - which is a good thing.

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List of Repairs to Do on the Isuzu MU Wizard

So I’ve decided to publish a list of things that need to be done on the Isuzu MU Wizard. I started the list on initial inspection of the vehicle but after removing the tires, I’ve noted a few other things that need to be done. There is a tilt so the torsion bars need to be adjusted. Brake cable . The most obvious work that needs to be done is to get the parking/emergency brake cables replaced. I might also replace the rotors and brake pads. The windows and doors need to be fixed . Suspensions . The rear sway bar is broken and also bushings might need to be replaced. I also felt like weight was being shifted too much to one side when turning. This is not good. CV axle . These have been removed for both sides so I will have to have them replaced. Wheel hub assembly? I plan to have this done but it’s not a priority yet. Seats and interior. I will also have to get the seats fixed and the interior cleaned. It is a mess at the moment. Torsion bar ...

Still here, but...

HELLO! Its been a while since I last posted an updated and I'm sure you are wondering what's been happening. Well, life is happening and I don't seem to have enough time to blog, but there have been some positive new, and some bad too! You cant have it either way. The good news first! The good news is that I managed to find shock absorbers for the MU Wizard. It took me a while but I found them in Papua New Guinea's second largest city, Lae. We were driving around after a meeting when I spotted a Motorist Discount Center (MDC) and asked the driver to stop. I got the suspension parts for around K280. Now they are standard shock absorbers for both front and rear. The models for my vehicle were not available but the salesman offered parts that were meant for the Isuzu Bighorn and TR (Faster) which actually share the same chassis. The only things left are the suspension bushings and coil springs. I haven't done the installation yet....

Ball Joints and Wheel Bearings Replaced

So after a long hiatus we have finally started some work on our Isuzu MU Wizard. The first thing we did was replace the ball joints. The ball joints had reached the point where it would fall off any time. It would squeak whenever I hit a hump/bump or turned a corner. This led to me grounding the Wizard for almost 6 months. I know its a long time but I was caught up with work that there was very little time during the day to work on the SUV. Fortunately, I'm starting 2021 with catching up with the vehicle's maintenance. Last week we replaced all the ball joints and outer wheel bearings. All parts were sourced from Pacific Engineering in Port Moresby. The ball joints did not require special tools - ball joint puller, etc - but it did require some elbow grease and breaker bar. While the ball joints were out, we also decided to check the wheel bearings - and yes - they were also kaput. We ended up replacing them as well. We have also identified that the tie rod...

Bernard's Isuzu MU Wizard Journey

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