Workshop notes
Articles from the Tachofi bench.
Fuel systems · Diesel
The Diesel Bug Phenomenon — what it is, why it grows, and what it wrecks
Diesel bug is a microbial colony that lives at the fuel-water interface inside your tank. Here's how it forms, why modern low-sulfur diesel makes it worse, and the damage trail it leaves through tanks, senders and gauges.
12 May 2026 · 7 min read
Fuel systems · Diesel
Diesel tank, sender and gauge failure — a realistic 0 to 250,000 km timeline
What actually happens inside a modern Australian diesel tank year by year — water ingress, microbial growth, sender corrosion, and the gauge faults each stage produces. Written from the bench, not the brochure.
18 May 2026 · 8 min read
Fuel systems · Petrol
Petrol tank, sender and gauge failure — a realistic 0 to 300,000 km timeline
How a petrol fuel system actually ages — ethanol blends, plated steel senders, gauge dampers and stepper motors. A bench-honest year-by-year breakdown for Nissan JDM and Australian-delivered petrol cars.
24 May 2026 · 8 min read
Nissan JDM · Cluster repair
Why JDM Nissan clusters develop cold solder joints — and why it always shows at redline first
The R32/R33/R34, S13/S14/S15 and Stagea clusters all share the same failure mode: cold solder joints under the tacho and speedo. Here's the metallurgy, the thermal cycling story, and what a proper bench repair looks like.
30 May 2026 · 6 min read
Nissan JDM · Cluster repair
Stepper motor failure in 90s–2000s Japanese clusters — what fails, what doesn't, and how to tell
Stepper motors drive almost every needle on a JDM dash from the late 90s on. They fail in three distinct ways — gear wear, coil drive faults, and PCB joint cracks. Here's how a bench tells them apart.
4 June 2026 · 6 min read
Fuel systems · Diesel
Twin-tank fuel discipline — why $30 fills kill 180L tanks, and where biocide actually helps
Patrol, 79-Series and Prado owners often run dual tanks topped up $30 at a time. Here's what that habit does to the fuel, the sender, and eventually the cluster gauge — and where a Fuel Doctor–style biocide genuinely fits a maintenance routine.
9 June 2026 · 7 min read
Fuel systems · Diesel
How poor fueling kills common-rail diesel injectors — CP3/CP4, LC200, Prado, Patrol, Navara
Common-rail injectors operate at 1,800–2,200 bar and won't tolerate water, debris or air. Here's how chronic low fills, dual-tank crossover, and untreated diesel bug burn through a $4,000 injector set — and the gauge symptoms that show up alongside.
10 June 2026 · 8 min read
Nissan JDM · Restoration
JDM restoration fuel systems — rust, lean-out, filter contamination on 25-year-old imports
What we actually find inside the fuel systems of imported R32/R33/R34, S13/S14/S15, Z32 and Stagea after a quarter-century. Tank-top rust, ethanol-attacked rubber, pump-sock contamination — and the sender wear that lies to your cluster.
11 June 2026 · 8 min read
Fuel systems · Diagnosis
Fuel tank health checklist — bench-honest diagnosis for diesel and petrol
A scannable workshop checklist for diagnosing fuel-tank health from the driver's seat to the bench: gauge behaviour patterns, sender resistance sweep, water-finding paste, filter inspection, and where bench-cleaning IPA fits.
12 June 2026 · 9 min read
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