my wife and i have an 03 montero XLS sport with around 60k miles on it now. the question i have is with highway rpms, whats a normal rpm at 60mph or even 80mph. its seems like it has some 4.88 gears. ive even drove it slow to see if it shifts into all gears which it does.

which tire size would you recommend i go with, stock or maybe a size bigger to help kill some of the rpms?

also ive been reading about the trans fluid, ive planned on changing the fluid but should it be flushed like ive been reading. should replace the timing belt soon or wait until 100k like normal. what type engine oil do you recommend to use.

one more thing, is there any recalls i should know about? i did find something about a leaking fuel tank seal, but was told it was taken care of when my wife called to see if it was taken care of. she didnt ask to see if there were any others that needed to be taken care of.

 

I you have 60k on it you are due for a few things.

AT - you can drain from the drain plug and then top up with Mitsu SPIII ATF. You will need about 5 qts.
Differentials - Drain and refil
Transaxle - Drain and refill, make sure you get a nice GL-4 fluid made for manual transmissions. I like to use Redline's MT90
Coolant - Drain and refill your radiator.
Engine Oil - I like synthetic. They are all good. I like Purolator Pure One filters. They are not too expensive and re really good filters.

 

most sports have 4.9 gears in them. (at least the 3.0 liter engines).

i dont know what you consider high RPMs, but 3000 on the highway is nothing for a mitsu. in fact, you dont manufacture any real power until at least then.

 

i want to say that at 80mph i had to be pushing atleast 4000, it doesnt scare me to run that high considering the VR6 corrado i had was worse then the montero.

 

3-4k is common at normal cruising speeds. If you want to lower the RPM you can always put bigger tires on it (33-35" tires), but then again she'll run like a slug especially with the 3.0 engine.

 

this one has the 3.5 in it. i believe it has a 255 70 16 on it now, how big of a tire has most people gone with on the stock wheels before it comes unstable?

 

Those are 30" tires. I don't know what came with sports but I suspect either 29" or those 30" tires. Keep in mind if you increase the tire size your speedometer will reflect a reduced number from actual speed.

As for the largest you can run? It will depends on the width of the tire (versus diameter) although both are tied together. I suspect the stock rim is either a 5 or 6" wide rim which means that the largest they'll put on will probably be a 10" wide tire but I'm no tire tech so you need to check with your local tire tech's on this point.

I run 33x12.5 on 8" wide rims on my 90 3.0L SOHC engined Montero. One of our club members has a 95 Montero SR & runs 35x12.5" tires on 10" wide rims. He has the 3.5L engine with 4.90 gears.

A different club member with a sport that has a 3.0L & used to run 32x10.5" tires but had to do a lift to get those to fit. He's upgraded to 35's now after he imported a front IFS suspension lift from Thailand & modified it to fit the sports which aren't sold there. He does have issues with power since gearing is limited (max R&P gearing available is 4.90:1 unless there's a new found source for someone willing to cut fairly complex custom R&P gears). He mostly uses it off road although it is still street legal.

HTH.