Hey guys I am hoping I found a good forum. Little back ground on me- My name is Bryan. I have been working on cars for the last 15-17 years. Mostly into GM Fbodys and 3000gt vr4 / Dodge stealth twin turbo. Im fairly capable at wrenching, I can do timing belts and cam installs, head gaskets, transmissions. I do this stuff in my driveway on vehicles I dont drive every day. Recently I got a 2001 limited, I remember I searched back in the day wanting a sport and not a limited, and then one day after not looking for a few years I saw a limited and my mind was made up. I sold my 2000 trans am that was a toy/weekend car to fund this car. I also still have a 1992 dodge stealth twin turbo. Currently my daily driver is a 2004 ls430. Ok, on to the car...

2001 montero limited, 108k miles. Issues out the wazoo. I think I maybe shouldve walked away on this one but I drove 4.5 hours to get it and its clean inside and out. Mechanical issues I can solve but I cant do body work. So heres a run down of what I figured out within the first hour of driving it

1- rough idle, got code p0300 - not a good start as it doesnt narrow anything down. It seemed worse this morning in the coldest weather its seen since Ive owned it. I am leaning towards ICM/PTU and I have 3 spare I can test. Ive tried unplugging MAF and unplugging o2 sensors and get no change.
2 - Hissing sound. Seems to be coming from the EGR? Ateast I assume its the EGR. Top of intake manifold near the throttle body. As far as Ive found the only vac leak was to a hose going to the 4wd front diff solenoids
3 - Speedometer is off. It seems to be stuck at 20mph and maxs out at 49mph. Unsure if this is a speedometer sensor or if its a capacitor/resistor issue? I know bad caps/resistors are common in mitsu. Havent removed the cluster yet.
4 - transfer case light is blinking. I already found a broken freewheel clutch solenoid with a vac hose leaking so some cheapos are on order. Getting codes 33 and 35. Need to clean up the xfer case switch connections and test for power and go from there. Theres a way to check this with a multimeter?
5 - antilock brake light is on. Im told to remove and clean the abs sensors. Previous owner included 1 new abs sensor.
6 - front end shakes bad, this will get looked into while doing the abs sensors. Tons of suspension rattles, thinking of removing the front sway bar to just elimate any noises it may been causing and go from there LOL.
7 - its gutless on the highway, im thinking this has to do with the CEL and #1 issue of p0300. Maybe clogged cat? but it did drive 270 miles home.
8- Massive oil leak (low on my list as I want to get it to idle right and go into 4wd).

So far I drilled out the upper glove box to get to the lock to open it, switched the handles for upper and lower glove boxes. Thought id find a cabin air filter but there doesnt seem to be one in a 2001? No way to get into it behind the lower glove box. I ripped apart the rear hatch from the inside to open the rear door and replace the door handle that broke (new one included in sale). I found the air filter was basically clogged, Ive never seen one this bad! Can not see any light through it. Ive pulled codes and got p0300 engine and 33 and 35 for 4wd system. Previous owner says the timing belt/water pump was done, I need to check timing marks I am sure, even tough he says the mechanic checked them. I also dont understand why the timing belt would be done if the spark plugs and wires were not and the air filter was TOAST. But I do see that the bolts have been turned for the TB covers and he says he can provide me with a receipt (waiting still). NGK plug wires and NGK iridium plugs will need to go in, possible spark plug tube seals, intake gaskets. Ive yet to spray with any type of carb cleaner to check for vac leaks but I hear a hissing sound that Ive narrowed down the top of the intake near the throttle body. Seems a little louder than I think is normal, but maybe its normal.

Im really trying not to regret this purchase! This thing needs work but I dont want to just throw money at it. While I am seeking advice I am also making this post to log everything Ive done or want to do LOL. My plan is to get it back to a good reliable vehicle.

 

Hello Bryan,
Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you got yourself a hand full of fun (?) with your new purchase. While many of the issues you listed are fairly common to the Monteros, I have to say, I've never heard of anyone having all of these issues on one vehicle all at the same time... It sounds like the PO may not have been very good at maintenance at all. It is likely that he ran his Monty until the dashboard was lit up like Christmas Light show and then sold it to you. Sorry to say, but you may have gotten a sore deal (unless the price was right). With this situation, most important thing is to not get overwhelmed by trying to fix all things at once. I would also NOT believe anything the PO told you about what he serviced or not. With so many issues on hand, treat everything as if he didn't...

When I got myself a fixer upper in the past, I always focused on making sure the engine and transmission worked well before doing any other work. After all, it is not worth spending time and money fixing speedometer if the vehicle will not go. While it is a common line in the internet reviews that Montero lacks power and are "gutless" compared to similarly sized SUVs, I found that when engine works correctly, Monty has plenty of power to run down the highway at any speed that I desired. Additionally it has enough ponies to pull a trailer full of building materials around, so - no lack of power by my standards. Is it going to win a drag race? No. If that is what you want to do - you got a wrong vehicle.

So, with all this in mind, address the engine and power issues first. As you know the P0300 is a random misfire code. The "cool" thing about this it doesn't mean you actually have a cylinder that did not fire. It simply means that as the cylinders fire in order, there is an imbalance in power contribution and it is not consistently on one cylinder, but rather here and there. There are many possible culprits to this. It can be as simple as bad/wrong spark plugs, worn/leaky valve seals or leaky/missing plenum gaskets. It can also be related to a bad/dirty sensors (MAF, MAP, EGR valve, O2), poor compression, dirty fuel injectors and a million other things. Start by taking the plenum off and checking everything there. Run compression test on the cylinders (dry and wet compression). Check for oil leak at intake valve guides (you can see them when plenum is off). If valve guides lead significantly it can result in random misfire (been there done that). Check that EGR valve works and all passages and tubes are clear. Give it a set of new iridium plugs (unless they are there and are definitely good). With previous ownership lack of maintenance, I'd definitely throw in a new timing belt. At the very least check timing. It is possible that the lack of power you experience is due to engine being out of time on one of the camshafts.

There is one other important thing to remember when working on Montero - DO NOT blindly throw parts at it. It is bad practice to start with and a terrible practice for these vehicles. If you suspect a bad/malfunctioning component - test it and replace it only after you confirmed that it is bad. I have a Montero with 250k miles on it. The only sensors I replaced on it were MAP, O2s an EGR solenoid. All others are still original. I just put in first new water pump after 250k. Trust me, these are not built with garbage parts like Fords are...

Once you get engine running properly, you can address other issues. I'd work on ABS and transfer case with suspension noises being the lowest on my priority list. If you plan on driving and living, do not disconnect the sway bar - it is there for a reason. This is not a solid axle vehicle where you need to disconnect sway bar in order to go rock crawling.

BTW, definitely get a Factory Service Manual for Montero. There are sticky posts on top of Montero forum. If you go through those pages, you should be able to find a site to download them. It will be very helpful with diagnostics and assembly. Best of luck. Keep us posted.

 

Thanks for the reply @HunterD . Yes its a handful, my spirits are low right now lol, and yes the previous owner seemed to do no maintenance, rather just fix items that had to be fixed, like alternator and battery.

My dodge stealth twin turbo is a 6g72 engine, I just got finished doing its timing belt and water pump a few months ago. This new 3.5L engine I thought would be similar but it is not. Different intake manifold, lots of components on top of the intake, The fan/fan clutch. I got me some learning to do! The crank pulley removal is going to be way different I assume too.

It wasnt a great deal but to me it was an ok deal. It has potential, it just needs a lot of love.

 

I think Montero is 6G74 engine. I might be wrong though. Whatever they are, there are some parts that interchange with Dodge. That surprised me at first, but after some research I confirmed that Dodge uses actual Mitsubishi engines in several of their vehicle lineups. Eagle Talon afterall was Mitsubishi Eclipse, while Dodge Colt is Mitsubishi Galant. So they have a long history together. All in all, those are good strong engines. Sounds like it just needs a little attention. After all - 108k is just barely broken in for a Mitsubishi.

 

Another one that will confuse you is the 2.7 liter in the Hyundai tiburon

 

Small update because I hate threads that are left open and never replied to.

Injectors got sent out to Arizona from Ohio to get cleaned, dumbass put a PO box as a shipping address and UPS couldnt deliver to it so that was a 2 week waste. Ended up using a place 4.8 miles from my house but I wasted $40 shipping. This guy they ended up at is 3 times more expensive but its a battle I am tired of dealing with. So they should be done and I can throw the lower intake and everything back together this weekend. This little project has been a test. Had to take the intake manifold to a machine shop to fix the broken EGR bolt ($53), then fighting with the injectors to get them cleaned. I got the new ngk iridium plugs and wires in already. After all these battles that shouldnt have happened it better run right! If it doesnt I dont know where to really go, maybe gut the cats, maybe oxygen sensors.

 

@HunterD

i just read a post you helped in. I’m getting p0300 still after doing the plugs and wires. I put my torque app on it and selected bank 1 and 2 fuel trims and I’m getting bank 1 at 0-2% and bank 2 at 16-18%. This indicates timing being off 1 tooth, correct? I’m pretty sure it was you who helped the guy out

 

Bryan, having fuel trim at +16-18% on a single engine bank is not necessarily an indication of wrong timing, but it could be. It is worth checking at the very least. Bank 2 on this vehicle is driver side of the engine. Having such a massive difference from bank 1 to bank 2 is definitely not normal.

 

@HunterD Ive been convinced since reading this thread.

https://mitsubishiforum.com/forum/mi...3-p0300-48024/

 

I agree it is possible. I'm just trying to figure out any other possibilities, so that we have a plan B. I recall getting a random misfire code when i did not time the engine correctly. Idle was definitely rough too. Checking timing is a good first step. Make sure you use a mirror and look along the tooth from the front of the gear. Looking from any other angle is very unreliable.