Hello world of Mitsubishi owners and enthusiasts!

My wife and I just purchased an '07 Outlander XLS, I drove 5hrs one way to get what I thought was a great deal on it but... when I got it home it sounded like it had a diesel motor instead of the 6cyl gas engine! I checked the oil and took it for a looong test drive before making my purchase. The oil looked a little dark to me but the car ran very well and had a sticker in the windshield indicating that they had just serviced the oil so I thought I was safe there.

The car ran fantastic all the way home, 5hrs straight with no hesitation, I was actually surprised at how much power this little car had. I effortlessly passed other cars on the highway; even that guy (you know the one) the guy who goes 10 miles under the limit until he sees you're trying to pass him and then speeds up to 95mph. Left that guy in the dust several times on the way home

Anyway when I got the car home and had it idling in front of the house I noticed the engine sounded much louder than before. Still seemed to be running well, just at a lower idle and loud, sounded like a Ford Powerstroke diesel. I did a quick search online and saw several other Mitsubishi owners with similar circumstances. The problems seemed to range from bent valves to under-filled valve lash adjusters to low octane fuel... didn't leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling.

The oil indicater flashed very quickly once last night, almost so quick that I couldn't read it. I read here that there is an issue with the oil dipstick giving unreliable readings, that was a bit of a relief because when I checked it at the house I thought there might be very little oil in the car if any, hoping I'm wrong about that. If it really is that low on oil I'm a little worried that there was no other warning.

Another thing that really sux (and is kind of embarrassing) is that when I was test driving the car I noticed the triangle with the exclamation mark on the dash, the dealer told me that it was just the TPMS and I believed him but I read here that this has to do with the timing chain... ru-roh. I read online that in TX there is no lemon law protecting me from unscrupulous used car dealers so I'm stuck with the car. Having said all of that; I'm trying to establish my plan of attack to get this Outie back on the road with minimal bloodshed.

I bought a jug of the cheapest oil I could find to fill it back to normal operating levels and get it to a mechanic ASAP. I plan to change the oil again with better fluid and high end filter when I find out what I'm dealing with. I was planning to put a quart of Lucas Oil Stop Leak in there, anyone have any experience with this? I would like to be able to measure how much fluid is actually in the car first though... I suppose I could jack the car up
and drain it first.

I found a video online of a guy changing the oil on another '07 Outlander. He removed the top cover and another piece on the top of the engine to make it easier to remove the filter from above, it had a 10mm bolt and an electrical plug attached to it. Then the filter he removed looked like it was in two or three pieces. All I could find at the local AutoZone were conventional type filters that you would remove from the bottom of the engine. I haven't pulled the top cover off the motor yet and have never encountered an oil filter with more than one piece. Can anyone confirm this for me?

Any advice that could help me avoid anymore financial pitfalls would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks all
Shane

 

So I drained the whole "half a quart" of oil that was in it and changed the oil and filter... that was scary. It just had a regular old oil filter accessable from under the car so no complications there, the guy in the video had a thick Australian accent, maybe filters are different there?

After putting 4.5 quarts back in and going through the VLA flush sequence it sounds much better but now I think I hear another small noise that wasn't there before, hopefully I'm just being paranoid.

Anything else I should double check y'all?

 

How many miles does it have on it?

 

It has 141k, was thinking about doing the timing chain since the warning light is on and all.

Anyone know approximately how much that would $et me back?

 

couple of things.

you have a timing belt, not a chain. Should have been changed at 100k miles. have a mechanic inspect the belt, there is a big difference between 41k miles and 141k miles on a belt. the good news is, if it hasn't been changed and it snaps, '07 through '09 are non-interference engines, and you won't destroy your engine.

filter is a regular spin-on filter. Not sure how many foreign markets got the 3.0L 6B31...pay attention when looking at youtube videos. Easiest way I've found to do it is from the bottom. You'll have to remove a plastic cover. You'll eventually loose most of the retainer clips. I actually zip tie it all together....zip ties are cheap and quick...and no one will notice until you get under it. I do have one bolt on the far passenger side...I leave that in and just swivel the whole piece off to the side. filter is right there. Go slow to allow the oil to come out slowly...else you give your starter an oil bath, which will eventually kill it.

When the engines sits for a while and you first start it up, it will sound a bit like a diesel...that's the hydraulic intake lifters priming up. Once primed, there is some tapping from the lifters, but shouldn't be too bad.

I've never heard of the dipstick giving incorrect readings. not sure how that would even happen unless you don't get it pushed in all the way. it is a metal stick...and a tube. pretty simple.

timing belt is reatively inexpensive. I did it myself, got a goodyear GatorBack belt and was about $30-60....however the labor is insane. I've heard of $1k - $1.5k for the belt.

Also, the spark plugs are supposed to be changed out too at 100k miles. Fronts are easy. Rears are difficult as you need to remove the upper intake plenum. New plugs WILL wake it up like new. I'm about due for my 2nd change.

I change my tranny fluid out every 45k miles. also easy, but there is a process. I've posted about it before.

change your PS fluid every 2 years, same with brake fluid.

Might want to have transfer case and rear diff checked too. I changed mine out at 60k miles, looked bad. I put mobil1 75w90 in both...rechecked at 160k miles and looked great.

 

Thank you! This is good news and good information too, I'll check out your other posts and tackle a few of those myself.

I have a hunch the spark plugs may already have been changed, when I test drove other Outlanders (all high mileage V6's) they didn't seem to be near as "zippy" as this one. Had to go out and get some new tires for the Mrs. so she could keep from setting off the traction control in the rain LOL should have those installed today.

 

Make sure that you've got the proper oil in the car. When I had no garage to work in, I had the dealer do my oil changes and they put in 5W-30, but the car calls for 5W-20, the oil needs to be thin enough to reach the top of the heads where a valve that controls the physical side of the variable valve timing (aka MIVEC). On the note of the filter, same thing, I used an aftermarket filter and I can swear the engine get's noisier. Maybe it's just in my head, but now, I do my own changes, use the proper oil and get a new filter and crush washer from the local dealer (stupid dealer also rounded off the drain plug, who does that?). The oil filter is easily accessed from below and there is a little drain spout directly below it to channel the oil into the pan, but you do have to remove the trim plate to get easy access. It's a combination of 10mm bolts and snap rivets (I buy bags of them from amazon to replace the worn ones, or do zip ties like mentioned above).

I've had the whole engine apart. You do have an INTERFERENCE MOTOR, the intake valves are manually adjusted and they will contact the pistons. The exhaust side is hydraulically adjusted and will not contact the pistons. I know this as I mis-timed my timing belt by not following the instructions to the letter. The belts they use are high quality, but believe me, spending some $ to change everything is a lot cheaper than a total engine teardown to replace bent parts.

Hope this is some help, I love the 07 XLS and think it's one of the best cars with exception of the 11-13 GT's.

 

More great info, thanks binzd, what happened with the 11-13 GT's?