New to me montero gen 2.5

[DirtyDC05]

I wanted to introduce myself. I have been a long time lurker on expo , I fell in love with the montero over a year ago and have been waiting for a great deal to come up. So the other day I saw a craigslist add in my area about 3 miles from me . 98 2.5 153k miles rear locker. Asking price 1500.

So I get the address and check it out. Pretty clean inside and out. Runs and drives great . Needs new front brakes rotors warped. Clear coat peeling on fenders. Oil leak near alternator not sure where it's coming from exactly. Only leaking on the alternator side.

A/C not working the compressor belt is missing. I took it in for a smog check prior to purchase and it passed. After driving it around a bit today I noticed that if the A/C switch is in the off position it doesn't want to idle very well . With the switch in the on position it idles at around 600-700 rpm. Any ideas on what would cause this?

Anyways I offered the guy 1200.00 and he accepted so I'm the new owner of a gen 2.5 .

Here is the craigslist add its listed as a 97 for some reason.

 

[eurosonic]

wow, what a deal. Congrats!

 

[billygoats]

Awesome. I was eying that one for a friend. Great deal! The leak is probably valve cover gasket. Get it fixed quick before it kills your alternator. Looking forward to your build. Where do you live?

 

[DirtyDC05]

I'm located in Murrieta , the valve cover gasket looks dry so I'm thinking its not that. It appears to be leaking from the front cam seal or possibly the oil cooler lines. There is visibly oil drops on the oil cooler lines. Also on the exaust manifold bolts. It seems to leak mostly while running and pools up after shut down.

Also started burning oil I'm hoping its from oil leaking into exaust manifold. Is oil getting into the exaust manifold common with any of these exterior oil leaks.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm kinda freaked out that this thing might have more serious issues.

Aaron

After further thinking about what took place between the time It started burning oil. I had added some Lucas oil stabilizer to to oil since it was about a quart low and i'm not sure what type of oil was already in the engine. I'm thinking maybe the pouring of oil into the filler caused some oil to leak into the valve guides or egr?

 

[jlocster]

Wow, great deal and welcome to the club. At that price you have plenty of wiggle room to fix all your engine issues.
I'm guessing your cam seal is what's causing the leak onto the alternator, very common...as are leaky valve cover gaskets, but you mentioned yours look dry.

Highly unlikely you're getting oil from the outside of the engine into the exhaust stream. If you're burning oil out of the tailpipe that would most likely be leaky valve stem seals, which are also very common.

However, if you're burning that much oil I'm surprised you passed smog. How high were your hydrocarbons (HC) on the smog test?

 

[DirtyDC05]

Wow, great deal and welcome to the club. At that price you have plenty of wiggle room to fix all your engine issues.
I'm guessing your cam seal is what's causing the leak onto the alternator, very common...as are leaky valve cover gaskets, but you mentioned yours look dry.

Highly unlikely you're getting oil from the outside of the engine into the exhaust stream. If you're burning oil out of the tailpipe that would most likely be leaky valve stem seals, which are also very common.

However, if you're burning that much oil I'm surprised you passed smog. How high were your hydrocarbons (HC) on the smog test?

HC ave 13 : meas 42
I'm prety sure it wasn't burning oil until after I added the Lucas oil stuff. I went for a drive a while ago and it seems to not be burning oil anymore.

Any ideas on the low stumbling idle?

 

[HausOfChoi]

That is a bomb deal!! Socal seems to have the best deals on SUVs. My montero also idles around 600-700 but does not jump around. Not sure if this is normal either. Congrats on the pickup.

 

[Clem]

FSM states Standard Idle Value 700+/- 100 r/min...Congrats the smokin' deal!:sombrero:

Clem

 

[DirtyDC05]

I updated my original post with pictures.

 

[jhill15]

Very sweet! I cant believe you nabbed that up for $1200. Great find. Have you had any luck finding out why the ac belt was missing?

 

[Jay Ayala]

Yup, that is one great opportunity. I hope it works out well for you.

 

[DirtyDC05]

Very sweet! I cant believe you nabbed that up for $1200. Great find. Have you had any luck finding out why the ac belt was missing?

No , I'm guessing either the belt just broke and fell off or the compressor froze and trashed the belt. I hope all it needs is a new belt.

 

[off-roader]

Great find. Welcome to the sickness.

 

[DirtyDC05]

Ok so I want to start gathering parts in order to complete the timing belt and front cam seals. Is there a particular manufacturer I should stick with for these components. I was looking at th aisin timing belt kit that includes the water pump. It seemed to be the most expensive. And for the cam seals what is the best option?

Since my valve covers are dry I'm going to skip that for now unless I need to remove the valve covers to install the cam seals?

Thanks

 

[Eric M]

Since my valve covers are dry I'm going to skip that for now unless I need to remove the valve covers to install the cam seals?

You do. What do you know about that antenna? My power antenna is broken and I'd rather replace it with something that isn't some motorized nonsense.