EyeInTheSky's Gen 3 Budget Build Thread

nckwltn

Explorer
the center flashing light is probably a result of the 4wd solenoids...... gen 3 uses the same solenoids as the gen 2/2.5
 

EyeInTheSky

Adventurer
Hoo boy. Sure has been quiet here for a while. Haven't done much until today. Took the old girl back to the shop that rebuilt the engine to troubleshoot the lean codes three weeks ago. Just got it back yesterday. Their "mechanic" replaced a coolant line. At least they didn't charge me, but holy s%*$. Never again. They did a good job on the internals, but the customer service is awful.

I tracked the vacuum leak to the number 1 injector, so I tore off the plenum today and lo and behold, the seal was jacked up. Looks like it was installed a bit crooked. I replaced all 6 seals and some other gaskets, got it all buttoned up, and now I have a hiss somewhere in the rear center of the engine compartment. Sun's down and I'm done for the day. I'll find it tomorrow.

At this point it feels like I could take that plenum off with my eyes closed, relying on muscle memory alone.

Missed you guys. More adventures in the future. New job with weekends off so I will be out and about more (I hope).
 

EyeInTheSky

Adventurer
Hissing sound was caused by me missing a bolt connecting the plenum to the manifold. Handled that and got the throttle body gasket installed the right way and sent her up into the mountains with my wife and a bunch of little girls from our church. Believe me, my fingers were crossed. She got a P0441 code but evap systems can suck it, hippies. Cleared the code and no further issues. Need to do a t case flush and fill, but overall she's running great and ready for more adventure.
d1e2c945783234a98a41b354c9e23595.jpg
 

codename607

Adventurer
But you ordered some springs and shocks right? I'm only asking because I'd like to add a lift to my Gen3. So far I've only seen the OME brand and I'm curious what else is out there.
 

EyeInTheSky

Adventurer
Just shocks, KYB Gas a Justs. For springs you're pretty limited. OEM, Lovells, and OME as far as I can tell. And they're all very expensive.

I have zero desire to lift my Montero. I have 265/75R16s on here and that's plenty. The ground clearance is great already (and if you want to feel better about that just get some skids from ADD).

Not worth the loss of mpg, handling, and cash imo.
 

rhoyle

New member
How did you keep the bumper-mounted lights from shaking and vibrating while you drive? I just put some Hella 500s on my Gen 3 and the shaking is driving me nuts.
 

EyeInTheSky

Adventurer
How did you keep the bumper-mounted lights from shaking and vibrating while you drive? I just put some Hella 500s on my Gen 3 and the shaking is driving me nuts.
Mine have large rubber washers between them and the bumper. Honestly I have only used the lights a couple times when I was offroad so I didn't notice any excess vibration.
 

EyeInTheSky

Adventurer
You mounted just to the bumper cap though? Any reinforcements or brackets to the frame?
I went through the plastic and the sheet metal directly below. Not exactly sure what you would call that piece. Just drilled straight through and bolted. I'm going to fab an angled pipe soon to slip over the bolts as they are tilted down a bit farther than I'd like.
 

EyeInTheSky

Adventurer
Oh boy. I'm way out of touch here. Sorry all for any who were following. New job, new house, all kinds of distractions.

Nothing special until recently; was using her as my DD to get to the train station for my new job (65mi drive each way, so yes, train). No major issues except a slight shuddering at idle and a serious oil leak thanks to the (sh!tty) shop that did my rebuild.

Wife took the Montero up for a church camp outing she was a leader for, maybe 400 miles round trip with little to no offroading. Only issue reported was gasoline smell after parking at a weird side-angle for a couple days. Possibly a bad seal on the top of the tank.

Recently flushed the front diff with new fluid and changed the oil in preparation for a trip up north. It's about 850mi round trip, with about 5 mi up some moderate trail to get to the campsite. No issues on the way up save an evap code, but I've been dealing with that for a while.

On the way home I pulled off for a minute and saw some smoke. Determined it was oil hitting the cat, so once again, not too concerned. Oil levels were fine, just my continuous leak.

Pulled into a gas station, filled up, and moved to a parking spot and turned it off while I waited for my buddy. I cranked it up once he jumped in, and all of a sudden it sounded like a tiny meth head under my hood was shaking a coffee can full of rocks. Immediately shut it down and popped the hood. My serpentine belt had shredded. It was still a complete loop, but a couple ridges had sheared off. I figured I had picked up a rock that cut it, so I pulled out the spare, swapped it, and we went on our merry way. I kept having issues w/ the AC and some squealing, so I figured it was the old (backup) belt I had put in slipping. We toughed it out through the desert and made it back.

I let it sit a couple days, then when I went to fill it back up w/ gas I heard the most horrendous knocking sound about a mile away from home. I pulled over and couldn't find anything wrong, but I turned around. A quarter mile down the road I picked up a P0303 (Cyl 3 misfire). By the time I got to my house I lost power steering and my dash lights were dimming quickly. I managed to get it into the driveway and shut off. I popped the hood and saw the belt wasn't aligned correctly, so I removed it. I had noticed the tensioner bouncing more than normal, so I figured it was worn ($26 ebay special).

Boy was I wrong.

Today I went out to put the belt back on just so I could re-position it in the driveway. I glanced down at the crank pulley and nearly $hit my pants. It was about 15 degrees off of where it should be. It now spins freely and bounces around. I tried loosening the crank pulley bolt but I'm just pushing against the engine compression so it keeps spinning. The pulley won't lock in place, so I can't use my handy little tool to brace it and break the bolt loose.

What are my options at this point? I guess I could try bracing a breaker bar under the hood and blipping the starter, but before I do that, any other suggestions?

Also, what are my chances of moderate/major/catastrophic damage to the crank? I'm worried that running it for so many miles w/ a messed up crank pulley could have done some real work to the internals. It was about 300 miles of freeway driving from the shredding belt incident to home.

Thanks in advance all... I need a drink.
 

EyeInTheSky

Adventurer
After an evening and following morning of research, I think this kills the Montero.

On the way up to my camping trip I lost AC. It worked briefly, but then the snowflake light started flashing and it wouldn't push any cold air. First clue something was wrong with the serpentine belt, but I attributed it to either the AC pump going out or low belt tension because of the tensioner.

When I started the engine after leaving it for about four days camping I had a pretty bad knock. It sounded like the internals were oil-starved (I had been parked on a slope for a few days), and it quieted down after idling for a bit. I didn't think to look at the crank pulley at that time.

I drove 300 miles at mostly freeway speeds after the belt sheared and I put on the spare, so if the shearing was caused by a misaligned crank pulley, that's 300 miles of hard driving that was a prime opportunity to cause further damage to the crank sprocket.

The day I realized it was something more than the tensioner I went about a mile down the road at about 50mph, heard the horrible knocking/clanking, then about another mile back down the road to the house between 35/40mph. Again, great opportunity for some damage. As a reminder I picked up a P0303, but that might have been a crankshaft sensor issue.

When I pulled the fan to inspect there were a TON of fine metal particles on the backside, and the fan clutch has a bunch coating it as well.

My biggest concern is that I have slipped timing and now have valve damage on my recently-rebuilt engine. I can't do it again. Aside from the money it might take to repair this I have lost trust in my vehicle. I don't have the time to do this myself, as I am gone 12-13 hours/day for work, and I will be starting a Master's program soon.

I'm going to try to pop that bolt off and inspect closer today, but in all likelihood I'm going to take it to my mechanic for diagnosis and an estimate.

If it turns out I have valve damage, it's gone. This is a painful decision considering how much blood/sweat/tears/money I have invested into this vehicle, but I can't justify further investment. If that's the case I'll post it in here so any SoCal ExPo guys who want it for a parts vehicle will have first dibs.

No decisions have been made yet, but I have a strong suspicion that this is the end of the road. More to follow.

Here's a pic of the belt I replaced on the road.
 

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