My 1999 Montero mostly-adventure-but-build-when-necessary Thread

[Drew84]

The hoses are going to be metric, so finding ones in a parts store that fit right is tricky. If you go aftermarket, make sure it's hose rated for transmission fluid. Fuel hose will break down. Those can't be that pricey at the dealer, I would try there first before killing your self looking around for aftermarket hose.

 

[jms_brns]

Thanks Drew, I'll check the dealer. Was just hoping to save another trip over there...and a buck. Oh well, I should quit trying to be cheap and lazy.

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[jms_brns]

Update

Well, I finally finished all the front-end work that I started about a month ago. I started off just trying to fix a leaking passenger side cam seal, but as I got into it, I found more and more that should just be replaced while I was in there. So I ended up doing both cam seals, crank seal, new crank bolt and washer, timing belt, timing belt tensioner, water pump, alternator rebuild, coolant flush and fill, and transmission flush and fill. This was by far the most in depth automotive work I've done, but with the info available on this forum, the helpful input from a bunch of users, and a little help from some of my friends, it all got done.

Doing the work myself definitely made me appreciate the value of NOT having some random guy at a tune-up shop in there who doesn't care what happens as long as he gets paid. There were so many random bolts and weird things done, I feel like I need to go through the entire engine with a drill and tap set and replace all the hardware.

As other users have noted, the Transmission flush (with Diamond SP-III) is about the best upgrade you can do. Since the day I bought my Montero it had a slightly hard shift into 3rd gear, that has seemed to get slightly worse and worse. I always just assumed the transmission was eventually going to crap out on me. But after doing the flush and fill with SP-III it was a night and day difference. I'm amazed at how smoothly it shifts now, into all the gears.


So I finished all the work on the engine and transmission on Sunday night, and since I had President's day off, I decided it would be a good chance to take it out to Sycamore Creek to run it through some trails....

 

[jms_brns]

I called up a couple friends who also had the day off and we left around noon. My friends were each in pretty stock vehicles - a 2002 Xterra and a 2005 Cherokee (unibody).
All started well, with a few shallow creek crossings:

And then this happened:

We knew this spot was a bit deeper, but it was only about a foot and a half deep. The problem was the sandy bottom just sucked up the Montero right when I tried to reverse out. I had thrown my recovery strap and come-along to the guy in the Xterra before I drove in, but when he tried to pull me out, it just wasn't happening.
So they both went off to find someone in a heavier vehicle, and I grabbed my shovel and waded in the water to try to dig out behind the tires so that yanking me out wouldn't be as difficult. At this point there was almost a foot of water on the driver's side of the vehicle and about 3 inches on the passenger side. The driver's side had sunk in quite a bit more than passenger, which thankfully meant the airbox remained dry the entire time.
While my friends were off trying to find someone, a guy in a big F-150 on 35's came up and offered to try getting me out. We hooked up two straps to his front bumper and my back end, and he tried to pull me out unassisted - Montero in neutral. When that wasn't working I decided to climb back in and start the Montero back up and see if him pulling while I reversed would do it. It finally worked. I was hesitant to even start the Montero while it was flooded with water, but it started up and ran fine. Once it was out I shut it off and opened all the doors to drain as much water as possible, but then we drove on home. On the way out I noticed that if I punched the gas the engine would sputter a bit, but if I increased gradually it did just fine. That continued about half the drive home, then acceleration was back to normal.

Once I got home I unplugged the battery and went through and unplugged a few of the more readily available electrical connectors, then shop-vac'd the interior.

I'm going to let it sit before driving it again, but is there anything else I should do to make sure nothing is permanently damaged?

 

[Jeff@QuadShop]

Change the fluid in your axles!

 

[Toasty]

Ernest and I almost went out there yesterday but we went over to the Bulldog recreation area instead. I just needed to shake down new suspension and se how things worked.

 

[jms_brns]

Ernest and I almost went out there yesterday but we went over to the Bulldog recreation area instead. I just needed to shake down new suspension and se how things worked.

Man, it woulda been cool to see you guys out there, but you were probably better off on another trail. I'll have to look up where Bulldog is...

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[Toasty]

It's at Usery Park, super easy stuff but I wanted to be close to home for testing.

 

[DONT_TREAD]

Well, I finally finished all the front-end work that I started about a month ago. I started off just trying to fix a leaking passenger side cam seal, but as I got into it, I found more and more that should just be replaced while I was in there. So I ended up doing both cam seals, crank seal, new crank bolt and washer, timing belt, timing belt tensioner, water pump, alternator rebuild, coolant flush and fill, and transmission flush and fill. This was by far the most in depth automotive work I've done, but with the info available on this forum, the helpful input from a bunch of users, and a little help from some of my friends, it all got done.

Doing the work myself definitely made me appreciate the value of NOT having some random guy at a tune-up shop in there who doesn't care what happens as long as he gets paid. There were so many random bolts and weird things done, I feel like I need to go through the entire engine with a drill and tap set and replace all the hardware.

As other users have noted, the Transmission flush (with Diamond SP-III) is about the best upgrade you can do. Since the day I bought my Montero it had a slightly hard shift into 3rd gear, that has seemed to get slightly worse and worse. I always just assumed the transmission was eventually going to crap out on me. But after doing the flush and fill with SP-III it was a night and day difference. I'm amazed at how smoothly it shifts now, into all the gears.


So I finished all the work on the engine and transmission on Sunday night, and since I had President's day off, I decided it would be a good chance to take it out to Sycamore Creek to run it through some trails....

im going through the same thing. i cant believe the garbage work some "mechanics" do, im finding mis-matched bolts and just missing ones. my crank bolt is completely seized halfway out. you've got an awesome rig dude :safari-rig:

 

[Clutch Cargo]

Well, I finally finished all the front-end work that I started about a month ago. I started off just trying to fix a leaking passenger side cam seal, but as I got into it, I found more and more that should just be replaced while I was in there. So I ended up doing both cam seals, crank seal, new crank bolt and washer, timing belt, timing belt tensioner, water pump, alternator rebuild, coolant flush and fill, and transmission flush and fill. This was by far the most in depth automotive work I've done, but with the info available on this forum, the helpful input from a bunch of users, and a little help from some of my friends, it all got done.

Doing the work myself definitely made me appreciate the value of NOT having some random guy at a tune-up shop in there who doesn't care what happens as long as he gets paid. There were so many random bolts and weird things done, I feel like I need to go through the entire engine with a drill and tap set and replace all the hardware.

As other users have noted, the Transmission flush (with Diamond SP-III) is about the best upgrade you can do. Since the day I bought my Montero it had a slightly hard shift into 3rd gear, that has seemed to get slightly worse and worse. I always just assumed the transmission was eventually going to crap out on me. But after doing the flush and fill with SP-III it was a night and day difference. I'm amazed at how smoothly it shifts now, into all the gears.


So I finished all the work on the engine and transmission on Sunday night, and since I had President's day off, I decided it would be a good chance to take it out to Sycamore Creek to run it through some trails....

Servicing the transmission is coming up on my to-do list. How many miles on yours? I'm reaching 197k soon and I'm wondering if a flush might hurt instead of help.

 

[jms_brns]

Servicing the transmission is coming up on my to-do list. How many miles on yours? I'm reaching 197k soon and I'm wondering if a flush might hurt instead of help.

Mine is just past 180k. I had no record of it being done before, so I was kind of worried about possible issues too, but man, it made a night and day difference.

 

[jms_brns]

im going through the same thing. i cant believe the garbage work some "mechanics" do, im finding mis-matched bolts and just missing ones. my crank bolt is completely seized halfway out. you've got an awesome rig dude :safari-rig:

Thanks DONT_TREAD, I hope you're able to get that crank bolt removed!