122andy
Observer
So this is my first Mitsubishi since the early 2000s, I cut my teeth on auto mechanics in general with the 4g63 from the mid 90s to early 2000s. I went from not knowing fully how a turbo worked to having a 500whp Galant VR4 in that amount of time.
We drove a Montero about 9 months ago and decided to get one then, but finding one that met condition/mileage/close proximity took a few months. I ended up with a rust free 02 Limited from North Carolina. Ideally I wanted a silver or white one with black leather/carpet interior but ended up with black/champagne lower and tan interior.
Really the only downside is the lack of power. Vehicles I drove of similar year models(285hp Tahoe, 275hp Trailblazer, 245hp 5spd Pathfinder) had decent power. Still, the gas mileage is better than the 96 auto Trooper I had and on par or a hair better than the 5spd 93 Trooper. The Troopers were the last two SUVs I had in the past 8-9 years, buying them with around 175k miles each and selling them with ~275k miles.
Other than the lack of power, the next con would be the fuel filter. An intank filter?!? What the what? Not sure what the engineers were thinking on a vehicle that you want to be able to service easily/quickly in less than ideal conditions. And as of right now the convoluted 4wd system is PITA. At least it partially works for now.
So far I have done the timing belt(Gatorback), water pump, t-stat, tensioner, idler pulleys and updated crank pulley bolt. While in there I did the cam seals(were leaking) and front main seal. I also threw on a new serpentine belt and idler pulleys. I replaced the rear cam seal/o-ring on pass side but that didnt fix it. I ended up running a thin bead of grey RTV around the base of it and that fixed it(saw that somewhere online). The bad thing is the front cam seal can kill the alternator, the rear can kill the starter. Interesting note on the cam seals. They are the same part number as the 4g63 cam seals. While they are an issue on 6g74 for dry rotting and leaking, out of the 200 timing belts I did on the 4g63, I never recollect them leaking being an issue.
Looking forward to contributing where I can.
We drove a Montero about 9 months ago and decided to get one then, but finding one that met condition/mileage/close proximity took a few months. I ended up with a rust free 02 Limited from North Carolina. Ideally I wanted a silver or white one with black leather/carpet interior but ended up with black/champagne lower and tan interior.
Really the only downside is the lack of power. Vehicles I drove of similar year models(285hp Tahoe, 275hp Trailblazer, 245hp 5spd Pathfinder) had decent power. Still, the gas mileage is better than the 96 auto Trooper I had and on par or a hair better than the 5spd 93 Trooper. The Troopers were the last two SUVs I had in the past 8-9 years, buying them with around 175k miles each and selling them with ~275k miles.
Other than the lack of power, the next con would be the fuel filter. An intank filter?!? What the what? Not sure what the engineers were thinking on a vehicle that you want to be able to service easily/quickly in less than ideal conditions. And as of right now the convoluted 4wd system is PITA. At least it partially works for now.
So far I have done the timing belt(Gatorback), water pump, t-stat, tensioner, idler pulleys and updated crank pulley bolt. While in there I did the cam seals(were leaking) and front main seal. I also threw on a new serpentine belt and idler pulleys. I replaced the rear cam seal/o-ring on pass side but that didnt fix it. I ended up running a thin bead of grey RTV around the base of it and that fixed it(saw that somewhere online). The bad thing is the front cam seal can kill the alternator, the rear can kill the starter. Interesting note on the cam seals. They are the same part number as the 4g63 cam seals. While they are an issue on 6g74 for dry rotting and leaking, out of the 200 timing belts I did on the 4g63, I never recollect them leaking being an issue.
Looking forward to contributing where I can.