1995 SR fiddle thread

[fishrat]

After much lurking on here I decided that it was time to pull the trigger and this followed me home from craigslist.








It's a 1995 Montero SR and it has seen better days from a cosmetic standpoint. Mechanically though it seems to be pretty strong. No oil leaks, auto trans shifts well. Air locker works. It has an occasional miss when warming up, so plugs and wires will be first thing. It also has 154k miles, so I'm betting it is wayyyy over due for a timing belt. My plan it to pick away at the deferred maintenance list before digging into any changes. These are pretty capable rigs stock so I don't plan to do too need to do too much in the way of upgrades.

Now:
Timing belt
Plugs/wires
Air filter
Oil change
Transfluid
Remove silly running boards (they are just a shelf for mud and my foot doesn't even fit on them.)

Eventually:
Different wheels (these ones would look much more at home on an xterra..)
Replace driver's seat bottom
Color matched passenger door
New passenger fender
Ditch flimsy factory rack, upgrade to something I can at least stick my canoe on
.....

 

[fishrat]

The car looks like it has been sitting for awhile and had collected some moss.



Sweet! Free screwdriver!

After a quick bath it was looking a little better and the running boards were really bugging me so I went ahead and yanked them





MUCH better!

 

[PacS14]

Welcome! Definitely go for timing belt, seals, tune up right away. Good to see that you saved that Monty

 

[AZPAJERO]

seals

this ^^^

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Glad to see another Montero saved from...whatever that person was doing with it. My first car was a 95 SR. Loved it, and it's the reason I'm here again.

 

['round n' back again]

ive got a 94 in the green color; looks to be similar to yours. or is that a silver?
my sheetmetal is perfect on this 94

ive got a good seat cover too. its brown leather. power seats.
im looking for homes for this stuff so it don't go to scrapper
it looks like your in bend?
im in saint helens
might be interested in those wheels when you turn loos of them.


david

 

[fishrat]

Thanks David, PM sent!

 

[fishrat]

Gremlins a plenty

Running list of gremlins to chase down..
-Significant drain on battery when parked
-Tach turns on and off when tapped
-Oil pressure gauge does too
-Brake light perma-on
-Boot door unlocks when it wants too
-Rough idle after sitting
-Driver door dome light switch sticks
-Aftermarket radio is a POS (I suspect this may be related to the first issue).
-Radiator is on the crusty side

I'm sure there will be more.

 

[fishrat]

Timing belt and seals day 1

Had a four hour break in the rain today and decided to get started in the timing belt, seals, etc. Mostly worked on the timing side of the job, given the mess of an intake the valve cover seals are going to be a major PITA.


The accessory drive belts have seen better days... I'm pretty glad I didn't put this off.



Timing belt actually looks ok, but I have no idea how old it is, so off it goes.

Hopefully I'll get another rain break tomorrow and I can button it back up.

 

[JohnnyBfromPeoria]

Ohm out the coils when you get to doing the plugs and wires.

John B.

 

[fishrat]

Good idea. I'd have spaced it.

 

[fishrat]

Spent two hours going to home depot in search of steel plate to make the crank pulley tool. They claimed not to have any, but they had a large simpson bracket that was thick enough. Couple holes and an angle iron and I'm in business. Was pretty anticlimactic actually. I soaked the bolt down with PB blaster before i went to the store and I barely had to pull to undo it. This thing was overkill, but at least I know I'll get it torqued down sufficiently on assembly.



I'm fighting with the manifold. It's hung up on something at the back, but I can't find any more bolts and it wiggles fairly freely. I'll have to finish it tomorrow, if projects take more than three days I start to forget where everything went.

 

[fishrat]

Excellent write up on taking off the intake in the link below.

http://www.4x4wire.com/mitsubishi/tech/lower_plenum/

Spark plugs done, coils tested fine, new gaskets in. Cleaning water pump housing and block gasket surfaces tonight, but fishing tomorrow, so on hold until Wednesday for final assembly.

 

[RyanY]

Make sure to check for play in the intake manifold butterfly shaft - it's common for the bushings to wear and allow excessive slop in the shaft, which eventually leads to butterfly plate screws coming loose and screws/plates being ingested by the engine. If yours has any sideways play you'll need to buy a new one from Mitsubishi, find a good used one with no play, or figure out a way to have yours re-bushed.

 

[JohnnyBfromPeoria]

Good point, Ryan. I've also noticed that at the front of the plenum, as viewed standing in front of the vehicle, that is, where the actuator sits to move the butterfly shaft, there can be a vacuum leak due to the front seal leaking. Although my plenum has been re-bushed (an aluminum-bronze alloy - hey, it worked for the Space Shuttle, no kidding), the front seal was not addressed correctly. Now I have a nice tight operation of the butterfly valves, loc-tited on the shaft that has no play, but I have a stupid vac leak that caused the truck to flunk emissions, making me silicone the end of the shaft to seal it after disconnecting the solenoid that powered it. I have a spare plenum that has the correct tight linkage and seal that I'll have to swap on one of these days.

John B.