2003 Montero Non-build thread

[sixstringsteve]

I just picked up a 2003 Montero XLS from a buddy. This won't really be a "build" thread because I don't plan to build it much. I will make a few modifications though, and I like to document them for my benefit and hopefully others' as well. 2003 was the last year of the XLS. With all the getting in and out of rigs, and camping, and dirt, I wasn't sure if I wanted a limited or an XLS. I think the cloth seats of an XLS, without the extra electronic stuff of the limiteds and no sunroof will be great.

Goals:
I believe that all builds should have written goals, otherwise they'll drift 'till they're bigger and bigger and eventually become a buggy. My goal is to have a rig that can do the following, listed from highest priority to lowest.

1) transport me and my family safely at highway speeds in all weather conditions while getting 18+ mpg
2) handle week-long car-camping trips and backpacking trips with all the gear required to support us
3) be reliable and not leave us stranded
4) be cheap to maintain
5) be a shelter to sleep in when we are in inclement weather
6) drive the occasional 3/10 rated trail (trails like Teapot Canyon in the Maze, Elephant Hill in Needles, and Long Canyon in Moab).


The plan:
- small cosmetic and functional upgrades that don't break the bank or modify it too far from stock
- add a sleeping platform to the back


Still undecided:
- ARB Fridge
- OME lift


Current State:
132k miles

Current Specs:
- 265/75r16 Cooper AT3 All Terrains

Maintenance:
@125k - new battery
@125k - new tires (265/75r16 Cooper AT3s)
@125k - crankshaft seal, front main seal, hoses and belts
@125k - new timing belt & water pump
@125k - transmission drain with new valvoline synthetic
@125k - engine oil switched to synthetic
@125k - new steering angle sensor
@128k - oil change
@128k - A/C recharge
@128k - coolant top-off

 

[sixstringsteve]

My buddy John is to blame for getting me hooked on Monteros. He took me for a test drive up some loose, slippery hills, and the montero started to slip a little, then the traction control kicked in and it climbed right up it like it was nothing. I was very surprised at how capable this IFS/IRS rig was. It was great on washboards and bumpy fire roads, and it felt like a tank on the pavement. Visibility was excellent and it had lots of headroom and quite a few cool features including:

9.5" rear diff
8" front diff
traction control
4wd shifting on the fly
seating for 7
a rear seat that folds away and hides in the floor when you don't want to use it
pretty good mpg (18-20 on the freeway)

Anyway, John offered to sell his Montero at a price I couldn't refuse. So last night I picked it up.

Supposedly these rigs are dead reliable, but I have my reservations. I hear they burn a lot of oil, but I think that's mainly due to valve guides and valve guide seals. Fortunately the previous owner took care of the valve guide seals along with a lot of other preventive maintenance. I think she's ready for some adventures.

 

[sixstringsteve]

The wheels have been plasti-dipped and they're starting to peel. I'd love a set of wheels that stick out about 1 more inch, but I'm not going to go out of my way to find them. I'll probably peel the plasti dip off and just paint them black again. I really like the look of the 2001-2002 wheels.

A few things I need to fix:

- upper glove box sticks
- stock temp sensor wigs out (I know how to fix this and it should be very easy)
- fuel gauge may be a little bit off
- pass mirror is loose
- vibration/wobble in the steering wheel at 70mph
- add tools to swap the spare if needed
- fix a squeaky serpentine belt pulley bearing
- polish headlights

 

[sixstringsteve]

I had my brother do a little photoshopping for me. I like it.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Congrats on your purchase. It looks good.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Thanks Petit

I'm excited to get started on my sleeping platform. Check out how the rear seat folds away on these 3rd gens:



I'm now on the lookout for a stock rear seat (the more beat up the better). In fact, I don't even need the seat, just mounting hardware. I'd love to be able to make my sleeping platform tuck away in that cubby somehow. I want a spare seat to experiment with folding and mounting. If I could secure it with the stock seat mounts that would rock. Anyone have a stock rear seat they'd want to sell?

 

[sixstringsteve]

One common problem with monteros is a temp sensor issue. It pretty much just shows whatever temperature it feels like. My monty has an aftermarket temp gauge that the PO put in. However, it's in a location that's tough to see and I'd rather have the factory one working. I followed this video for instructions.


It turns out the the resistor R10 wasn't soldered well in the dash circuit board, so it needs to be re-flowed. I've done a lot of soldering so I figured I'd give it a shot. Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for whatever you do to screw up your truck. This is just a guide. Don't follow it or you might screw something up. Now is a good time to replace any burnt out bulbs you may have in there.

Here it is with the key on after sitting for several hours.

Step 1: Unscrew these two screws

The bigger bezel is now ready to come out. There are two spring-loaded clips at the bottom. Lower your steering wheel to the lowers position and give a firm tug (not a yank) at the mid section of this. It should come out.

To access the instrument cluster, remove these 4 screws being careful not to drop them behind the dash.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-SQ0njrGHHRE/U9hsYrFJUeI/AAAAAAAAZl4/kFhkRLTjTqk/s800/20140729_194654.jpg[img]

Dash removed.

[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dO39FGH3Uec/U9hshk8IYPI/AAAAAAAAZmA/OnHKvHXEWRY/s800/20140729_194842.jpg



As explained in the video above, pull the plastic faceplate off (it's required for reinstall).

Front cover off.

This is what the back of your instrument cluster will look like. There are 5 screws to remove to access the PCB for the temp sensor. Remove these.

5 screws removed.

On the back of that you can see resistor R10 (toward the top left)

right here. It's a tiny thing. I wish I had measured its resistance before soldering so I could know what to replace it with.

Then I hit it with the soldering iron and added a tiny bit of solder.

I put it all back together and went for a test drive. Now the dial is all the way to the bottom, so it was definitely the R10 resistor. However, after driving around for 10 minutes, my aux temp gauge went up, but the stock gauge didn't move. I must have fried that resistor. I took it out again and re-flowed the solder, and same result. In other words, the only thing this procedure did for me was further break my gauge so it doesn't move at all. I wish I knew the value of that resistor so I could take it in to an electronics repair shop and swap it out.

Here are more threads on the subject:

http://www2.pajeroclub.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=7613&page=3

http://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5333&p=33918

 

[cnutco]

My temp gauge was jacked too. I ended up having the board replaced and the cluster reprogrammed.

My upper glovebox was stuck closed. I tried all, but ended up having a new one put in.

My driver side mirror is loose. I have not got into it yet but soon maybe. So I will check back here.

 

[sixstringsteve]

My temp gauge was jacked too. I ended up having the board replaced and the cluster reprogrammed.

Any chance you've still got your old circuit board? I'd like to experiment with it if you've still got it.

I hear there isn't really an adjustment for the loose mirrors. Supposedly the plastic mount cracks inside there. I imagine you could jb weld it back together, but I'm afraid of doing more damage than good. There aren't many of these in the junkyards here so I don't have many options for second hand parts.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I got the tires road force balanced today. No more shake at 70 mph. The tires are starting to cup slightly, which means I'll need to stay on top of my tire rotations.

I had the feeling the gas gauge wasn't working, so I topped it off with fuel. It took 13 gal, so I figured it was pretty empty and the gauge didn't work. Once I hopped in, I saw it was full. These babies come with a 23.8 gal gas tank! That's a bit more than my 10 gal miata and honda fit tanks.

I removed the 3rd row seat (seriously awesome engineering on that seat) and realized my jack and lug wrench are missing, so I'll need to figure something out there.

I polished up the headlights today. It went from this:

to this:

You'll notice the polishing kit took care of the blue tape I had around the lights, and it helped me close the hood as well. I'm not sure I could have done that without the headlight restoration kit.

I've started brainstorming my sleeping platform and I have some great anchoring options between the child seat tie down points and the 3rd row seat pivot. I'm trying to decide if I want to build the platform around the seats folded forward, in half, or 100% reclined. I'm leaning towards 100% reclined (see what I did there?), because I think it'll give me the most headroom to move around. Now that we're backpackers we don't bring half the gear we used to, so we should still have plenty of room.

Tomorrow I'll either completely remove the plasti dip from the wheels, or I'll shoot another coat to cover the edge of the wheel where the weights go. It looks nasty as is.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Last night I did some brainstorming about how I might want to do my sleeping platform.

Here are a few pics of the interior. I'll get more tonight.

small action packer in the back for reference.

Random brainstorming about the sleeping platform...

If the action packer were 1" taller it would be even with the 1/2 folded seat. The 1/2 folded seat is 13" tall. The fully reclined seat has a huge dip in the middle. Maybe I could find a wedge of foam that takes up this space.

Since the action packer is 1" lower than the 1/2 folded seat, I could still build a platform and be able to slide action packers underneath it. I'd probably build the platform so it only covered the area behind the 2nd row seats. In other words, my sleeping pad could rest on the 1/2 folded seat at my feet and the rest of my body would be on the sleeping platform.

Another thing to note is that the storage box beneath the floor is about 10" deep (which would be 23" to the top of the platform). I'm not sure I"m going to get an ARB fridge, but if I do it'd be nice to design the platform so the fridge fits under it while in use.

I'm having a tough time deciding if my platform should continue over the 2nd row seats or if it'd be ok to rest my feet on them with them folded down.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Here are a few more pics of the interior for those that haven't seen one of these in person.

you can see it's not very flat.

I love this storage compartment.

it's 60" from the tailgate to the bottom of the seat. That's too short even for me.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

You are putting some serious work into that car. Great progress.

 

[sixstringsteve]

It dawned on me that perhaps I fixed the circuit board for the temp gauge, and the mechanic before me disconnected the sensor on the engine. I'll need to look into that.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Last night I took it for a drive up the canyon for a bit. I ended up getting the dreaded blinking center diff lock light. That means there's something wrong with the tcase (most likely sensors). When the center diff light is blinking, it disables the 4wd for safety. I'd like to track this down soon since having 4wd is the main reason I bought the vehicle. More info here:

http://www.justanswer.com/car/34zsm-2002-mitsubishi-montero-orange-light.html

My wife also pointed out that she could smell gear oil when we stopped for a bit. I noticed it too. I'm not quite sure what it is yet, I need to do some more recon.

This morning, on the way to work, it was fine. It shifted between all 4 drive modes without issue. I'll be keeping my eye on this.