2003 Montero Non-build thread

[jhill15]

Ive neen following your posts and Im sorry to hear about your diff light. Theres many different things that can make that cdl light flash. For mine it has been a front right speed sensor, then a steering sensor, ive had my gear oil changed and I still get the light, even this morning I hoped in and there were the flashing front 2 tire lights then after about a mile or so I get the amber cdl light. Mine has been dealer serviced since I bought it and this is what they tell me....that its normal for the light to come on when the 4wd hasnt been exercised in a while...call me crazy but everything that I have read says that it doesnt disengage the 4wd but records a fault in the transfer case ecu for 40 drive cycles. I have had the dealer fix my issue 4 times now with 2 wheel sensors 1 steering sensor and gear oil, none have truely fixed it. I think the reset the ecu and them im good for 40 drive cycles then bam lights a flashin. I would check the freewheel clutch selenoid or the 2wd detection swith. Thats what I plan on doing when I get the cash.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Shoot, that's not good news. Thanks jhill15. Does your 4wd still engage and disengage when the orange light is blinking? Or does it not work at all when the orange light is blinking?

I'm not going to lie, one of my fears about going the montero route (and many other new vehicles) is centered on all the sensors tied to ABS, traction control, 4wd, etc. Coming from over 8 different toyotas with 0 issues, this is rather frustrating.

I definitely don't want to just throw money at the issue hoping it'll go away.

 

[jhill15]

Your welcome, yeah my 4wd and traction control work just fine. However my lights blink in 2h and when I put it 4h 4hlc 4llc everything is good to go. Does your light blink in all gears or just 2h?

I completely understand where your coming from. I gave up my rover for constant fear of the 3 amigos and blowing a head gasket for a piece of mind 04 xterra with a simple 4x4 lsd setup, brought it back from good to prestine condition cosmetically and mechanically then sold it to buy the montero and now I constantly worry about those lights.

Honestly I feel that even the dealer has been a shot in the dark when it comes to those lights and they have let me throw money at it just to tell me that what they just fixed took care of the problem... so far ive dropped about $900 on trying to get it fixed.

I would say that your best bet would be at least let the dealer put it on a mitsubishi diagnostics for $70,find out what codes are stored and fix it yourself, I could have saved at least $300 on the wheel speed sensor.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Wow, $900 would be a deal-breaker for me. I don't care if the lights blink as long as I still have 4wd when I need it.

Last night I tried different 4wd modes and it only showed 2wd with blinking, so I'm unsure if it actually went into 4wd or not. 4-low was definitely a lower gear, so I assume all that's working. I'm just unsure if the center diff lock is working or not.

The main question is if my 4wd is working, even if the lights tell me it isn't.


Here's something else I found in my research:

I had the same problem with my 2003 XLS. I took it to a local shop that had an ex-mitsu mechanic working for them who say he used to see it all the time and the switch contacts needed to be cleaned. He took all the switches out, cleaned the contacts and sealed them up for $60. That was three years ago and the problem has never returned.​

Here's one other useful site that explains how the tcase works:

http://www.rsgear.com/articles/1997_11.pdf

 

[jhill15]

Yeah for me too, $900 out of the box is too much. I drove 3 hours to purchase the monty and it didnt start having any problems until after I drove it home...typical lol.

If it engages you should definitely be able to tell a difference in power, if you engage it on dry pavement and try to take a turn you will feel your front wheels bind...its not good for your 4wd but you would definitely know if its engaged.

 

[russya]

Nice rig.I may be trading up to a gen 3 myself sometime soon(kids need the rear A/C) Looks like you're in my neck of the woods. Would recognize timp anywhere. If you ever need a hand wrenching, drop me a line, I have a decent selection of tools.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Cool. Hopefully there's no wrenching on this rig in the future, but I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.

 

[jhill15]

Did those lights go off or are they still flashin?

 

[Sabre]

If your Monty is indeed engaging the lower range, then your center diff should be functioning, whether or not the light is misbehaving.

Virtually all (Jhill15's experiences with wheel sensors notwithstanding) of these problems in the Gen III's transfer case can be accounted for by those five switches on the top of the t-case. Some folks have luck pulling and cleaning them. I had luck simply disconnecting them all and going over the connections. However, problems returned and swapping out the switches was the answer. The switches themselves are inexpensive...it's getting to them that's the expense. If you can do the work yourself, it's really simple stuff, but dropping the transfer case is a PITA.

It is indeed important to exercise the 4WD system (as with all vehicles). The routine green flashing light thing can be largely cured by cleaning and lubing the actuator on the front axle and by running the vacuum tubing to ensure that there are no splits. After that, repeated exercise pretty much offers a permanent cure for the green lights.

Happily, the Montero is indeed a highly capable and overall very reliable vehicle. Even when the t-case gremlins re-appeared while actually climbing Elephant Hill in Moab, we were still able to travel all the trails that we wanted to with little difficulty and had a very successful trip.

Good luck!

 

[sixstringsteve]

awesome, thanks for the tips.

Here's what's going on with the tcase.

The first 20 minutes of driving everything is fine. It'll do all 4 tcase modes, and the lights work. After 20 min of driving, the orange center diff lock starts blinking, even when I'm just in 2wd and I haven't touched the tcase lever. I'm not sure if shifting into 4wd is actually working or not at that point. I feel a slight extra load on the engine when I switch to 4 hi, but I'm not sure if the vacuum actuator in the front axle is actually doing anything. If I pull over and stop the car, then restart it, I get another 20 min of trouble-free driving with all lights and modes working, but after 20 min the orange light starts blinking again. It's baffling.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I finally got some time to put some dirt miles (and street miles) on the Montero.

After 150 miles of mixed city driving, I got 16 mpg. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but that involved a lot of idling, stop and go, and it was pretty loaded up for part of that. We'll see if it improves as I run premium fuel through it.

A lot of people have asked how I like the Montero. I like it, but I'm a little worried about expensive repairs. After the temp gauge and tcase sensor issues, as well as difficulty working on the motor, I have my doubts. If it proves to be as reliable as my toyotas were (which many people claim is a reasonable expectation), then I will be more than thrilled with it.

We went up and over Gold Hill in the Uintas near Whitney reservoir. There were rock gardens with nothing but bowling-ball sized rocks. The montero did awesome, and it was more comfortable than Carlos, my old tacoma. I LOVE it on washboards and bumpy 2-track roads. I need to be careful not to overdo it in whoops and big drainage ditches/bumps for fear of losing all my ground clearance at once. I only scraped bottom once, and only bottomed out twice. I would have bottomed out my tacoma more than that with the way I was driving. I'm not too worried about undercarriage protection. All the important stuff is either tucked way up in there, covered with a factory skid plate, or both. One thing I learned from my last build was just how heavy skids are. When I removed my skid plates and bumpers from my tacoma, I lost at least 250 lbs, and it was noticeable when I drove it. The last thing I want to do is throw on a ton of extra metal on this thing that I don't need.

I bought this rig for the type of driving we did this weekend (3 hour freeway, 3 hour washboards/bumpy rocky roads), and it handled it better than any other rig I've owned. I love it. The ground clearance is decent, but I need to be careful how fast I'm driving over stuff. The stock suspension is great, even when loaded up with 750lbs of gear, and I'd be afraid that putting an OME lift on it would compromise ride quality both on and off road. It's great to drive on the freeway with a slight hint of body roll, but offroad is where it really shines. I love the independent front and rear suspension. Even though the tires stick in about 2" from the edge of the fender, the fenders really do a great job at keeping mud off the exterior. There's tons of room inside, but I've decided to build a platform to keep it better organized. Overall I'm really happy with the rig. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the tcase sensors are easy to fix and diagnose and that the majorly expensive components remain reliable.

A few pics from this weekend.

All loaded up with 3 inflatable kayaks, one inflatable SUP, 5 paddles, a cooler, 5gal water, air compressor, life jackets, stove, 2 action packers, 2 sleeping bags, pads, tent, fishing gear, and recovery gear. It all fit, but I'll be adding some organization to the rig before the next trip. With everything lying on top of each other makes it tough to access stuff on the bottom (like a recovery strap when someone gets their truck stuck in the lake). Video footage of the recovery will be posted in the next 5 months.

Hanging out with the cool trucks.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

I like your pics. I think it is time you put a Yakima took rack for all those things in the trunk.

Also, I am curious, where did you buy that water can and how much did you pay for it? That is the best scepter water can to buy. I will be buying one or 2 of those sometime soon.

I was in Canada this past weekend bought the scepter gas cans made by same company that makes those water cans. Great product. I know we cannot buy the gas cans here in the US, reason why I was happy I bought them while in Canada.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/129815-Can-I-board-a-flight-with-2-Fuel-Jerry-Cans

 

[sixstringsteve]

I bought my scepter water cans from cruiser outfitters but I've seen them on ebay before. I've got 5 of the gas ones, but with the montero's 24 gal gas tank, I don't anticipate needing them anytime soon.

A roof rack would help haul more stuff, but I don't like the mpg hit you take with them, and I am short and I have a hard time getting stuff off the roof. I think my sleeping/storage platform should do the trick. I should have it done this week. If that doesn't give me enough organization then I'll scale back on gear. If we had left the 4 kayaks at home we would have had a ton more room.

 

[montypower]

I disagree about the skids. The Montero needs them more than any other vehicle I've owned. Especially, if you have the rear heater. There are coolant lines run from the front / rear. I had a stick snag one of those lines beside the transmission and caused it to lose over a gallon of coolant and overheat. The transmission and oil pan are extremely exposed. Maybe you won't have trouble on gravel roads but mine is used on trails.

Montero requires more maintenance than most Toyotas. For instance, timing belt service internal. Toyota 4runner/Tacoma 4.0L has a chain with 300k service interval. The 3.4L has a belt with non-interference motor and I've seen several run the factory belts past 150k.

However, the Montero offers much more in many areas... Much better cargo capacity, excellent ride, exceptional driving position (huge factor) and visibility, fantastic transmission, smooth reving motor, nice materials and construction quality. Not to mention they are nearly half the cost of a comparable 4runner or Land Cruiser.

If you expect the Montero to be perfect then you will be disappointed. It will cost more than a Toyota for maintenance. Don't put crap parts or neglect it then act surprised that it has issues. I found the motor incredibly simple to work on. Just finished rebuilding the heads and replacing nearly every possible part on mine. It is a well engineered motor; you do need proper manuals and take your time.

Remember the factory rated MPG is 13 city / 18 highway. Getting 16 mpg is very good. Expecting to get 20mpg city simply will never happen. However, driven carefully... I achieved 21mpg highway on the last 2,300 mile expedition fully loaded with 255/85s, lifted, arb bumper, skids, sliders, etc... That was 100% highway driven 60-65mph on premium fuel. So it is possible but just be realistic. My average city mixed driving is 15mpg.

 

[sixstringsteve]

thanks for the summary montypower. Fortunately I don't have the rear heater.

Your post was not quite what I was hoping to hear, but it seems very realistic and I appreciate it. I had read so many threads praising the Montero over a land cruiser that I set up what appear to be unrealistic expectations. Maybe I'll have more realistic expectations now. Personally, I'd rather pay more money for a vehicle that's more reliable. Hopefully this rig proves to be reliable and cheap on the pocketbook, otherwise it'll be gone soon in favor for a 100 series or v8 4runner.