Montero LS or SRS what to look for?

[off-roader]

Unless the valve guide seals were replaced in the last 100-150k, you'll see the smoke. That's simply how long they seem to last. Sometimes less but usually not.

How long have you been searching? A few weeks? A few months? It takes time. It took me at least 6 months to find one I wanted and it showed up once I stopped looking.

Good luck with your search!!

 

[Jamacee]

That is sage like wisdom my friend.

Yes about a month. Meanwhile the 85 burb I have is $100+ a week in food.

 

[off-roader]

That is sage like wisdom my friend.

Yes about a month. Meanwhile the 85 burb I have is $100+ a week in food.

No worries. Been there, done that. Stopped stressing and one showed up LOL. Maybe borrow someone's car and rest your burb & wallet?

 

[Evo666]

Thanks for the tip on the valve guide seal. I believe this is an issue on my 99 SR. Oil disappears without any leaks and notice smoke. Any idea cost to fix this?

 

[eengler2]

If you do it yourself it is very cheap. I used Evergreen brand Valve Stem Seals that came with a full engine kit for my 3000GT. (Not all of the gaskets are worth using in the eBay kit but valve covers, head gaskets, exhaust gaskets, intake mani and VSS work very well and they whole lot can be had for $65)

I used compressed air to hold the valves closed and the snap on/blue point tool to remove and install. It's a time consuming job that requires you to remove camshafts and timing belt and everything required to get to those.

Every Mitsu DOHC motor with years or miles on them will have bad VSS. I just swapped a 6G74 (same 3.5 DOHC thats in the Monty, but with turbos now) into my 3000GT and of course the seals were bad as well.

 

[off-roader]

...and the snap on/blue point tool to remove and install.

Do you know which one or is there only one snap on/blue point spring compressor available? How much was it?

I just swapped a 6G74 (same 3.5 DOHC thats in the Monty, but with turbos now) into my 3000GT and of course the seals were bad as well.

IIRC, someone mentioned the Montero motor has different cams for a different torque curve more suited to a 4x4.

 

[eengler2]

Blue Point GA317 I believe. $40ish.

Yes turbo 6G72 (3.0) and non-turbo 6G74's (3.5) have different cams. Non turbo 3.0 may have similar cams as the 3.5. I took a 6G74 from a Japanese Debonair (fwd sedan) and with minor mods fits into my AWD 3000GT. Swapped on my twin billet 18G turbo kit and she runs pretty good

 

[off-roader]

Blue Point GA317 I believe. $40ish.

Yes turbo 6G72 (3.0) and non-turbo 6G74's (3.5) have different cams. Non turbo 3.0 may have similar cams as the 3.5. I took a 6G74 from a Japanese Debonair (fwd sedan) and with minor mods fits into my AWD 3000GT. Swapped on my twin billet 18G turbo kit and she runs pretty good

Thanks for the part number. Now to go order one. Seems every shop I talk to about doing my valve guide seals has no idea what I'm talking about when I tell them about the LP Air or rope trick to stop the valves from falling into the cylinder and instead wants to do a full valve job/head removal for more money of course.

Edit: So that tool allows you to compress the spring enough to remove the spring keeper? The ones I always saw folks referring to are kinda like this one...

and are very narrow allowing it to fit into the space on our engines... but then again, I've never seen exactly what people have been using so your insight is greatly appreciated.

 

[eengler2]

They may have different cams but it would only be slightly different since the engines are rated the same for hp and tq depending on where you look.

Most call them valve stem seals. Not valve guide seals which may cause confusion if they are thinking you want the valve guides changed.

Head removal would definitely make it easier to change the seals especially on drivers side. I just bought my Montero but at some point the drivers head was replaced and the seals looked much better. I had a difficult time reaching the back cylinders seals on dr side, so I skipped those since I replaced all on the passenger side. No smoke now and it was horrible before.

Also changed the timing belt with a Gates from Napa and OEM water pump while I was in there. Was lucky I didn't throw a timing belt on drive back from purchase because tensioner was completely loose and one bank skipped a cam tooth.

 

[eengler2]

Look up the blue point tool. It is very easy to use. Also search YouTube for a video on a 3000gt valve stem seal change. The process is exactly the same and his video is very informative. Plus he uses the blue point.

Basically you just whack the tool with a big hammer after placing it over the valve keeper. The tool has a magnet inside so it captures the little keeper locks. Another part of the tool is used to reinstall. You just press down with all of your might. You can also use hammer to reinstall but you need to be straight on to valve stem. I would suggest buying extra keeper locks just in case they go flying. (Also stuff rags in all of the oil passages in head just in case.) I didn't lose any on Montero but shot a couple across the garage while changing them for 3000 with the head off the car even.

I believe I used around 75psi of air pressure to hold valves shut.

To the original post, I love my 95 Montero SR so far. My kids love it as well. They prefer it over our new small suv. No off roading yet but that will be soon. These engines are very reliable if maintained. 4x4 wire has a ton of info about common issues like the VSS, oil cooler line leak and lower intake butterflies. I have not heard of any issues with the transmissions. Mine shifts great with 130k miles. I still need to do a fluid change; doubting previous owner did...ever, based on my recent findings.

 

[off-roader]

Nice. How did you hold the LP air fitting so it stayed in the spark plug hole?

 

[eengler2]

Used the hose from my compression tester which has a threaded spark plug fitting. Had to remove the little shrader valve from the spark plug fitting otherwise its one-way and not the way I needed it.

 

[off-roader]

Used the hose from my compression tester which has a threaded spark plug fitting. Had to remove the little shrader valve from the spark plug fitting otherwise its one-way and not the way I needed it.

Nice! Thanks for the insight. How long did it take to do?

 

[eengler2]

Hard to say. It was torn apart for a couple weekends as I waited for a couple parts and do some tidying up (painted valve covers, cleaning a lot of gunk to find a leak, etc. It's definitely timing consuming.

 

[scottsdale74]

1997 Montero 3.5 information

I have a full size Montero and just had the value guides/seals done by my mechanic; labor cost was $900 @ around $90 buxs an hour. Since Mitsubishi lists the intake and exhaust valve seals as different part numbers I opted to by OEM seals instead of aftermarket (huge price difference $20 compared to $100). The advise on this board was very helpful for me and wish I would have known about the crankshaft bolt issues back when I had the timing belt replaced. As a result, my harmonic balance went out due to this known bolt issue, it's repaired now but since the bolt broke the mechanic wasn't able to get it all the way out and therefore the new bolt isn't as far in as the original - hopefully many more years before the crankshaft has to be replaced. Has anyone else had this problem? I've put allot of money to get this Montero up to par and really enjoy it, just hoping this crankshaft bolt issue didn't just ruin my Montero - so far 4k miles later still going stong.