My new (old) 1992 Mitsubushi Mighty Max

Hello to all folks on these forums.

I found a 1992 Mitsubishi Mighty Max, 2.4 4 cylinder 5 speed manual trans late last year. Seemed to run pretty strong when I got it and drove it for 150 miles from where I bought it to where I live. About 20 or so miles before I got home the "Maintenance Soon" light came on, not the "Check Engine" light. Parked at a packing lot and checked what I could at that time, not finding anything I started the motor back up without any new issues and drove home.

Few days there after and some other checks further, still not being able to find anything. I started the truck and neither lights came one, aside from them lighting up to show they still work. Drove her to work and back, I did toss in injector cleaner on the way home which seemed to have caused something just before hitting the high way and soon there after then engine seemed to run fine again and took me home without issues.

Went to pick up my son from work in the weekend and she barely started, it being down hill to where he works went all right but after that climbing back up hill was a mess and felt like she would not make more then 300 RPM and stuttering horribly. There not being a tacko on these truck I have no idea what the RPMs really where, just that is was very bumpy getting back up hill on a smooth road.

Now about 8 months later my little truck is still parked in the back of the drive way still not really running.


Here is a filled out copy of the advice of the first post recommendations :

#1: Replace Timing Belt.
No idea when this was last done when I got it. This engine has 2 belts and when I took the cover off I noticed the secondary or "B" belt to have failed. This failure bent the plate that separates the "B" belt from the main time belt on the crank shaft sprockets. This in turn caused the main time belt to fray on the engine side and half of the width was gone due to the plate cutting it down every time it passed the bent piece. Both belts have been replaced with the help of the Haynes manual and several 4G63, 4G64 manuals found online. The plate has been fixed, 2 new belts and 2 new tensioners have been used.

#2: Replace the Fuel Filter.
I found a lot of rust in the filter when I went to replace it. Traced the rust back to a very rusty fuel tank. Used my own magic mix to remove the rust and treat the tank from rusting again like that. Most of this can be found online, look for remove rust from fuel tank, I used a combination of several finds to use chemicals I had nearby. Flushed everything and made plenty of waste fuel that way. Filled up the tank and put new filter in along with fuel pump, all rubber seals on the tank and so forth.

#3: Tune Up.
Plugs where replaced just before I bought it, they used the ones with the 4 ground pins instead of the single one. Don't really like these since checking the spark gap is rather difficult but I drove the truck home with it.
Wires where done recently also by my judging. Rotor and cap however are for sure the older ones and I have also not yet replaced those.

#4: Check all the vacuum lines.
No vacuum line damage, found an open port and plugged that. Also been using that port to put a gauge on the get a vacuum read out.

#5: Replace the thermostat and clean out the cooling system.
Thermostat, radiator, radiator cap and fluid all have been replaced. System has also been flushed
For a car driving in Texas the temperature is staying rather low.

#6: Go get a fan shroud.
Either I am a lucky one or this truck was build with the shroud. It is a mechanical fan instead of an electrical that I am more used to but it runs and the clutch engages also, just not sure at what temperature it does or how to test this.

#7: Check and clean the ground on the ECU.
Good advice considering all the electrical issues I have found already on this little truck. Something I will have to get to soon.
Thus to say, I have not done this yet.

#8: The PCV Valve.
Shall be cleaned as well. The hose itself is in good shape on the outside.

#9: The EGR Valve.
The EGR Valve can cause the engine to run rough at idle and not pass SMOG if you live in a state where you have SMOG. Many times they will plug up and stop working. If they do then it can stick open or closed causing problems.

#10: MCA Jet Valve.
Replace the MCA Jet Valve with an elimination kit from RockAuto.com. The Jet valve can burn off the tip or stick open and cause the engine to blow off vacuum lines, back fire, another strange things.
I have no idea what this is at this time or where to find it, shall research some on this.

#11: The coil.
Coil has been replaced along with the plugs.

#12: The Oils. Engine, Transmission, Rear End, Brake, and Power Steering.
Oil has been replaced just before I got it, its still "clear" at this time. The break oil I have not done anything with other then check the level. Something I will add to the list.

#13: Your Belts.
They need to be done for sure, both the alternator and the AC belt. AC does not work at this time though but the other one is important to get somewhere without the engine over heating or the battery dying on me.

#14: Front end parts.
Last owner started work on the front end parts, I should pick up on his work and finish it.

#15: Fuel lines.
Work for this has not been started yet but been looking for parts for it. They seem not that easy to come by anymore and I am not ripping these of a junk truck to not have improved on it.

#16: The battery clamps and wires.
Battery has been replaced and I have done the clamps and part of the wires also now. Seem to have other electrical issues elsewhere for which I have not yet found its location.

#17: The Unknown
As I find them I deal with them, some of them I might need advice for though. Hope I can count on some of you all on here and where I can I shall return the favor.


I shall follow up with an other post for things that I have done and issues that I have had or still have.

Thank you for having me.

Welcome fushigikaze -- I am the least qualified guy here about these trucks and wish you good luck fixing your truck...

Fuel & spark..? My truck ran better after I sprayed several shots of carburetor cleaner into the carb (with & without the engine running) it especially helped solving a too rich cold engine problem (dirty choke plate)...

SPARK PLUG WIRE removal & installation tool is available at NAPA stores (buy it & use it every time you install or remove a spark plug wire)

Power wash or use compressed air to clean around the spark plugs... THEN

Try removing the spark plugs ON A COLD ENGINE inspect them for fouling and proper color and proper gap... Black plugs = no spark & white plugs = no fuel...

Use anti seize and install new OEM recommended spark plugs... The reason for doing this with a COLD ENGINE & anti seize is it will help prevent stripping & crossing the threaded spark plug holes in the cylinder head... Aluminum heads + steel spark plugs = stripped or crossed aluminum threads if done ON A HOT ENGINE...

NEXT make sure all the spark plug wires, coil & distributor connections are firmly connected & conducting current (use electrical silicone sparingly) because too much can cause misfire and send the electrical current to ground & not the end of the spark plug...

If FUEL & SPARK are good then CHECK for lack of compression, improper valve or spark timing, plugged exhaust system, bad ECM or emission component malfunction EGR PCV, & vacuum leaks...

The stock Mikuni carburetor often causes problems many folks here install Weber Carbs... My truck has the stock carb but does have a slight miss half the time...

That is all I know to try my friend -- best of luck & please post a photo of your truck, thanks :thumbup:

GET STANDARD SPARK PLUGS..!

Hi and welcome to mightyram. One of the biggest issues with these trucks straight up not running is a bad ECU. They are notorious for it and it is also a relatively simple fix. The capacitors in them fail and subsequently the ECU is left inoperable. Normally the fault is visually detectable by opening up the ECU case - the caps will either have leaked and/or swelled up. If you can wield a soldering iron you can handle this. Next is a possible ICM in the distributor. They can also fail (new replacement modules are available). Do things like trying to pull error codes from the ECU, check fuel pressure, spark, injector pulses etc to narrow down what it is (or isn't) doing.

xboxrox thank you for the advice. Mine is a fuel injection so I have no carb issues. I gots a whole boat load of other things that mostly don't work :)
The engine is rater for 8.5 compression at, I think 350 rpm. given that atmosphere is about 15 PSI throwing a factor of 8.5 to that comes to just under 130 PSI ( atmosphere PSI X compression = cylinder pressure OR 15 PSI X 8.5 = 127.5 PSI ).
All cylinders read over 130 PSI with starter motor RPM, which should be around 350. So timing there of the valves looks to be in specs, the timing for the sparks. That be a different thing listed some more below.


geezer101
I did some looking around for info about these ECUs. They seem to be the cause of a lot of wrong doings. I pulled mine out yesterday and found out its a "Remanufactured". Plastered along the gap where you separate the 2 covers are a whole store of "Do NOT open, Warranty VOID if tampered or broken seal" warnings.
Like I really cared at this point and who knows when the work was done and to what quality. So I did it, took the whole thing apart. There solder job looks worse then what I did with them irons when I was 5 years old.... The caps them self's look ok, they have touched a lot more components then just them caps and left some overly big solder blobs on some of the components. Seems I have my work cut out on this little board. When I was about to put if away for now I noticed 2 very clear burned areas on the inside of the lid. Wonder if that is from before or after the rework by my unknown "professional".
The ICM ( not sure what is stands for but I am assuming the optical sensors for crank location and fuel injection timing in the distributor) I took apart as well when I did the distributor. I have not done any further testings on this at all yet.



I was able to make a little bit of time this week and yesterday. I got a rather strange situation here.
I took the distributor assembly off of the engine and cleaned that up. When I took it off and unplugging the spark plug wires, I noticed that they where not wired correctly. Cylinder one is supposed to be on the bottom and with a fire order of 1-3-4-2 3 should have been on the port facing the front of the truck. the #1 plug came out of port #3. All plugs where rotated 90 degree's clockwise.
Odd if you ask me but this is how I drove the truck home. I did my work on the distributor and had to look around for a while on how ti install this again with the correct timing. Installed the unit again with TDC on #1 and the rotor pointing down. Wired it all back up and gave it a shot ( with plug 1 on distributor port 1 or the one pointing down ). Engine runs about the same as it did just before it would not start again but it is sort of running. Grabbed the timing light and WOW. Its firing halfway through the power stroke. Or was off time. Figured I was off on the installation of the distributor so I pulled if out partially and rotated the rotor to make the gear hit a different tooth. That only made the engine not run at all again. Took the mounting bolt off of the engine so I could rotate the distributor mostly freely. Got it to run, sort of. But I do have to turn the whole distributor assembly ( with TDC1 pointing down as it should) about 30-40 degree's counter clock.
I seem to still have many fun days ahead.

Time to put some of my IC and electronic test equipment to use again and pull the optical sensors from the distributor before the sun really starts beating down today here in Texas.

The ICM is the 'ignition control module' in the distributor. Judging from what you've uncovered, the ECU is the main culprit (or whoevers' hamfisted effort of repairing it). There is a groundwire in the engine bay that needs to be earthed so the ECU will accept any changes in ignition tune (for those of us who aren't initiated with it, it can catch you out)

As a side note - I can't say that this will be relevant to you (and you won't know until the ECU and other factors are eliminated) but I ran into a weird problem with a distributor a long time ago that really caught me off guard. After a head swap I couldn't get an engine to run. Set it up 'by the book' and could barely get a cough out of it. Put it forward a tooth and fully retarded the timing - nothing. Put it back a tooth and fully advanced - nada. Somehow the distributor was out by half a tooth which was causing the no run/no start issue. I reinstalled the distributor with the rotor facing the opposite direction and changed the firing order - it fired and idled first shot (after nearly 4 hours of assing around with this thing). If the timing doesn't seem to make sense when you aim a light into there, this might be worth taking into consideration. Good luck!:thumbup:

Your engine a 2.4L <--- I have no experience, my engine 2.6L

geezer, do you know if 2.4L engines have unique problems..?

Have you used a timing light on it..? I think RPM must be set & vacuum advance lines removed for timing (OR something like that..?)

I still think you should get new standard spark plugs & trash the four pin aftermarket plugs...

You'll figure it out; it's just a matter of time PUN intended ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xboxrox

Your engine a 2.4L <--- I have no experience, my engine 2.6L

geezer, do you know if 2.4L engines have unique problems..?

Have you used a timing light on it..? I think RPM must be set & vacuum advance lines removed for timing (OR something like that..?)

I still think you should get new standard spark plugs & trash the four pin aftermarket plugs...

You'll figure it out; it's just a matter of time PUN intended ;)

---

The only thing I know that can really cause issues are bad ECU's (especially the 1990 model due to it being a unique management system requiring different ancillaries compared to the other injected 2.4 truck engines - members have posted up things indicating it's not a cheap fix and requires this year specific ECU) and the heads warping. I've counted at least 3 members who have posted catastrophic failures where the cams have binded up in the journals so badly the cams have snapped. I don't know of any other Mitsu engine that has exhibited this kind of failure but it has to be related to severe overheating or a sudden change in thermal cycles. The timing in the 2.4 isn't advanced by vacuum due to it being all electronic management.

This will help with setting the timing for 4G64 engines - http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...th-ECM-control

Thank you for all the information. I have been very low on time to do much at all since last post. Bought a new full distributor assembly ( ICM, rotor, cap, ... ) not yet installed it since I did find some wrong doings on the ECU.
When I figure out how to add pictures to post I shall do so of both the little truck and the ECU board.
When I was checking the ECU board in further detail I found 1 missing piece so far, a surface mount cap "C4" it is between diode "D105" and "C105" with the latter being one of the usually bad Rubycon capacitors.
I know that these types of caps usually do not have information on them but would anyone be able to tell me what cap is supposed to be in this location?
If worse comes to it I will have to start the hunt for a new ECU.... or really find the time and reverse engineer one somehow.
The board code is "JE331B993B"
Having found this missing component I am not really sure if I should try running the engine at all for now.
Meanwhile I will go make some pictures and order some parts to deal with the bad job done on the board for now. Shall post some images soon ( hopefully ).

Thanks again everyone :D

there is a thread on replacing caps on these boards - search for it. It will tell you the values and placement on the board.

Thx for the advice, running out of time for now and I have tried the search but so far all I found was about the Rubycon caps or in general the electrolythic ones, not the little SMD ones. Shall give this an other go when I have more time. For now I have to head out and earn my keeps :)

You could be 180* out on your timing. Remember the Crank turns twice for every once the cam does. Reset the timing mark at 0 then put in the distributor rotor at #1. then try and fire it. If #1 and #3 plug wires were reversed the OP missed timed it doing a "Repair"

Fordubishi
If it where 180 out of time, it would have made total sense, the last owner though had plug for cylinder one in the 9 o'clock position, where spark 3 should be. The rotor was still pointing to 7ish o'clock with that setup. Now that I replaced the ICM ( and everything around it ). I am figuring that this was the "fix" for the bad ICM to still make the truck run. She runs again now and still leaving me with a nice list of other things to tend to.


I had a little bit of time the last Friday of July to work on my little truck. The new distributor assembly came in also giving me more reasons to to force my schedule and make time to work on it. Installed the new distributor and plugged everything in and "poof". Start and without hesitation, engine running. Slightly out of time but running. Set the timing by feel at that time, timing light I have is not bright enough to beat the Texas sun beaming down. Gave her a test drive and gots power again to pull herself up the hill where I live. Stutters a little so timing is not 100% yet. Drive to work with her all week and on Wednesday I was able to use the garage at work to correct the timing. By feel I had it set to about 3 B-TDC. With the timing light I changed that to 10 and every few rotations its "spiking" for one rotation to about 13-14. Gots way more power now then with the 3 but you can notice that spike when going up hill so I will probably time it to about 7 and see how that runs.
After having put about 80 miles on her though, she wanted to start no more. Jumped and ran fine. Drove her to work after the jump and put the battery on the booster charger, battery low on charge. Tester the altenator to what extend I can without car shop tools, I work in maintenance for beverage industry so I do have access to all sorts of tools. Yep, altenator not generating any power.
Thus for over 80 miles now I have been running on the poor car battery, radio and everything else for comfort and need ( lights in the dark, ignition, .... )
I hope its just worn brushes anthough even if the whole thing has to be replaces, its really easy to get to. Almost everything is easy to get to on this engine. Except for the fuel injectors, have to take the whole intake out for that since they behind the surge tank. Cleaned up contacts and such at work again but had little to no effect, have not been able to find a way to access the bruches yet or even there location. Driving around though, I really miss power steering on these hilly roads

Last night, again at work, I also made a fix of sorts for a failing fire wall. Either when the clutch cable got replaced they ripped the area around it or the metal is suffering from fategue around there. I saw it was ripped before but last drives I could not get the clutch to disconnect anymore. It is really over due to get the new building for work finished so I can use the tig welder and make a nice support for it.

Soo much work and nearly 0 time :(

I still have yet to figure out how to put pictures in the posts. Also have PC issue with it not wanting to open the files for editing no more and have not even had the time to work on that. Lets go see if the laptop is more willing for the pics and then figure out how to post them on here.

Thx again for everyones help getting me back on the road-ish :D

Wow, ok that was easy. I am not used to just being able to drag and drop them in the text fields on forums.

Here she is :D
Black 1992 Mitsubishi Mighty Max in the front ( Mine )
White 1988 Saab 900 Turbo Convertable In the back. ( Mine )
Tan 2006 Ford Taurus Mostly daily go everywhere car ( In real need of a lot of maintenance ) ( The wifey's car )

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...85+i/zz9Vj/9k=http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...c/bc/pvDP/2Q==http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin.../1/P8A+Z//2Q==

Ok, that picture post did not work and I do not seem to be able to find out how to edit my posts. Already had a post in the wait for mods to check on, guess a mod has to take a look at the long posts first so my attempt pic post got posted before that one.
I will go over the forum to look for help on the pic posting,
This post and the attempt pic post can be deleted if the mods would get to it. My apologies for the messy posts.

1. To be able to edit you have to become a donator.
2. To add pictures you choose go advanced at te lower right hand of the post window. Then scroll down to manage attachments which will open a small window. In the upper right of that window is an add files link. Click it a very small and difficult for me to see drop down will drop down from it. Choose browse and select the picture from you computer or whatever connected device has the picture. Then in that same drop window to the right of browse choose upload to load that picture. In the area at the bottom of the manage attachments window the pictures that appear with a check mark in the box are the ones that will post when you click post inline at the lower right corner. Be sure of where your cursor is in the post before choosing or you will have to undo and redo.

Wow, ok that was easy. I am not used to just being able to drag and drop them in the text fields on forums. That did not seem to work.
Picture set trial 2, A little odd for the pictures but still easy enough to make it work, Thank you for the help :)

Here she is :D
Black 1992 Mitsubishi Mighty Max in the front ( Mine )
White 1988 Saab 900 Turbo Convertable In the back. ( Mine )
Tan 2006 Ford Taurus Mostly daily go everywhere car ( In real need of a lot of maintenance ) ( The wifey's car )
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Here I am again.

Been driving around small trips here and there. She been taking me everywhere I need to be with little to no issues. Yesterday though I had a bigger problem. The waterpump/fan and alternator belt ripped. This happened rather close the place I needed to be at and for the first few I did not even notice it other then the whole dash lighting up faintly. This made me think of the ECU, engine still running though, but though that went on the fritzz.
A little after that I smelled the heat under the hood and finnaly realized that the heat gauge was all the way in the red. Stopped in the parking lot and had cooling fluid spraying all over the engine at every hose clamp there was to be found under the hood. Let her cool off and probably lost all cooling fluid during for it spraying out everywhere. Went to car shop to get new belt. Installed that and filled up coolant, checked oil and water for them being mixed and was not able to detect any of that. So far it would seem I did not blow the head gasget or something like that. After the install, fluid fill and check, put the key in and started up like nothing had happened. Did have to run the engine a little to get all the air out. Put an other 30 ish miles on since the occurance.

I also did find the time to check the alternator and that is burned. The diodes are mostly chared and the positive wire comming from the alternator is heat burned also. The copper just turned to dust as I tried taking the clamp off. Found out that for mine probably being a very basic model, the alternator is "only" 45 Amps. Looking around for a higher amp one and found a 80 Amps that is from the V6 models that looks like it would fit the 4G64, just needs an other bolt to clamp it to the engine there it has a nut pressed in where the 45 Amp one just has holes instead. I have to redo the alternator wire's anyway, the extra amps will also permit me to put my inverter in and put a light bar on without killing the battery.

Will also be looking into putting power windows in, small as the truck may be to make it easy to lean over to crank the passenger side, the roads out here make that a rather dangerous task. Folks around here dont know how to drive and cut you off the first chance they think the get and the road designers found it amusing to put intersections and traffic lights in locations where you cannot see them from a distance.
But I shall leave it at that for the rant and rave on trafic here down south. I do not plan on making a little pimp truck but with all the battery items today, having the power in the car to charge things on the road is almost a must. I noticed that I think "geezer101" or "pennyman1" mentioned on these forums somewhere that the monterno power window rails lined up to the mighty max window rails. Thus far I have not been able to find either rails anywhere yet. My interior door handles are crumbling appart so I am thinking of putting ones in there that have switches for power things in there anyway while changing them out. Done this with my convertable when I lived in Europe before and still have power window switches laying around here somewhere.

Thus currently I have to flush out the oil, change oil filter just in case. flush out cooling loop and refill with correct coolant and change out alternator and the power wire from it. I may fix the 45 Amp alternator anyway and install a second one for all the hungly power needs. Soooo many ideas and soooo little time, not to speak of funds yet lol.

Sorry, wasn't me with the power window details. I've tried using an alternator out of a Hyundai and although I have it installed, it's got issues. First up - pulleys. The Hung Dog 90 amp alternator I sourced had a ribbed belt on it and the mounting shaft is a different diameter to the Mitsubishi unit (much thicker) 2 options - drill it out (or grind it - the hole is way big...) or find a pulley that will swap onto it. Luckily I had an old Bosch alternator that used a matching diameter pulley mounting hole, so that one was sorted. Other issue - opposing side of the engine mounting. Mitsubishi unit was on the exhaust side of the G63B engine block. With the pulley sorted out it bolts up correctly and the belt is aligned. Using the opposing side mounted alternator maxxed out the tensioner adjustment so I have to find a way to remedy that. There is meant to be a shroud over the main charge output to protect it from arcing out but the shroud is now directing the cables the wrong way and is fouling on the block. 90 amps will be more that sufficient to keep the electrical system happy (just need a big @ss battery to top it off)

* a tip - if your engine is heading for catastrophic temp levels, pull over and pour water over the radiator with the engine running. It'll drop temperatures fast enough without risking head or block damage in an emergency.

Another thing I found was the main power wire to the battery is undersized for anything over 50 amps. Switch the main wire to 4 gauge minimum. 2 gauge would be better. I went and got 2 gauge welding cable to rerun the main wire as it was WAY cheaper then "Automotive" Battery wire.

Not sure if it will work for your truck but I used a First gen Dodge Caravan Alt when I first built my truck. Think it was 75 amps. You might be better off with one out of a 3L as the top had 2 mounting holes. Just change your pulley over if you need to.

I found the pictures of the ECU again, Shall be putting them on soon, I have a little time right now to mess on the internet. Life can really make living a challange sometimes.

Thx for all the tips and tricks you all have been giving me. For the water pump being down though, not sure that water on the radiator will do a whole lot, even turning the heater to full will be next to effectless due to the pump being down and everything being moving still on natural circulation die to thermal differences.
I got to where I needed to be and from there I got the needed help and tools to tend to the issue at hand. Since then I have flushed the coolant loop and the oil with fresh liquids. I may have used slightly out of spec oil this time. I based myself on the manual indicating that because I am in a southern stat that heavier oil would be better. With that I used 10W40 but other recommendations I found mention 10W30. If anyone here could advice me on that one I would appreciate it.
With the over heating I was able to find the leak in the coolant loop and have replaced the lower radiator hose and the engine seems not to be leaking anything anywhere anymore.

I have to check the valves though, with the oil replacement I noticed its knocking more than it did before. Bad oil pump, clogged line, other reasons. I have yet to find out.

For the alternator I have already replaced part of the wires, being in the electrical field makes sourcing those parts rather easy. For the higher amps I have a few other ideas when funds permit that. For the time being I will be replacing the diodes in the alternator. No idea what happened around there but almost everything connecting to the alternator is burned. The replaced wires where all very brittle near the alternator and the current diodes are the same. The brushes and copper pads are cleaned and seem fine still. I cannot find a voltage regulator on this car and with the low amp ratings it may not have one. I seem to be bumping in all sorts of things that my knowledge seems to be sort at for this little truck.
Annual inspection is coming up here soon and prepping all that I need to get that to go smooth. After that, its tinker time :D

It all makes a nice way to pass time, learn new things and have fun.

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Here are the pictures showing the "Professional" repairs. It also shows the missing surface mount capacitor mentioned in an earlier post.
The little bitty item listed as "C4"

^looks like they used a cold, dirty iron and forgot their glasses. It was a miracle it even worked straight after the 'repairs' :shakehead:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fushigikaze

Attachment 23355

Here are the pictures showing the "Professional" repairs. It also shows the missing surface mount capacitor mentioned in an earlier post.
The little bitty item listed as "C4"

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Had tinker time today,
Pulled a spare ecm apart - 93 4g64 5 speed board #JE331B993B.
No numbers on C4 unfortunately.(probably bin labeled only for the 'pick&put' robot).
However, C37 & C14 are dimensionally equal ! - remove one, might give You a rating
for a replacement .
Might need to use a radial lead piece given the damage to the board.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fordubishi

Another thing I found was the main power wire to the battery is undersized for anything over 50 amps. Switch the main wire to 4 gauge minimum. 2 gauge would be better. I went and got 2 gauge welding cable to rerun the main wire as it was WAY cheaper then "Automotive" Battery wire.

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:goodpost: Thanks Fordubishi :ebay: 75 amp alternators ~ Thanks pennyman

Hello Folks,

I am still alive and going, my little truck is still taking me places too. I was able to find some time somewhere in the past month or so to take the valve cover off. The lash adjusters are causing knocking sounds so I figured I need to check that.
Not too difficult of a task to do. Putting it back together without anything to hold the adjusters though, .....
Its got a nice oil coating stuck to the case, some of it may also have been from the engine overhearing when I ripped the belt.
Some of them adjusters are definatly worn, order for a whole new set is placed ( came in now but has not yet been installed ). At the time though, I cleaned the whole top and items around it that I had easy access to and was able to remove. Its all nice and shiny again now.

Some pictures to show the before's and afters.
Enjoy :D


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Looks great fushi, good job..! Glad to know you & your truck are still trucking along... Best wishes for your Christmas and New Year...

Thanks for the update. If the lash adjusters are still noisy after putting it back together, give the engine an oil flush. It'll free up the adjusters so they actuate properly again.

Heya,

I did a full oil change/flush and switched over to blend or high millage oil.
When I had the adjusters off, some of them where definatly bad. Springs not pushing them out anymore. Mostly around the exhaust set. The intake set seems ok but I bought 8 of them anyway to just do them all. Last thing I am probably going to do is run seafoam through before the next oil change to really get as much grap out as possible.
Running on a blended oil now and she leaking and using oil now....
Over haul time I guess, never hurts anyway for an engine with over 200k miles.

I did something else "dumb". We have deers around here and in the dark one of them was on the middle of the road just past a blind spot....
Sent the poor critter flying and reworked my front at the same time. The deer stumbled and walked back to where I hit it almost to be hit again for a second time before it crossed the road and went in the woods. My little truck is still running. Lot of fender bender damage but nothing got taken out. Other then the plastic grill piece and the head light on the right got bent pretty bad.
Still hoping to find the time soon to shape all the metal back and look for a new grill piece.

Oh damn, that was bad. You aren't the first member who has fallen victim to the kamikaze Rudolfs. Well, if you're taking it off the road for an engine overhaul at least it's not getting laid up just to do body repairs. Still sucks though...

Heya folks,

I gots a little bit of time again and posting the damage I did to my poor little truck :(. So far I was able to bent the front somewhat back to make the head light shine ahead of me again instead of almost straight to the ground.
I bought the lash adjusters quite some time ago but have not found the time yet to pull the head cover off again and install them. The oil leaks I am finding are kind of holding me back waiting for the new seals ( That so far I have not even ordered yet.... )
These little trucks sure take some work when they are not maintained well. So far the engine still runs strong for having over 200k miles on it.
Still have to fix the EGR ( currently its blocked and thus running without ), the solonoid ports broke.

I got a question for you all. Should I just focus on replacing all the rubber seals on the block to stop the oil leak or should I do a full rebuild on it already. I know there is a small oil leak somewhere in at least one of the cylinders. Burns a little oil on start, not sure if it continues after that. I would like to keep this little one around for quite a few more 1000s of miles and keep it as my daily driver for quite some more years.

Time to go back to work for me, for now. See below for the damage of my running across a kamikaze rudolf, did not have a red nose.....

Attachment 24323
Attachment 24324
Attachment 24325
Attachment 24326

F for that light, you can find a sport grille online for cheap. the first owner to my truck had a sport grille installed after someone rear ended him at a light and he hit the car it front (the torsion beams were worn out and the front end was dipped. mine are worn out again. as for the oil leaks i would fix it and drive it. if it still runs good why rebuild it? get the most out of it if you can. keep it clean, keep fluids in it and replace regular parts frequently and you should be good to go.

and i know where a straight bumper is if you want it.

Me personally, I'd take the head off and give the engine a once over. The oil going into the cylinder is a bad valve stem seal and if you're doing one, you're doing them all. At this point you'll need a timing belt kit and to make your life easier, pull the engine. You can replace the bad seals and have a look at the engine bores. If they're not ripped up and you don't have a bad lip on the tops of the bores I'd drop the rods, give them a once over with a honing tool or do what I did and use a scotchbrite paint removing ball on an extension just enough to deglaze them. Leave the crank in place, clean up the pistons, install stock size rings and bang it back together. You'll get an easy 5-10 years out of it. If you find something more sinister in the engine while it's apart, you've caught it before the big kaboom and saved yourself some headaches.

That's true it's so much easier to pull the engine and redo it. If its alot of work may as well. And while you have it out do all the work. As for me I dont have the money for gaskets and stuff so its gonna be new chains, guides, valve spring (exhaust spring broke) and water/oil pump as well as a bearing check. And a good deep clean and my intake off the 87 and the custom grind cam

That's true it's so much easier to pull the engine and redo it. If its alot of work may as well. And while you have it out do all the work. As for me I dont have the money for gaskets and stuff so its gonna be new chains, guides, valve spring (exhaust spring broke) and water/oil pump as well as a bearing check. And a good deep clean and my intake off the 87 and the custom grind cam

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by geezer101

Me personally, I'd take the head off and give the engine a once over. The oil going into the cylinder is a bad valve stem seal and if you're doing one, you're doing them all. At this point you'll need a timing belt kit and to make your life easier, pull the engine. You can replace the bad seals and have a look at the engine bores. If they're not ripped up and you don't have a bad lip on the tops of the bores I'd drop the rods, give them a once over with a honing tool or do what I did and use a scotchbrite paint removing ball on an extension just enough to deglaze them. Leave the crank in place, clean up the pistons, install stock size rings and bang it back together. You'll get an easy 5-10 years out of it. If you find something more sinister in the engine while it's apart, you've caught it before the big kaboom and saved yourself some headaches.

---

Ouch geezer, you really do love being a wrench head :thumbup:

My 2 pennies:

I liked Salteen's idea best, put fluids in it & go; free bumper included... Spend as little time & money on your daily driver as possible BUT keep saving your money for something newer eventually... Then, keep your truck as your toy to wrench on... Go shopping for another vehicle at government & state auctions NOT car dealers... Avoid buying a brand new vehicle at all costs, don't ever buy brand new... Lastly, don't be too concerned about buying a used vehicle with high miles on the clock UNLESS it has a high horsepower engine... Be more concerned with an ashtray that was never used & car with no animal or tabacco smell AND a brisk startup without gobs of oil or smoke coming out the tailpipe... Learn how to tell the date of manf on a tire AND look for matching sets of tires on all four corners.... Avoid vehicles needing new head lights tail lights or missing parts as these are expensive... Look for telltale leaks under the hood & on drivetrain avoid vehicles showing signs of coolant leaks & oil leaks... Paint & body work is super expensive, don't buy these beaters... Check the oil on the dipstick, place more concern on low or no oil than dirty oil (oil is supposed to get dirty)... Blah, Blah, I think you get the idea here... Buy a vehicle you need NOT something to modify or joy ride or hot rod... Blah, Blah
:chef: Hope we are still friends..? My big mouth sometimes cooks up A-Lot-Oh trouble...

Your time & money is too precious, life goes by real fast & then it's over...

REF: (auctions)

GSA Auctions
Go Dove
GovDeals
Public Surplus
+ most states have their own auctions

In my experience the amount of time you can spend trying to work on an engine while it's still in an engine bay vs on a stand - taking it out is more efficient. It gives you a chance to give it a really thorough clean and makes it faster to work on (the truck bay is so much nicer to pull and engine out of compared to a FWD). And I'm not even close to being a 'real' mechanic. The first time I'd done a bottom end overhaul was last year on the Hung Dog and I have to say I was nervous with disconnecting EFI and messing with the block (heads and carbs - all day, any day...) but my engine is running strong and all of the fluids are staying inside of it and aren't trying to swap places so I must have done something right. I wish I had the resources to do what I want to but this is reality :rolleyes:

Thank you for all your advice and info. I think I have made up my mind. I did something else also. I bought an other :D
http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...2017#post72017
Its going to cost time and money, it sure will. But I would rather tinker with both these gals and keep them running for an other 15-20 years.
Screw new cars, they not worth what I would have to pay for one, dealer used cars usually are no better. I like the older square like cars better anyway instead of all these rounded way too futuristic luxury boxes on wheels.
If I am to drive a car, I want to drive it. Standard drive ( Stick shift, manual transmission ), ohh year.
Not have it tell me I left a door open while I am loading groceries or some other crappy alarms they all have today. Hate my wife her 2006 Taurus for all the dings and dongs it gives you, cant even have the radio play with the doors open without you being annoyed by the constant beeps.....

Meh, I can rant and rave on for days about all the crap technology today is doing to us all. That is however not the purpose of this forum neither my intend at this time. Happy thoughts, let go back to cars.


I will be spending time and other resources to at least keep either of these gals running for me. I will focus on the Macro for now to change out the inmediate need so she passed inspection here in Texas and conforms to my requirements for driving around.
That will give me the possibility to take the engine out of my little single and do a full job here. New seals, gaskets. Maybe bearings and hopefully not find anything that can not be repairs or fixed.
When the engine is out I also will have easier access to the front where the radiator mounts to straighten that all out again. Rudolf did a bad hit and bent the whole front when I further inspected it last time. It is also noticeable at night as both head light not aim to the right.
I go have an other reason to pull the engine also. The original altenator, umm. Burned out. quite literly. I now know why all the altenator wires where toast when I first looked into it. I changed part of it out with #0 copper and now seem to have burned out the main copper line inside the altenator. For now I stole the altenator from the Macro to keep going and bought a 75A for Macro to get her running again.
I found grills online, they are still easy enough to find. The bumber, well. I was going to try and take the dents out. I may also redo the whole bumber and put a nice bull bar bumber on it. Custom made as I seem not to be able to find these at all for these little trucks. I do have to be more careful of the living critters around here but that would protect the whole front of the truck. Aside from the dents to the plate work, the right most I beam took most of the bump and it is still intact and straight.

Here are some more day light shots of the damage, made on the same day but with my actual camera instead of the phone.

Attachment 24356Attachment 24357Attachment 24358Attachment 24359Attachment 24360

Good thing I like tinkering and such. I just need to make sure to keep something around that I can drive with that is not the wife her car :)

i don't know, if you can find a car that is reputable for high miles and cheap, I would buy it. Dad has a 1991 Ford Festiva with 400k on the clock and its never been worked on other than fluids and such and I am confident it will peg that 85 speedo because it is STRONG. the clutch is still good (knock on wood) and its never leaked or smoked, and never even sat, exception the fuel pump burnt up because some woman in my house didn't keep gas in it and she burnt it up when it wouldn't start. smh mom is not mechanically inclined to any extent beyond the battery and the air filter. I remember once the Yukon was making a noise in OD (gear was ate to shit) and she suggested I check the BATTERY when I get home. like mom its turning 14 volts does it NEED a battery?

enough ranting. there are really good cars for really cheap. mitosis don't run forever, plus some of those cars will save you a TON of money, like dads festiva that gets 45 mpg with a 285 lb man and the A/C blowing going 65 down the road. or that V6 avalon we had that got 31mpg if you drove good and could easily do 145 mph (I witnessed it once)

as for the damage to your truck: adjust the headlight and move on until you find a deal on a grille and bumper and hood.

i meant to say mitsus but my phone hates me. mitosis is part of biology, mitsus are part of automotive engineering

Hehehe, I hate phone auto correct. Never have it on and for that, I do really miss a keyboard with real buttons instead of the touch keyboards.

I am pretty confident I can keep this little ones going for quite a while more. Personally I am not all too worried about aftermart or none Mitsu brand items either. I have not checked local scrappers or anything yet. But with rockauto I have been able to find plenty of the more normal wear and tear items from other brands. Heck, the distributor ( The whole thing, cap, rotor, the sensors in there and the part that goes in the engine ), fuel pump, starter, EGR and a few other items are already other brands.
I will just have to keep it all clean. As long as the frame does not rust away from under me and engine and such parts can be found. I will keep going to make em run. Just like I did my 1984 and later the 1994 ford escort convertibles I had when I was still living in Europe. I should ask my lilbro again about the 94 model, think he is still driving it ( He better still be ).

With all the more or less freeway driving I do I am pulling in 27 ish mpg. Which is about the same as the 94 Escort did for me. With the lower gas prices in the US though, it costs me about half to fill the tank up. Last time I bought fuel in EU it costs me € 80 or so to fill the tank. Single cab MMM only have 13 gal worth of gas and costs usually around $ 30 to fill from near empty.

If LPG was as much cheaper here as its in EU, I would be finding ways to convert over to that. Not really worth it out here. LPG costs more per gal then LPG does and LPG makes less miles or at least usually does.

Anyway. I am trying to find headlight adjuster screws on the net somewhere. The plastic pieces are gone due to the impact. I have found both grill and bumper online. Holding back on that to for when I take the engine out and work on that. That way I can clean the engine bay and straighten that out before I purchase and install a new grill. I am still in for the idea of making me own bumper bull bar combo. Have yet to draw something out for that though.

I do not seem to be able to write short answers :D
Its past time for me to clean up and head out for work, yet again.

Happy reading

that seems pretty cool! post pics when you have an idea ready, or you can contact me. i am a 'professional' artist and image manipulator (aka I work with photoshop and people pay me. its a spare time thing

that was my 5 minute break, lol first day of real work

An other update here also.

I messed with the Macro for a few days and seem to have some nice results there. Same engine so I should be able to mimic most of the things on the single cab also.
The EGR has been messing with me since the start. I seems to have that mostly figured out on the Macro so should be able to make the single do that too.
Reconnected the parts for the EGR and altered the timing to -15. Unlike last time when I put the EGR back on, I had a power issue. Seem not to have that this time, starting the engine is off now though so not I have something else to figure out.
I found a rather large puddle of oil on the shop ground after having worked on both trucks, pretty sure its the single that put it there but not fully sure. All the more reason to get the Macro set to be driven on a daily basis and over haul the engine of the single. This will also give me the ability ( when the engine is out ) to find the issue with the clutch. It feels like its stuck sometimes and I have it set way higher then I like and its still refusing to let go sometimes. Mostly after having been driving for a while and everything it warm.

Well, found that neither the Wife or the son really like these little trucks. They don't feel "safe" in them or they not compfy. Meh. I hit a deer with this one before and I had no scratches. And I am sure, unlike if this would have been the wife her own car. This little truck is still trucking along, just has a few dents and dings added.....

You all bee good folks and have a good weekend, I am off to make some off of mine too :D

Well, I posted an update on the Macro. I do suppose I have to do the same for the single now as both have had ( and still do ) have there little qwirks.

I did it again here also. Yet an other radiator hose blew. Happened around June and again I only noticed it because the engine was getting warm. No over heating this time. Other luck I suppose is it happened near work where the Macro was stored. Thus the easy fix is what I did and was forced because other reasons too, I swapped daily drivers. After a while I pulled the single up again and found the leak, cab heater hose blew. I seem not to be able to find the molded and pre-shaped versions for this anywhere anymore. Thus for now I cut the still ok hose and made a bypass with it. Who needs heat in Texas anyway. Just now means that both heat and cooling in the cab are out.....
Filled up radiator again and drove it for a while, temp goes way up again but no overheat. My guess is I damaged the thermostat with having it sit with low fluid for a while. I found the Macro had the same issue but here the thermostat was stuck open instead of the singles suggestion of it being closed. That is an 10 fix from RockAuto ( exclusing shipping ). For the life of my I was not able to to find the hoses after 5 months to I bought a roll of hose that fits and some new clamps. I have heat again :D.
Winter proof now.
Still have to do the thermostat though but I can drive both yet again.
The gals are older and shall keep me on my toes for many more years with having small things break on them just so I am forced to give them some extra TLC.

You were lucky you caught it when you did. The 4G54 and G63B can handle an overheating issue a few times but for some reason the 4G64 heads aren't as resilient. As long as you maintain the flow of coolant around the back of the head you shouldn't get and 'hot spotting' around #4 cylinder. I bet Texas is rough on engine cooling...

????
Sooo, the 4g64 SOHC 8 valve head is 'weaker' than BOTH 4g54 Astron jet valve head & the g63b Sirius jet valve head
????

In a nutshell - YES. Both the 4G54 and G63B are known to crack through the combustion chambers into the cam valley or coolant galleries. But for some reason the 4G64 SOHC heads can warp to the point they bind cams and snap them in half. A characteristic that neither the 2.0 (G63B and 4G52) or the 2.6 experience. And the reason why #1 - I always recommend improving the cooling systems by installing an electric thermofan, and #2 - advise people to never mill a head true without first having it baked in an oven and pressed straight by a shop if it is out of spec.

Those are a few nice pointer to keep in the back of the head.
So far the single overheated once pretty bad but since then I have had no major "new" issues. Damaged head gasket maybe but I still have no oil in the coolant or the other way around. Just oil burning ( bad valve and valve adjusters ) and oil leak ( upper head gasket needs replacing at least ). I plan on doing a rebuild on both my MMMs since they both have issues that need me to pull the head anyway.
As for the stress on the cooling system. I have not had any issues yet with either MMMs. Temperature is sitting just past the second mark on the low end usually. Single needs a new thermostat so that reached to about half way which is not bad either. Macro also had a bad thermostat but that one was open all the time preventing from the engine even from warming up and the gauge never really even passed the first mark even in summer.
By comparing these 2 pick-ups with my ( now no longer mine ) 1993 saab 900S these MMMs cooling works really well in the heat. The 900S always had high temperature, even when I by-passed the AC fan and had that turn on with the main fan. Then again what do you want from that. The 900S was build in a land where the daily max temperature in summer is the daily average temperature here all year around.

Plans are still to put an electrical radiator fan in the Macro, already put a new alternator in that on, 75A instead of the 40-45 original.
But plans are still plans and life seems to be passing me by on a lot of things lately so shall see. the NO1 is keeping them both running, driving and passing inspections.
So far that at least has been going ok.

The primary cause of oil burning/consumption is bad valve stem seals. As long as you have decent compression, a head freshen up usually cures oil issues. These trucks hate heat. Anything to help dissipate heat is worth doing. The clutch fan doesn't work when you need it most like stuck in slow moving traffic in summer. At idle, they don't move enough air to bring coolant temps down efficiently. Installing a bigger output alternator is a solid plan too :thumbup:

I have not checked the compression on the Macro yet. Single I have and its a bit over the specs on 3 of them and just over the specs on the cylinder 2 I think it was.
For having 240k on the clock and 30 years old. If its just the valves then its not bad. I know the pick-up sat somewhere for a while though as the gas tank was all rusted and the filter was nicely packed with rust particles. That has all been tended too now.
The alternator is a must for sure if you want to do more electrical in them. Currently with 45A if you where to drive at night with all lights on, a radio going and the AC you pretty much cap out the 45A already. An electrical fan is going to be somewhere between an other 10-20A load you have to find space for.

Hehe, my lilbro had a 4x4 a few years ago he put a light bar on ( halogeen no LED or power savers or anything ) but no adjustments to the power plant. Put all the lights on and the car started stuttering due to lack of electrical power for the sparks. Them old days where he did all these "funny" things. Always had to be bigger and brighter :D

Alternator regulates its output anyway to having the extra power for todays gadgets and such is a nice thing to have available anyway. I still plan on putting a power inverter in there also.

Sooooooo many plans, soo little time, money, and too many other "things" that prevent me from doing much at all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by geezer

In a nutshell - YES. Both the 4G54 and G63B are known to crack through the combustion chambers into the cam valley or coolant galleries. But for some reason the 4G64 SOHC heads can warp to the point they bind cams and snap them in half. A characteristic that neither the 2.0 (G63B and 4G52) or the 2.6 experience.

---

??seems you are intimating Mitsubishi Cyl heads are junk---
in a nutshell https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar...s/big_rofl.gif
Any ohc cyl head can warp to the point of cam bind in a severe o/heat incident...

As to 'straightening' the head by heat & press ???
Please do post your actual experience with same.

Well, hope you're having fun there. It is either a metallurgy thing (different grade of cast alloy) or the design of the head is different (casting thickness in relation to internal galleries, cam bath depth etc) My experience - IS THIS SITE. If you check new posts and threads as often as I do, you would've seen not less than 3 posts where new members have run into a locked up cam or a cam has snapped on the 4G64. No other reports or inquiries of this happening on any other 4GXX/GXXB variant SOHC engines. It is common sense that a warped head will pull the cam journals out of alignment (minimum effect is weird cam journal wear) and every head I've had professionally recon'd hasn't been refaced without a 'true-ness' check before deciding on whether it's needed baking and pressing straight (done G32B's, 4G52's, G63B's and recently a G4GF twin cam so I've done one or 2...)
OOC, what is your beef with me? :scratchheadyellow:

Ok kids, play nice now.

As currently mostly listed on the Macro thread. Seems I do have an issue with the timing ( and posting pictures...... ).
Most of what I know of these little ones is what I broke first and had to fix again after that. The rest I have been taught by some nice folks around here somewhere.

Does anyone have an advanced timing chart with all signals. Such as at what angle the fuel sensors are supposed to give signal and when the crank sensor is "not" supposed to be cranky ( and give signal ).

Thx

Hey dad
https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar...s/big_rofl.gif
1 picture is worth ---

cracked sohc heads(2.0 & 2.6) r very common, especially turbo applications
Could very well be a 'metal' thing, dunno. Sohc heads are a thin slab, compared to a chunky dohc DSM head for instance

Seems the kids are behaving ( for now )
Hey'all

Finally had the time to do a little more work. With the overheating last time the engine now runs way warmer then before. I did the thermostat on the Macro for it not wanting to warm up. Figured it was the same here but instead of an always open thermostat this being an always closed. Engine still running way warmer then I know it has.
I have not checked the old thermostat yet for "popping" temperature or if it even works at all.
I have not found any leaks yet and for as far as I can see, the water pump rotates ( should work in that case ).
Anyone got any sugestions?
Aside from running "warm" ( and out of timing ) the engine runs ok and drives fine. not that I currently drive Single much.

Texas is freaking freezing now. 'Environmental cooling system' is at it's optimal lol. So it's timing is out? Wonder if it's the cause of the constant higher running temps :scratchheadyellow: Clutch fan looks like it's working properly too? Just had a thought - what if the cold weather was preventing the fan clutch from engaging when the engine was at it's normal operating temperature?

Timing out either way can increase cylinder temps

But do you really know what the temp is? You can’t use a stock gauge.

The real temp, no I have no number for that. I might be able to get a number to the feel sometime around of both of them. Engine runs but you can "smell" its getting warmer then us used to. Issue been happening since the heater core hose spewed coolant all over the place. I switched cars and this one sat without full coolant for a few.
Initial thought was the thermostat, which I still have but still not tested to see if it even works.
A day needs more hours or less work hours.
I did finally get to change the lash adjusters to get that knocking out. Almost sounds like a "new" engine lol. with some issues still here and there :P

Well, the new lash adjusters seem not to be 100%. The knocking is there still on first starting but way less long, maybe its there because single just sits in the drive way long periods of time now instead of being driven. Done oil change on both.
Single still gets way warm, last time I was out I stopped on the side of the road and checked for "warm spots". It feels like the thermostat is working, somewhat if not fully 100%. Top of the radiator gets "hot" the bottom outlet is way cold though. Get the feeling its blocked at the radiator somewhere or near the pump inlet. Meh, feels like I be taking the coolant loop apart yet again. The radiator stays so cold at to not even making the fan clutch kick in, well aside from the top of the radiator that is.
I still have yet to test the old thermostat though. I really need to make time for that.

The hydraulics take a little while to prime and do their thing. Might be the oil you're using :shrug: If you think the radiator is clogged you will be able to feel coldish spots on the front of the radiator core. You can try removing the radiator and filling it with a batch of citric acid powder dissolved in hot water with the radiator laying it face down on a flat surface and let it sit for an hour. Dump the solution back into a bucket and thoroughly flush the radiator out with a garden hose in both directions. It is strong enough to break up calcification and some residual rust, but not enough to munch the alloy cores. If it does leak after that, the radiator was already shot and was waiting to ambush you anyway.

*if you think the radiator is clogged badly, get a hot air gun and slowly sweep it over the radiator core while it's full of the citric acid solution. A combination of heat expanding the alloy and exciting the acid will cause the calcification to crack and break up. DO NOT overheat the alloy core in one spot as it could damage the core.

I am being forced into "Get it done faster mode" as Macro just stopped running on me. I will have to figure this temperature thing out soon ( Very soon ).
Time to take the tools out and start tinkering.

Well, an other update now.
I gots stranded.... again.
Single let me down as well this morning. Kind of felt the same as Macro so crossing fingers that the timing belt just went or skipped. That is a mostly easy fix.
Fear for something that will keep her from being on the road for a while though :(
Will have my wife drag my ass home again sometime today. lol..
Shall assess the damage later today and prepare to really get the second drive way done so I can work them without having to worry about them being in the way on the main drive way.

Hope you all had a good Memorial weekend and a better start of the month then I did.

well, that geezer101 mentioned and was made fun of later on. Would seem rather real to me.
Especially now that it would seem that single has developed this issue.......

Timing belt snapped in the middle of driving to work. First thought, shitty belt used. so I grabbed the old belt from the macro and went back out there to put that on and hope to drive it home. Removed the fan and all other parts needed to get access to the timing space. I moved the cam manually at first and did not give it a second thought that it "snapped" in place. Turned all timing belt driven components with tools and crank and oil move like I remember then. Then I did the Cam again, snaps in place every 90 degrees or every 3 hours ( 12, 3, 6 and 9 ). I still don't have her home, hopefully tow her here later today for further checking. The heat problem from earlier is probably involved also. With all the storms here and other issues I was never able to fully temp test various parts of the engine. Thermostat works at the correct temperature. Valleys blocked or something maybe. Likely very bad also. Pulling head off and find out with a camera I guess...
Just my luck lately ><

You all out there better be doing better then me!

Well dude, I am sorry to hear that you may have fallen foul of this issue. You'll know for sure once the rocker cover is off. I have no idea why it's the SOHC 4G64 that specifically has this problem and it may even be a particular production run of these heads that suffer from this issue :shrug:

Here I is again.

I pulled the valve cover off from Single. It gets snapped in position at the TDC make on the cam close enough to the mark on the engine to say its at TDC and "snapps" into position every 90 degrees. So far it seems like this matches with the followers "locking" the cam between shifting 2 cylinders in opening and closing the intake valves.
I took the valve train off all together and the cam shaft rolls free without the followers.
Currently I am guessing something with the valves, what ever it may be.
Time for me to really start setting up shop and pull either one of these engines out and pull the cylinder head. When I do have the head off I can also further see possible damage due to crackes and others. So far I see no fluid mixing or other leaks. I cannot do a compression test anymore due to the ripping of the belt and the snapping of the cam.

Anyone with any advice currently on where to look, both pick-ups show the same issue. I have not checked yet at what angle the macro "snaps" the cam in position yet though but it also does this "snapping" every 90 degrees of rotation.

Thanks in advance.
Fushy.

The 'snapping' is normal. It's going from being loaded up by the valve springs then being released. It's more noticeable with a 4 cylinder due to the 4 stroke cycle. It's not 'exactly' 90 degrees due to valve overlap but it's close enough. If you have a bent valve (or worse, many...) you will see a rocker arm will have excessive play (and the engine will run like a dog...) Don't go hunting for ghosts and shadows - look for obvious signs of damage and wear or you'll end up having an aneurysm. Examine the belt for torn out teeth, a bad tensioner etc. Good luck :)

Thank you Geezer,

I, for the life of me, cannot remember the cam doing this when I replaced the belt. I remember it being stiff to move but not snapping over like this. Gave me the thought the belt ripped due to the sudden tension drop and the crank just yanking it till it finally ripped.
The tensioner, I shall check this again and order 2 new timing belts from rockauto this time. Or just 2 new belt kits from rockauto with B belt and both tensioners all together and see where I stand with that after installing.

The belts themself are not that expensive not to give it a shot and its not all that much work either to install them, at least on single that is since the front covers are all still off anyway.
I shall inspect the belt again also, I did read on the belt again that the ones I bought do not seem to last long. So if what you say is true and the folks complains about these belts is also true.
Case closet. Shitty belt and I just need to get 2 new ones to get both my pick-ups back again.
Dang, that shall make me a happy man.
Currently I am driving a gifted Infinity QX4 that needs some body work but I do not like driving the larger cars, give me my pick-ups or the other gifted Saturn SL2.
They make me soo much happier to drive.

Shall keep you posted on what may seem like my ghost hunt :D

Thanks.
Fushy.

There has been mention about some aftermarket belts being junk. If you can find Bosch you're good to go. Gates... dunno. Gates are keen to blame improper installation, not using full Gates replacement installation kits (w/tensioners etc) contamination to the belt - whatever gets them off the hook. Just don't run double valve or HD valve springs in a belt driven engine. Bad idea...

Hopefully your belt and head woes are at an end :thumbup:

Many Thx Geezer for your information.

I did call the "Ghost Busters" and that bugger has been caught. With that I was able to do what I needed.
I found the Belt originally from the Macro when I bought that one. It skipper some teeth and ran like crap originally thus I replaced the belt as soon as I could.
Short of some aging cracks and the previous skipping damage, the belt is not in too bad of shape. Enough at least to "test" both my little gals with.
Cleaned off Single again and re did all my work around the valve lifters.
Put the belt on, ran it without fuel injectors just to circulate the oil. Sounded normal, me all happy.
Put the fuel injector plug back in and attempted to start. First 3 cylinders fired, then lost all compression again. Crap I went.
Checked the belt, its still there. Took the belt off, without checking the timing marks ( dump ass...... ), cam chaft feels like normal.
When putting the belt back on it would seem like the belt had slipped. So, ok. Test 2 and put more tention on the tentioner.
Put the belt back on after lining up all the marks and pried the tention roller this time. Nice and tight.
Connected everything again and ran again without fuel injectors. Sounds normal again. Connected fuel injectors and..
She runs!
No water pump as the belt and radiator fan are not installed yet. But the running for 20 secs made me happy enough. Now I have to order a "good" timing belt and put it all back together.
I would probably have been looking for all sorts of things by now, Thx Geezer for your advice.
Cant wait to have a new belt for Single and install this one back on Macro to drive her to me "shop space" to pull the engine and replace the bad bearing ( or just rework the whole engine while I am at it )

^^

Fushy.

Glad you got a win. If the tensioner sounds sketchy so I think it's worth doing the lot - main timing, balance shaft and new belt tensioner. That small balance shaft belt gets a beating and if it fails it causes chaos. Getting belt deflection right is an art too. :thumbup:

Yhellow folks,

I back again :D
quite some time ( and miles ) have passed already. The whole tensioner thingy sounds sketchy to me on these older engines. Its just a roller that is bolted on and does not adjust after its bolted. I talked to some shops about that and I guess checking the belt every oil change something is something I shall have to do. I have a few manuals here for the 4G64 engines. Only 1 of them actually lists the roller without the hydro tentioner and other then the first install and the belt deflection setting it speaks no further of time of miles it should be checked.
So far I have been doing "kits" for the timing belts. Including both belts and new rollers for both. One of the kits I bought also had all oil seals for the shafts in there.
Do not play around with timing components, they will mess you ( the engine ) up really bad in most cases. These single cam 4g64 engines are the exception to the rule.
They just "stall" and happily wait for you to put a new belt on there to make them run again.
For that parts its sooo nice that these little pickups lack most of the accessories that make cars so expensive today and makes these rather easy to maintain.

I also had break issues, front right hose burst. Replaces both front hoses, not sure what the rear hose is supposed to be. Removed the old fluid ( that was not so fluid anymore at the master cylinder ) and flushed. All new fluid and I can stop again. Passed state inspection and I should be good again for a little while.

Those who still have these little pickups, hope you are all having as much fun with them as I am

Fushy

Hope you weren't in the middle of any challenging driving when the brake hose burst. Not fun. The recommended belt replacement interval according to Gates is 60,000 miles but no mention of a check interval after a new belt has been installed. Brake fluid should be flushed every 5 years especially if it is getting exposed to extreme weather conditions (mostly cold) And it passed another inspection! Well done :grin:

I was driving to work and my guess is it burst at the last lights. Had to break hard here for some fool trying to rush the lights. Did not notice the breaks where "squishy" till the first lights going home. Long live manual transmission, shift back and let it roll. Was able to pump up the breaks enough to drive home with it and have some breaking power still.
For sure not recommended but got me home without causing accidents or anything.

Getting ready again for repairs on little single though. tie-rods are going out... I may just do it all like I did on macro and be done with it for the next 20 or so years.
I had to do them on the Macro due to alignment issues and those where rusted shut so badly it took 3 days of torture before I even got it all separated to replace it all.
So far though, I can at least say the work on my little pick-ups makes sense. on my wire her 15 year old Ford I am replacing parts that should last the life ( should they wear at all ) of the car.... parts like heater core, gas tank and things like that all due to rust issues. Little pick-up so far only has issues with aging rubber parts.
Well, aside from my stupidity :P

Hope you all had a good scare at Hallo Ween and a good gather for Thanks Giving.

Fushy.

Heyall,

I been gone again for a while. too much "stuff" happening in life nowadays. Cant even say anymore that I can fill my tank for 20 dollars or so. The whole 10 gallons I burn costs over 40 now ><. Still beats what the wife has to pay for her "full fill". It was nice to cruize 50-55 to work now without all the lights and turns and doing just under 30 miles / gallon. Wish I could do an electrical swap now. Been thinking about that for a while. The kits for it are out there.

But as usual, still having issues. Now I getting high idle. False vacuum somewhere probably, not been able to find it yet.
Hope I can find enough time and funds to work on this and get Macro usable again.

Fushy.

Cost of living is getting out of hand. And fuel prices are a killer. Your IACV may be gummed up and causing a bypass into the intake. Good to see you are still joining the fray so to speak :thumbup:

Heya all,

I have not quite figured the high idle out yet. I did something and for the life of me I do not remember what but its less now.
She still running and taking me to work and such.
I did finally get me ass in gear and fixed my driver side of the bench. The steel rods on the springs broke and I have been sitting on the floor board for over a year now. Sure makes the little pick-up feel like its sitting higher on the roads now lol.

Had some interesting storms here before the heat settled in in Texas.

Tree in the drive way lost its top ( good thing it did not take the power lines with it ) and fell on Single and the wife her car. No damage to either vehicle other then saw dust and such after I sawed my way through.
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With Macro still parked in the back and this heat wave going through I am not doing a whole lot.
I did get to measure the actual radiator temp after yet again having done something I do not remember. Temp at the radiator entry is the same as the thermostat temp that I installed. So all good there. Cluster gauge is also not as high anymore as it was and only reaches the same is half way it did in the winter before at the heat of the day but stays around a little over 1/4 in the morning now.

I am still alive and kicking out here. Hope you all are as well out there safely driving around in these little monsters!

Fushy.

I really have not posted anything for nearly a year now. Time is passing me by too fast and sure makes me feel like I am getting nothing done anymore.
Single still runs and takes me places. Though currently with the heat I am also driving the other one.
Found part any maybe cause of the high idle. Seems to happen only when the purge valve opens and if would seem that one of the hoses under the tank or the filler neck is the actual leaker. Not been in the mood lately to pull the tank again to find the holly hose. Smaller tank and easier to pull then the Macro but still. Too lazy I guess and glad also its not the tank under the wife's Ford. That thing has too many hoses and electrical sensors and stuff on the harnass near the pump.

I have seen others with issues ordering clutch cables in them being too long. Right now I have the new cable ( I snapped mine again ) attached to the first bolt on the hook plate at the transmission.
Previous owner had the transmission redone and also put new clutch on it. Clutch with too strong springs on it so I ripped the firewall. Gots a nice hole in there now. I bent back what I could and re-inforced the whole area. Inside the cab there now is a metal place with a hole big enough for the cable and the original presser holder to stay put. In the engine compartment I placed a metal bar at the top that sits just under teh break booster.
Break booster has some very nice inforcements around it. Wish they did this around the clutch cable hole also. Below the clutch hole is an other metal place and its all bolted together. Put some 5k or more miles on this work now and its still holding.

Is there anyone that knows what the actual length of these cables is supposed to be for these pick-ups?
Also is there anyone that had converted over from cable to hydrolic. I was able to find several parts that could possibly do this but the transmission part seems different.

Hello Fushy
My clutch cable broke about 1 1/2 years ago ordered the Rock Auto 4x4 replacement compared its length looked same but it ain't as good as the original COZ there is no flat washer for the star adjuster ring to push against NOW the star ajuster pushes against the firewall rubber gromment which seems to undue the adjustment ~ I gotta keep readjusting tighter to keep from grinding gears ~ channel lock pliers can reach the adjuster so I keep them in the truck ANYWAY something aint right with these aftermarket clutch cables LENGTH problem maybe ~ I am aware there are two different lengths RWD & 4WD

Take care in Texas Bro
George

Welcomen back to the never ending trouble.
I did find something positive with it though so not all bad. Single is sort of stranded in the drive way again.
What seemed like a nasty oil leak at first when I Was at work. Proved to be a coolant leak when I got home and put the endoscope between the engine and the firewall. Not that its any better but this would seem easier to fix. Well sort of in the short way ot saying it. Replace plug with new one leak fixed.
On paper yeas. The expantion plug ( of freeze plug ) is done for and there is about 2~3 inches of space to pull it out and press a new one is. Not quite as easy anymore now. I checked the other pick-up and its leaking there also so I will have to replace them on both.
Does anyone here know where all these plugs are on these engines?
For obvious reasons I know of one :P. I remember somehting from twin cam head replacements that there is an other in the front behind the timing covers and I think I saw one near the starter motpr somewhere.
Rock auto sells a kit that has 9 ( nine ) of them in it. Do these engines really have 9??
Shop manuals do not show there locations at all.
No idea yet either if I can replace the rear one with a simple rubber bolt on one yet either.

Thx ya all :D

Well, I guess there is a good comparison here for what is happening around me and has been for a while now. "There are no happy ever afters, just new battles." Miss Connally Dock worker guild rep. Babylon 5 season 1 episode 12.
Sure would be nice to have better preparations for some of these "battles" though. Taking the rest of the week off to figure out what to do. Both gals stranded. One with coolant issues and the other with susspension. Aside from that I also have other issues at hand in and around the house. Wonder what that movie was where the husband cloned himself to get all the work done. Kind of feel like I need an other dozen or so of myself about now.

Minor update for the work on this little gal so far.
I dropped the transmission ( after draining the oil ). Currently is still laying sort of stuck under the frame. My jack stands are not going high enough to take it from under there. Need a new boot on the stick. found a possible replacement from an ATV. shall find out if it fits when I receive it tonight.
Removed radiator fan and shroud along with the intake and exhaust pipe connection to the Cat.
Now for the "fun" part. I lifted the engine up, removed the mounts ( what a pain to get to these ) and pushed the engine forward till I got stuck with the exhaust on the cross member. Then I dropped the engine as low as it could. This provided me with only just barely enough space to get to the freeze plug that broke. The one closest to the firewall the highest one also. Replaced with a brass plug now.
I got the engine back in its mounts late yesterday and put the rest all back around it ( intake, fan, .... ) Exhaust I have yet to work one.
I was hoping to find the vacuum leak ( lean running cause ) in the fuel tank. Thus I removed the tank also. 5 gallons of gas left @ 280 miles. 13-5=8 gallons. Yep lean running I can do almost 30 miles per gal. Sure makes the engine run hot though.
Still though, checked the gas tank and seems the leak is not there. I cut my own ring for the level sensor 6 years ago and this seemed still intact. Still replaced it though.

Hehe, I should post some pics later on how the pickup it "hanging" in the back with straps and 2x4s. I need a better space and tools for this :D

You all stay cool out there.

Well, I put it all back together. Did the finishing touches and some covers yesterday.
Lean running / high idle is still there. Maybe I should hook the loggers and scope on it again and try to find out what sensor may be messing with me.
Took a little drive out to get some free beer ( nice to have a few good contacts with some local breweries ). I had issues with the clutch though. Normal driving was ok but trying for fast accelerations did not work. Clutch slipped. Drove to the brewery and before I got there it seemed to have gone away. After my shopping I drove home passing the speed limit a little and had no further issues with the clutch. Not sure what could have caused that. I cleaned everything up with brake cleaner.

What a pain is it out here to not have your own wheels for over a month.

You think you have problems? LOL 6 grand up in smoke from a brush fire.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by fushigikaze

I had issues with the clutch though. Normal driving was ok but trying for fast accelerations did not work. Clutch slipped. Drove to the brewery and before I got there it seemed to have gone away. After my shopping I drove home passing the speed limit a little and had no further issues with the clutch. Not sure what could have caused that. I cleaned everything up with brake cleaner.

---

Could be some oil or coolant leaked onto the flywheel or clutch somehow, which eventually got baked/scrubbed away by driving.

If you have a cable-operated clutch, check the cable freeplay at the adjuster. Pull the cable housing towards the front of the truck and screw the star nut adjuster snug against the rubber bushing at the firewall -- or if it's already tight, back it off until it's slack, then make it barely snug again. Press the clutch pedal several times, then pull the housing forward again and back off the star nut adjuster until there's a gap of 15/64" (6mm). Hydraulic clutch is a bit trickier, will get into that if you have this.

damn, thats a shame, mines about the same, but jsut from being parked outside here where its always wet enough to runs lol

Owshy That is a shame Law Dog. Mine are losing paint on the outside and have plenty of issues on the inside or under the hood. It would still seem in that case mine are not that bad. Dont have enough rain out here to worry much about rust from that. Sun baking and roasting everything is a bigger problem here in Texas. Not had any local hood fires yet. Or the style of bon fire that includes a few houses.

As for the clutch. I adjusted it further to be like Macro. I have yet to post pics of it though but I think 2 years ago now. The hole in the firewall got a LOT bigger. Last owner had the transmission redone and installed a pressure plate that is a little too much for the cable stopper and as such. Ripper the hole off. Tore all the way behind the brake booster. My braces there are still holding nicely so far.

Well, I have been permitted to log-in again.
Hey there Ya-All
Single not also showing some pretty "bad" susspension wear on the front. Replaced the inner and outer rods. Outer ones where pretty bad and while I was at that I also found that the lower ball joints where supposed to have zerg fittings. Easy to say they have never been greased and are mildly seized up. Screetching and cracking every time I steer. Those will have to go very soon.
Short of that though. Once I got the freeze plug replaced ( I will post some pics of that soon, they are worth it lol ;) ) and fixed the major oil leak around the fly-wheel. I am still burning oil but not topping it off with a jug a month anymore. Also dragging trailers around now.
I know they likely no longer make hitch receivers for this pick-up. Is there anyone out here that knows a car make/model that could be made to fit the max's? I have 2 now and they are way too small. Space between the 2 under frame bars is too wide to fit anything I have been able to find thus far.

Thank you everyone.