Roy's Garage: '90 2.4-4G64 5-spd D-50

[royster]

Thanks, RNMM. Right now, in this extreme cold weather, it looks a lot worse than it is. But there's no question it's oil, not coolant, and it is at start-up (most) and accelleration (some). I'm resolved to inspect the valve seals, but I have to wait until warmer weather. This causes ache, because the truck runs SO GOOD I can't feel it running and I want to drive it! Not that I can on these icy roads, so patience it is.

I checked the PCV line for excessive oil, not sure what I was seeing, but this just makes me determined to create a catch-can.

Also will drain some oil to get the level down to "max".

[royster]

When does it smoke?

Sometimes after sex, and always after a meal. Sometimes during sex, if we're both bored (but only .0010th over).


eh, lucky YOU!

[lush90]

If you have the time, you can rebuild calipers quite easily and save some money. Remove calipers, pop the pistons out with a little air applied to the bleeder screw, (cover with a rag so you don't accidentally hit a cat), and inspect piston and bore. Unless there is deep pitting, it just takes a kit and some emery cloth to be back in business. If the bore is pitted, then do an exchange. Could all be done sitting next to the wood stove! Be sure to lube rubber parts with clean brake fluid before installing them. Also an ideal time to flush your brake system of contaminated fluid.

[royster]

Makes sense to me, L-90. Thanks. And the cats thank you, too.

[royster]

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˙sʎɐʍʎuɐ 'punoɹƃ ǝɥʇ uı ǝloɥ ɐ ɯoɹɟ ssɐ ɹno ʍouʞ ʇ,uop sn ɟo ʎuɐɯ ˙noʎ ɟo ɹǝʇʇǝq ǝɥʇ ʇǝƃ ɐıxǝlsʎp ʇǝl ʇ,uop 'uɐd lıo ǝɥʇ ɹǝpun ǝɹ,noʎ uǝɥʍ

[lush90]

Okay, how do you do that?

[BradMph]

My experience with engine smoke is...if it smokes at the first startup, usually valve guides or seal are bad. The engine oil sits and seeps through these areas and a startup after a wait will suck the oil into the combustion chambers. The engine heats up and expands a little to seal the areas a little better. If your trucks warmed up and you step on gas and it smokes, this would usually be rings. Oil seeps past the rings while running and pushing the motor harder cause pressure to push oil past those rings. Sounds like your motor may need a little help soon, or for a few more miles I think there is some type of oil treatment that can help hold a rebuild off a little longer.

[royster]

Thank you, Brad. We'll just have to wait and see: I'd like to run it when the temperature is higher than 29 degrees

Meanwhile, I got calipers off, and though lush90 is right about saving moolah by rebuilding my own, I went ahead and ordered remanufactured. The core on these calipers is more than the cost of the remanufactured part!

The parts truck has identical brake parts, and I am coveting them. The driver-side rotor is seriously scored and should be replaced. Ugh. There's always plenty to keep you busy with these trucks.

Tonight is supposed to be 0ne degree F, tomorrow's high 17, but it starts to rise after that, into the high 30's come Thursday. I'd like to take the truck out and blow all the funkola, crapinski and caca~laca out of its system before making any conclusions. At any rate, the truck is running, which is more than it was doing a month ago.

I DID get a bottle of STP with ZDDP additive. My intention is to add about 4 ounces of this to the engine when it's warmed up...I feel okay about that. It's a far cry from filling the engine up with STP and expecting it to crank on a cold day!!

[royster]

BTW, tomorrow...if all goes well...my D-50 will be back in service!

[royster]

BTW, tomorrow...if all goes well...my D-50 will be back in service!

All went well, but I was a nervous wreck until the first 20 miles passed. The truck did excellent over snow and ice, and once it warmed up the smoking stopped. I paid particular attention to smoke occurring at decelleration, but there was none. Got some fresh fuel in it and drove it around. The only thing I noticed was an occassional hesitation...hoping the fresh fuel helps that out. I'm not confident in the timing: the book says to hook up some wire to a thing on the firewall. I simply used the timing light (once the engine warmed up) and set it at about 7 degrees BTDC. It doesn't seem to have quite the get-up-and-go, but I haven't driven it for (sob!) two months and need to re-familiarise myself with it. Any suggestions as to fine-tuning and tweaking will warm this old man's heart.

If it smokes on the next cold start, I think I'll replace the rubber (intake) valve seals with the plastic. While I'm in there I'll definitively check the exhaust seals, but it seems to me that if the seals weren't set properly, they'd be dancing somewhere above on the valve stem.

Bottom line, though: it's back on the road, winter-be-damned.


And not one little leak at all...not one drop!

[OG Arrow]

Awesome Roy ! and Congrats.
I know you took the cats out for a ride ,,, right ? LOL

I've found, as Brad said, that you can get a little smoke when the engine sits for a Long time,
then with regular use, it doesn't seem to smoke at all.
Don't be ascared ,,, but keep an eye on things, and any oil consumption.

[royster]

I know you took the cats out for a ride

Wouldn't THAT be something to see, goin' down the road?

Thank you for the encouragement, OG. I remain pretty confident that a lot of the oil burning since I put it back together is from manifold residual and burning off assembly oils. Sitting at idle, getting up to operating temperature is nothing like actual highway load. I knew that the truck needed a good run at high speeds before I started condemning anything.

I had hastily put a quart of oil too much at first. I drained it out yesterday before starting it up, having also added about 4 ounces of STP with ZDDP. (The ticky lifter is completely quiet. now). I checked the oil level when I got back home: it was so exactly on the line I couldn't see it! So I'll sure be able to monitor oil consumption. But like thillskier, I had been having to add oil every 200-300 miles before all of this. In hind-sight, no wonder.

Yes, I'll be watching this like a mother hen. With ANY major repair (after a failure), it takes some time and miles to re-establish trust in the vehicle. But this truck had given me no reason to think it wants to die.

I'M sure it appreciates the money (and care) I've put into its repair. I think "an arm and a leg" is an exaggeration...

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[OG Arrow]

Wouldn't THAT be something to see, goin' down the road?

Well then here you Go ! LOL

I took one of my cats on a road trip a couple of times ,,, he didn't seem to mind it at all !

Here's Cubby keeping an eye on traffic and checking out the road conditions
while I'm blasting down I-75 in my Neon on a trip a few years back from Detroit to Lexington, KY.
Cubby Travels1.jpg Cubby Travels2.jpg

Try takin em for a cruise ,,, you might be Surprised how much they like it.
(and if they don't ,,, you'll know Right Away !) LOL

[royster]

The female twin, I'm almost certain, would be fine for trips. Beethoven (orange cat, now deceased) loved to travel.

I've always thought it was cool to see people traveling with their cats.

The visual I was referring to was the three of them on the ROOF of the truck. If they started yowling, people might think I'm some sort of emergency vehicle!

[royster]

My sincerest thanks to BradMPH, Komeuppance, RedNeckMoparMan, MyLittleShitty, and all the others who helped me through this process. With the engine now as good as I can make it, I'm moving on to other things, until the 500 mile head re-torque. (At that time, I will check out the timing belts and everything else).

I'm about to drop the drive shaft and get that all in good shape. I want to assure that the mount and braces are lined up right...when i removed the transmission back in october, I remember having to force the mount to one side a bit, in order to tighten it. The bolt impressions are still on the crossmember, showing about 3/16" from original installation. I think that makes a big difference in u-joint wear. In doing research on transmission "swapping" from the 2.0 I found that the clutch assembly is slightly different, though the input and output shafts are the same, as is the transmission mount. Parts #'s are identical for u-joints. I'm looking into the possibility of switching the drive shafts temporarily. I'll post about my findings.

Thanks to BradMPH's thread on Mitsubishi color-matching, I now know the color my truck was painted, and can start getting the paint for it. A shop in near-by Strasburg will mix it for you if you have the color code. [Mine is S55] Not sure I want to invest in a paint sprayer and a lot of equipment I'll likely only use once, so I'll see what my options are. The Strasburg shop will actually put the paint in spray cans for you, and I can get good results with a spray can. It may be the guy has a paint booth, and will paint the hood for me if I do the prep. Fenders are a cinch (he said optimistically). At any rate, I'd love to see the truck sparkle as it did when it was new.

[Komeuppance]

Hmmm, seems I'm a few days late to this thread. Many of the other Mitsubishi engine's tips and tricks are the same across the line up.

A few things I noticed as I skimmed the last few posts, your thermostat orientation is correct with the bleed valve at the top, the sensor in the housing will not obstruct it from opening all the way. I might have missed it, but are you able to set your distributor near the middle of it's adjustment range after you retimed the belts?? If it needs to use all the adjustment up one way, you are one tooth off with the belt. You NEED to ground the timing adjustment wire near the firewall to set the timing correctly, this tells the ECU not to change the timing, allowing you to set the base timing. Having the cam timing off, or the ignition timing off will make it slow.

Smoke at start up only, is almost always valve seals. They need to be seated over the groove of the valve guide, usually they need to be tapped on. Overfilling by a whole quart will not make the engine burn oil. You can clean up your PCV valve with some brake clean usually, it's a simple ball check valve.

BTW, fuel injection engines don't have a choke, but an electronic version which uses a coolant temperature sensor to signal the ECU how much it should richen the fuel mixture.

Your engine looks great, keep up the good work.

-Robert

[royster]

Robert, thank you for your summary. Validating (or disproving) information is important for anyone who comes here to learn or to know.

I feel honored that in three years of your membership, I'm your second post...it's great information. I took the time to edit posts on this thread where your information applies.

I agonised over the timing until it was exact...with the exception of your notation:

You NEED to ground the timing adjustment wire near the firewall to set the timing correctly, this tells the ECU not to change the timing, allowing you to set the base timing.

This helps me understand the process, so I will follow through on this. (My distributor is centered). In writing this thread, I tried to explain the why's of each process, or simply gave an honest observation as I was going through it. When we know why we're doing something, it helps us do a better job. I also had an eye of the future, so I titled the thread informatively. I'm no expert, but I did learn huge amounts about these engines by doing this project. Those experts, like yourself, that have contributed have done a great service to the newcomers who need answers.

Again, my sincere gratitude.

[royster]

Okay! Here's another nit-picky detail I'd like to know about:

Ignition Timing Procedure
The 2.4-liter engine has an ignition timing of 5 degrees before top dead center (BTDC). First, connect a jumper wire between the ignition timing adjustment connector and ground. Then, turn the car on and put the transmission in neutral with the emergency brake engaged. Finally, turn the wheels clockwise and bring the engine to an idle speed of 750 rpm. You can check and adjust the ignition timing after these three steps are completed.
Read more: http://www.ehow.com/facts_7889576_mi...#ixzz2rtWDnlcz

What's with the turning the wheels clockwise (would that be 'to the right' ?) and how do we determine this illussive 'ignition timing adjustment connector'? I'm not finding any connector.

But good 'ol Haynes book gives a very specific photo of the hook-up on a Raider. (I'm thinking that's a D-50 on the cover, guys...)

My contempt of these Haynes books grows stronger every day.

Run, Toto, RUN!

[royster]

Could somone take the time to walk me through the process of locating the ignition timing adjustment connector, and how to use it? The only connector I see is connected to the 02 sensor...then there are two on the firewall that I'm certain are for a tachometer. The area the manual indicates it should be points to the o2 sensor connection on the wheel well.

I understand the importance of this procedure, but I am not sure how to carry it out. I'm avoiding driving the truck until the timing is right. I keep searching this forum but it's difficult to find specific threads, and the search feature isn't helping much.

This is the only photo I have that shows the connection I see, it joins with the o2 sensor (red arrow).

scan0048.jpg

EDIT: That is indeed the right location. Below, I hold the cap to the connector, just near the connector itself.

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[Komeuppance]

I have a few other posts, just they're not counted in the general section. I have many different Mitsubishis, but was more active on the original forum mightyd50. I see one guy here who copies my posts/information from other sites as if they were his own lol... so I'm sort of here still.

The connector is a one wire plug, not connected to anything. Its fairly big, the same size and shape of the alternator plug.

Use an alligator paper or paper clip to create a good connection to the pin inside, then ground to the intake manifold or block.

I've always set the wheels straight ahead as possible, as per the factory service manuals. The reason is to remove any strain on the engine from the power steering pump so you can determine the correct idle speed. Same goes for any lights/heater/electrical equipment, so the alternator isn't under a load.

Then engine must be at full operating temperature, and there must be no vacuum leaks (check your vacuum lines).

Base timing is 5BTDC on older 4g64's as far as my experiences go.

Marking the crank pulley timing mark with a paint marker, or white will make it easier to see.

Its good that your dizzy is in the middle of it's adjustment range, that means you have the cam timing correct.

-Robert

[royster]

Thanks for the reply, Robert.

[Komeuppance]

Its probably near the firewall, close to where the harness branches off to the intake manifold.

You are doing 1000x better than some newbies I've seen haha. There's always a learning curve with something new.

-Robert

[royster]

From your description, and the one in the manual that says "remove the waterproof cover of...", I think I located it. It IS where the photo with the arrow indicates, but it's wrapped tightly with some other wiring.

This is actually a photo-copy of the cover I took off (I don't have a digital camera) and there IS only one prong inside the connector. The cover has definite seals inside it for water protection.

scan0050.jpg

[Komeuppance]

One wire terminated to just a cover, that's gotta be it. Verify by checking the timing with and without it grounded.

-Robert

[royster]

I was indeed pointing right at it.

scan0048.jpg

Someone taped those wires together pretty tight (it isn't a factory detail). The fender had been replaced at one time, so maybe it was done then.

Like so many things automotive: you only need the one experience to remember for the rest of your life.

Thanks for taking the time for me, Komeuppance. In turn, I can pass information along, with photos, so future newcomers will know. (I took photos of the connection in place, and will post them later).