Fordem's iO
Sticker?
I haven't noticed any stickers on the back of the diff - I'll take another look on the weekend, and perhaps jack it up and spin a wheel and count the turns.
The grille is actually one of the reasons I posted that picture - none of the other pictures on the site show that grille - I can't tell you what other 98s are like just this one, there are a few more here with this grille, but most seem to have the horizontal "three bar" style (at least I think it's three bars)
I picked this up in June of this year, in pretty much the same condition you see it - none of the work I've done has changed the appearance - mostly a lot of fettling, fixing the little things that so often get neglected - the main focus is getting her back into proper running order. I still have a few issues to deal with, the biggest of which is the transfer case shifter, which I think is missing a "rubber bushing", so it's very loose and I can not select any of the locked center diff positions.
Transfer shift lever
One of the things that annoys me about the Super Select 4wd lever on these and other mitsubishi vehicles is that the select lever doesn't have the word "PUSH" on it for selecting 4LLC (and 4HLC?).
When I bought mine, the salesman was jamming it into low range for me to see that it all worked, and after I bought it and read the owners manual, it says that you need to push the lever down to engage these gears. It works fine now that I know this, but I just wonder how many times in its life it has been jammed in like that, and what damage has been done...
Maybe there are other pajeros / challengers / tritons / express / delicas / monteros that have similar problems to yours and a common fix?
I know about that push down - found it by accident.
I didn't get an owner's manual with my iO (not that it would have made a difference if I did, since this is a used JDM vehicle and I don't read japanese) - I learned about the need to push down to select 4HLc, whilst fiddling with it - but there's no way I can get the lever forward far enough to select 4LLc - and I have some sort of problem with the center diff lock (or a sensor) because the orange lock indicator only flashes.
This has been tagged as a "non-priority" repair - one reason being that I have no immediate need to use the 4WD (I have other 4WDs at my disposal) and a second being that I suspect the root cause is a missing rubber bush in the shifter assembly that is not available unless I buy the complete shift lever at a ridiculous price. The lever has a significant degree of side-side play and when I removed it, there was quite a bit of crumbled rubber in the shifter extension - somewhere along the line I will pull the shift lever assembly and try to fabricate a bush out of a polyurethane shock eye or spring eye bush sanded to shape.
Transfer case shift lever sorted
After asking around about the side-side play on the transfer case shift lever (thanks Bob), I fabbed up my idea of what the missing bush should look like, using a polyurethane shock eye bushing, cut to size and sanded to shape - I can now select between 2H, 4H, 4HLc & 4LLc.
By the way Natsterrr - you only need to push down for 4LLc - 4HLc is just left & forward from 4H.
The flashing lock light is next on the list - that seems to be a broken wire in the harness, the switches on the transfer case are all good, but I don't see the input from one of them at the 4WD Indicator Controller and I'm definitely not impressed with Mitsubishi's decision to mount the controller under the carpet on the driver's side, underscoring the fact that Mitsubishi did not design this vehicle for serious off road usage.
ECU position
Yeah I couldn't remember about the push down for high or low, but that makes sense.
If you look at my build page you will see how I mounted my 4wd indicator ECU. Not an ideal fix, but as I said, it would have saved me some grief in the bog that I got into. A more permanent fix would involve adding a length of wire to the loom which I can't be bothered doing - I'll just try and avoid getting stuck in deep water :P
Unfortunately mine is an automatic
If I had a 5 speed I'd probably extend the loom & reposition the 4WD indicator controller, but mine is an automatic with an electronically controlled AW4 Aisin-Warner 4 speed transmission, and they put the TCU on the transmission tunnel (just behind the hand brake), making it just as susceptible to drowning.
Actually I'm curious - does the 4WD Indicator Controller do anything other than just control the fancy graphical bling on the dashboard? It would not be too difficult to hardwire those lamps to the transfer case switches and eliminate the controller completely.
I think it does more
I think it controls the free wheeling clutch and centre diff lock engagement as well. When mine was flooded, my centre diff light was flashing and the free wheeling clutch was left on when I had it in 2H. The steering was a lot heavier. Roadside assistance swapped the vacuum lines around to pop the clutch out and let me get home (meaning no 4wd option til fixed).
I don't know exactly how it all works, but that is my experience. Fortunately Mitsu made the electronics tough enough to be used and shorted out underwater but still function normally again once clean and dry :)
Judging from the manual - it's just that display
Looking at the manual I would say it just controls the display - there are 10 connections to it - ground & ignition power, five switch inputs, and the three light outputs - I'll take a look and see if I can find what controls the free wheel vacuum solenoids.
What I am uncertain of is Mitsubishi's reason for using multiple switches - for example here are the switch inputs ...
High/low detection switch - I have no idea what this is used for - it pulses a logic high briefly when the shifter is moved between 4HLc & 4LLc
4WD operation detection switch - logic high in 2WD, logic low in 4WD.
VCU (Viscous Coupling Unit) lock detection switch - logic high when in 2H or 4H, logic low in 4HLc or 4LLc.
VCU lock operation detection switch - logic high when in 2H or 4H, logic low in 4HLc or 4LLc
Free wheel engage switch - this switch is on the transfer case and does NOT detect that the free wheel mechanism is engaged - logic high in 2WD, logic low in 4WD.
Interestingly enough, there is an output labelled four wheel drive lamp rear wheel, but as far as I know, the rear wheel lamp on the display is wired to the ignition and comes on whenever the ignition is on.
I'll update you when I find the appropriate wiring diagrams and see what actually connects where.
There is a possibility that it does some sort of error sensing or diagnostic - maybe that should be a probability - because if the switch positions don't match up, it flashes the corresponding lights to let you know that things are not quite right - I've seen the front wheel lights flashing in both 2WD & 4WD after the lever has been moved with the vehicle stationary, and then it will stop flashing & either stay on or off, depending on the lever position if I rock the vehicle between park/neutral & drive/reverse - but still - I think it just flashes the lights.
Some things are best left alone.
Having found the relevant schematics and confirmed that what I'm looking at is supposed to be a single wire running from point A to point B - I opened up the loom and found that somewhere in this vehicle's past, a previous owner's dog had had a go at the harness, and someone had done a reasonable patch job on it, reasonable because they did take the time to solder the wires, rather than just twist & tape - I decided to clean it up, and use heat shrink tube rather than tape, which has a way of unravelling - so many hours later it's all back together and the 4WD indicators work like they should - but now I have transmission problems, which weren't there when I started two days ago.
Moving off gently it shifts through all four forward gears and I can manually shift - but if it's in overdrive & I kick down to overtake, it will downshift and then it will not select overdrive again - I'm pretty certain it's the last wire I spliced (a shielded cable for one of the speed sensors) but it was too late to do anything more with it today, so maybe tomorrow.
Natsterrr the vacuum solenoids for the free wheel are not controlled by the 4WD indicator controller - they are wired in series with a switch, so once the switch closes they are energized - no electronics involved.
Edit ...
Looking at the manual - a malfunctioning output shaft speed sensor will prevent the transmission from upshifting to fourth and will also disable lockup - and that is the last circuit I worked on, so, as long as the weather holds, that will be tomorrow's task - I needed to pickup some split loom and another roll of insulating tape to properly complete the job, so I would have had to go back to it anyway.
Well - it wasn't my wiring
I stripped the harness and rechecked my work and found nothing amiss - so I tidied up & retaped everything and reassembled - I did another test drive, and again it shifted through all the gears as it should - however - this time around I did not try to test the kickdown. My daughter has been using the car since then, and I got it back today, I took it for a drive, it shifts through all four gears, and the kickdown works.
I have this theory on what happened - I think these transmission controllers learn the "driving style" of the driver (that is mentioned in the owner's manual for my wife's Lancer), and I may have confused it when it was in the learn mode.
Anyway - all's good there - so on to the next repair on my list - the low fuel warning light does not work.
Well - I ran out of fuel twice in the same day...
In an effort to determine why the low fuel warning light does not come on, I ran the tank(s) empty.
First - the iO has a main tank and a sub tank - that are not two separate tanks - weird setup - there seems to be a single, what I will call "saddle bag" style tank with two lower sections on either side of the rear drive shaft - there seems to be one fuel pump, located in the main tank that can also pull from a pickup in the sub tank, and two gauge senders, one in each section, wired in series - each gauge sender has a low fuel circuit, separate to the gauge circuit.
The low fuel light is grounded via the low fuel senders passing through the sub tank first and then the main tank - on mine the sender in the main tank never closes, so the light never comes on - I have since bypassed that sender so the light will come on when the level in the sub tank drops low enough - I have yet to determine exactly when that will occur, as I do not know if the fuel is drawn from both tanks simultaneously, or one tank before the other. I do know that when filling it, the main tank fills first, as I was able to get 20 litres in before the low fuel light went off.
Under floor storage
Because of a discussion in another thread, I have discovered that the underfloor storage area in my iO may not have been available on all models, so I took a few pictures to share - my apologies for the quality...
This first one shows the view of the trunk or boot floor as you open the tailgate - what you're looking at is a false floor - not unusal in a wagon, many cars have the spare tire and tools stored there.
This second picture shows the false floor lifted - to reveal an under floor storage area - it's made of plastic and is perhaps 3~4" deep - it's not that convenient since, if you have a trunk full of stuff, you'll need to unpack it all to get under there.
At the very back of the storage area is a removable section, and this is what's under it - the jack & tools.
First oil change
I did an oil & filter change today - my first on the iO - and it was a pain in the butt.
Ordinarily, if I buy a used vehicle, I make a point of doing a full service and changing all the fluids, filters, etc., directly after acquiring it - primarily for the peace of mind that comes with knowing that the vehicle maintainance is up to date - I skipped this with the iO, because I had a pretty good idea of the maintenance history.
First question - if Mitsubishi were forward thinking enough to put an access hole in the "bash plate" (the correct name is "cover, engine room, under) so that the drain plug is accessible, how come they didn't put one for the filter - not that it makes a big difference - the location of the drain plug is such that you'd be better removing the plate - with the car on the ramps the oil runs out of the drain and dribbles a significant amount onto the cross-member, which then runs along the cross-member and goes everywhere but into the drain pan.
Second question - who decided to put the drain plug near the front of the oil pan? I don't know how many folks put their car on a hoist to change the oil - I use ramps, and if the drain plug is near the front of the oil pan, the nose up "attitude" of the vehicle traps dirty old oil - I had to replace the plug & roll the car off the ramps to get the last of the oil out.
Third question - who decided the filter should hang straight down? That one got me a fist full of oil as soon as I slacked the filter off.
In over three decades of changing my own oil, never have I made such a mess - I can do either one of my Suzukis without getting a single drop of oil on the drive way.
More to the point - when I changed the oil - I also flushed the engine.
This vehicle has a bit of a lifter "clatter' - not very consistent - always there at startup for 10~15 seconds, would come & go with the engine at idle, and usually not noticeable with the vehicle in motion - I was toying with the idea of an engine flush, but hesitant, because of the stories I'd read online about flushing with ATF and what have you.
When I stopped to pickup the oil (Valvoline 10w40 premium conventional) this morning, I noticed the guy had a "Pyroil" engine flush, made by Valvoline, so I decided to give it a try, entirely on the premise that Valvoline would make a quality product.
The instructions say to bring the engine to operating temperature, and then add the flush and let it idle for 5 minutes, warning against driving or "racing" the engine, followed by the oil & filter change - when I started the engine after adding the flush, the lifter clatter was louder than normal and the rpms dropped quite alamingly, to the point that I had to hold the engine on the throttle for fear it would stall, and during the 5 minute period the lifter rattle came & went.
After the flush & oil & filter change, the engine is smoother and noticeably quieter - and so far I have not heard the lifters.
I'll keep an eye on it for the next 5000 kms and then decide if I want to do a second flush and maybe also flush my GV.
I'm not certain how much of a difference the flush makes.
In the few weeks since the flush & oil change, the lifter ticking has returned - although it is still noticeably less than it was before.
I haven't heard it on a cold start, which might be related to the choice of filter (I'm using a Purolater L14610 - it had an OEM Mitsubishi filter before), other than that, the ticking comes & goes as it did before - I will continue to monitor it, and by the time the next oil change is due, hopefully I can tell if the flush made a real difference - that will determine if I do a second flush or not.
This process will take me awhile as I don't use this vehicle on a daily basis.
O2 sensor swap
Well - I thought the next project on my list was sorting the suspension - the struts & shocks are definitely past their prime and the drooping front end suggests the front springs are tired. I've been waiting for the local KYB reseller to get his shipment in for several months and in the mean time I started monitoring fuel consumption - which seemed to vary wildly from ridiculously high (15 litres/100km) to very economical (8 litres/100km).
With the aid of the service manual (downloaded from the resource section) I was able to go through all the engine sensors one by one and they all checked out, with the exception of the O2 sensor - where I either muffed the test procedure (possibly did not allow the sensor to reach operating temperature) or the sensor was shot.
After discussions with a few knowledgeable friends (one of whom is an ECU design professional) I decided to go ahead & replace the sensor, taking into consideration that O2 sensors are a "service replaceable" item in pretty much the same way as spark plugs & oil filters are, and this one was probably long past it's "replace by" date, add to that the fact that it's a known cause of excessive fuel consumption, and my perhaps inconclusive test results - I went ahead & ordered one, along with the necessary wrench and a thread chaser, since I was expecting difficulty in removing it.
On the last few days of last week, I used the vehicle to allow the exhaust to heat up and then liberally doused the O2 sensor boss with WD40 so that it would penetrate the threads and hopefully free them, and on Friday put a wrench on it and was delighted to have it come loose very easily - it had been my intention to replace it on Saturday, but since it came loose easily on Friday, I went ahead and replaced it Friday evening using Permatex "anti-seize" on the threads - and then went through the ECU learning process posted on this site.
Test drive results show a noticeably more responsive vehicle and apparently less exhaust fumes - I have filled the tank and will be monitoring the consumption over the next few tankfulls to see what improvement - if any.
A couple of minor omissions - wipers & headlights
Looking back at this "blog" - I recognize that there a couple of things that have been done and not mentioned, at least not in this thread.
I've replaced the front windscreen wipers - I got the vehicle with some no name "bling" 16" dual blade wipers which drove me crazy with their squeaking (they work very well, but the second blade is always wiping a dry screen, and so it squeaks), I replaced these with 18" RainX Latitudes which I have been using on my other vehicles for a number of years.
The Latitudes are the newer "beam" style blades and apply pressure evenly down the length of the blade instead of at five or six locations, so they generally wipe cleaner & quieter - they are more expensive, but in my opinion, worth the extra.
I've also been fiddling with the headlights, getting them properly aligned and I also replaced the stock H4 bulbs with Sylvania SilverStar Ultras for a whiter, brighter light - I may or may not rewire the headlight harness - these lights are controlled from one of the many ECUs and I need to get an idea of how it's done and what the voltage drop in the harness is like.
New plugs were the next thing.
The fuel consumption during the first week with the new O2 sensor was 24.7 litres for 223.5 kms of city driving giving 11litres/100km, which I'd say is not bad, certainly better than 14.6 litres/100km - but I will continue to monitor it. The coming week will hopefully show more improvement as I have just replaced the plugs, putting in NGK BKR6EKUC, which is what the EPC specs for this vehicle (based on the chassis number) - what came out was BKR5E, which the EPC shows for the 05~07 models. The BKR6EKUC has a longer insulator and dual ground electrodes, and should be a somewhat hotter plug.
The old plugs showed considerable soot, which I expected given the previous consumption, but were starting to change color - the ground electrode was showing brown rather than black, and I'm hoping the BKR6EKUC will burn cleaner and improve the consumption.
New plugs = not so good
My son used the Pajero to go out to the local race track yesterday for the first race meet of the year, and recorded excellent consumption figures of 7.37 litres/100km, but, this morning. on the way home after dropping my daughter to work, I had one foul, and so had to limp home on three cylinders - needless to say I am quite disappointed.
It also seems like I was wrong - the BKR5E plugs that I took out were slightly hotter than the BKR6EKUC that I put in - and now I'm wondering if the previous owner switched to a hotter plug to avoid fouling.
I'm about to go pull them and take a look and then decide if to clean and go again, or replace with something else.
The new plugs were fine.
I pulled the plugs, they were a tad sooty, but none was fouled. The soot was not entirely unexpected as one of the quirks of an EFI system is that a misfire results in both unburned fuel and unused oxygen in the exhaust gasses. The system assumes that unburned oxygen is the result of a lean mixture and tries to compensate by adding even more fuel.
I then turned my attention to the coil packs - the GDI engine uses a "coil-on-plug" ignition system with four coil packs, one per cylinder - these coil packs sit atop the intake manifold and are connected to the plug by a "lance" consisting of a long spring encased in a bakelite & rubber boot - the bottom end of the springs that make contact with the plug appeared clean enough, and so I pulled the lances off of the coils and found quite a bit of corrosion at the top end, which was polished away with a small wire brush in a rotary tool - both the spring and the contact screw on the coil had to be cleaned.
When I got to the #4 coil pack - I found evidence of arcing past the top of the lance and looking a little more closely, discovered the ignition coil had a hole burned through the plastic housing where the lance fits, allowing the spark to jump to the plug tube.
New coil packs are apparently not available here, and whilst I did find someone with used ones, not only was his price unreasonable, he wanted me to take all four - a little internet research showed RTV silicone sealant has a dielectric strength approaching 24kV/mm, so I took a series of drill bits and cleaned up the burned plastic around the hole before filling it with black RTV and then covering it with "heat shrink" tube for added protection.
So far so good.
I will attempt to locate replacement coil packs and get a couple - one to replace this one, and one as a spare.
We're getting there slowly ....
I changed the rear shocks today - fitting Monroe Adventure series shocks, which are supposedly purpose designed for 4x4 use both on & off road, with larger pistons, stronger rods & increased oil capacity to reduce fade.
Here's what they look like - and no - they are the same length - the KYB manufactured OEM shock (MR319750) has a narrow top eye & bush with a protruding sleeve, and the Monroe has a "full width" eye & bush, so the right end of the Monroe is actually closer to the camera.
The new shocks make a heck of a difference to the ride, I can no longer feel the rear axle doing it's own thing behind me, and the "nose dive" on braking is about half what it used to, which surprised me.
With any luck I'll have the front shocks replaced within the next few weeks - I AM looking forward to that.
Replaced the resonator this week.
I was away from home for a couple of weeks, and when I got back I noticed the exhaust on the iO was "blowing" - not entirely unexepected as I had seen what appeared to be soot on the bottom surface of the resonator around small rust spots - turns out the box had developed a hole near the outlet, so I dropped the car off at the local muffler guy and he made up a replacement & fitted it - this guy will actually cut the old muffler apart and duplicate the construction, so you get something pretty close to the original.
On picking the vehicle up I immediately noticed it was more responsive, it has a tendency to be sluggish off the line, but not any more - I'll run it until the end of the week and see what impact it has on my fuel consumption, and then move on to my next "experiment" - changing the thermostat.
I happened to notice the radiator top hose on this vehicle warms up quite rapidly from a cold start, much quicker than, for example my wife's Lancer, and also quicker than my GV, so I have this theory that the thermostat is either missing or leaking, so I have tracked down a new one with the correct rating, and plan to change it, to see what impact it has on consumption - more on that after I actually replace it.
Thermostat's been replaced.
I took advantage of the holiday today (it's Guyana's 46th Independence Anniversary) and swapped out the thermostat for the new one I picked up in Florida (couldn't get the right temp one here) - it's not difficult, just a pain in the rear to get to because it's under the exhaust manifold, and best done with the engine cold - it takes a lot longer for the top hose to get warm now, so during the week we'll see what effect it has on fuel consumption, also on the cards for today is the inspection and possible replacement of the front disk pads, and maybe the sway bar end links - as soon as the sun moves a little further west.
Oil pressure gauge
I'm guessing Mitsubishi must build their vehicles at the North Pole - or somewhere where they have dwarves with little hands.
It took me several hours today to fish a 1/8" nylon oil pressure line from the rubber grommet on the driver's side of the firewall through the dash to the center where I had mounted an oil pressure gauge and a volt meter almost a year ago, removing the clock to make room). Normally I would discard the nylon line that the gauges are supplied with in favour of a copper hard line, but it would be extremely difficult for anyone with normal size to route a hard line through the dash space and down past the engine - as it was, I had to remove the driver's seat to be able to get under the dash.
I ran out of daylight before I could complete the job, so the nylon line is ty-wrapped to one of the fuel system vapour recovery lines just along side the engine mount, and at some future point (maybe next weekend) I will fit a T and hook the line up to the port on the block.
Nah
If I didn't love her I would be spending time and money on her ;).
I will admit some frustration over the front suspension issues - especially because I don't seem to be able to make progress - I've been waiting going on six months for this guy to get me the struts I want (KYB 334405), but among the things planned, hopefully in the not too distant future are a set of new tires - possibly Falken Wildpeak ATs (which will have to wait until the struts are sorted - no point in fitting new rubber just to have it destroyed), and a new head unit (that should happen around the end of June, I picked one out yesterday, it will be shipped to my daughter who will bring it when she comes home for the summer.
There's also a roof basket that's hopefully somewhere between Miami & here - that will be shared as necessary betwene the iO & the GV.
Just put a new PCV valve on
Oil consumption on this vehicle (like the fuel consumption) has been wildly erratic - it can run for weeks without needing to be topped up, and then a week later it seems to have burned quite a bit.
I did an oil & filter (and a flush) change two weekends back, and it used no oil during the first 4~5 days, and then on day 6, I noticed a near continuous stream of light colored smoke from the tail pipe with the engine at idle and it took almost a pint of oil to bring it back up to the full mark on the dipstick.
During last week (saturday~saturday), I've driven 204km and burned around half a litre of oil which is ridiculously high - in contrast for this week, I've already done 80 odd kms, without the level on the stick moving.
I'm not certain what the cause is, but I really don't see it as rings or valve seals - I had suspected valve seals because I've noticed a puff of smoke as the vehicle pulls away from a stop, but there was way more smoke than that last Saturday, and if it were the rings, surely it would be consistent.
Anyway - I swapped out the PCV valve as one possible source of oil burning with the engine at idle - the old one did have some grainy, gritty black crud inside, so let's see how it goes.
4.79 litres/100 km !!
I took the iO out of city today, for the first time since I've changed the O2 sensor and been keeping consumption records - nothing off road, but a longer run than usual - and recorded 4.79 litres/100 km - I knew I had travelled over 80kms, and when it took 4.5 litres to fill, I was flabbergasted - and when I punched the numbers into my spreadsheet, it showed 4.79 litres/100 km.
Oh - this is a 1.8 Litre GDI engined 5dr with just short of 135,000 kms, automatic transmission - over two lane roads (one in each direction), no a/c, and occasional heavy use of the right foot to overtake slow moving trucks when required.
Not bad, not bad at all.
fuel consumption
This is....just great! is it with the new cat as well? (I'd say yes) I think that your car was, as you mentioned, out of tune for a while and the cat was close to being blocked because of that. Your io would be much nicer to drive now...
Happier io
no new cat
If I had to guess I would say that's the original cat on it - I haven't replaced it, and I doubt it has been replaced in the five years the car has been in Guyana (it's a used Japanese import). I did replace the resonator, the first of the two mufflers that it is fitted with.
I also doubt that I would replace the cat if it did fail - we have no pollution regulations here, and since this vehicle only has a single O2 sensor, I believe that it can be replaced with a "straight pipe" with no CEL or ill effects.
Economy
Sounds very impressive and I don't doubt this is what you measured, but dont you think it's a short distance / small fuel volume for an accurate calculation? To be honest I'm thinking this is better economy than a petrol engine of that generation is capable of regardless of how well tuned it is.
??
Sounds very impressive and I don't doubt this is what you measured, but dont you think it's a short distance / small fuel volume for an accurate calculation? To be honest I'm thinking this is better economy than a petrol engine of that generation is capable of regardless of how well tuned it is.
i agree. i would rather measure a full tank, than a shoret drive. 80 kms for me is probly 2 days of driving. some days though i might do it in one. so for me this sounds a bit too good to be true. not that im doubting you at all, i would just ratther a measurement after a full tank...
Larger sample size required
I've heard that the only way to 'prove' fuel consumption figures is to always use the same bowser at the same service station (so the bowser accuracy is consistent, auto shut-off is calibrated the same, your car is on the same angle each time, etc.).
By tracking it over a longer period of time you can get far more accurate data.
I use an iPhone app called Roadtrip.
In the 18 months I've owned the car, I've kept records every time I've filled up. All up my consumption is 10.62 L/100km. The best I've managed for a single tank is 9.11 L/100km, which was quite recently as I've been travelling around 120km a day of mostly highway to get to my current workplace.
My worst tank has been 14.20 L/100km, which was mostly driving on Fraser Island with a little bit of highway driving at the start or end.
The graph is pretty cool too - you can see another tank up around the 14L mark followed by a period of slightly higher consumption (the white lines) - I left my M/T's on for a few weeks after that last trip :P
The yellow line is the price - I paid $1.98/L on Fraser Island.
Data like this is pretty handy for noticing problems with things like sensors etc.
I'm still sceptical myself
However - those numbers are genuine.
For me, a typical week's driving will give me between 170~220 kms spread over 15~20 trips (a lot of my driving is short runs, not more than 4~5 kms in any one trip) and I will see between 11~12 litres/100 km consumption regularly - most of my consumption numbers are recorded over a one week period, with the vehicle being filled on Saturdays at the same pump. This is the reason I drive the iO on a daily basis, my Suzuki takes another 1~2 litres/100 km, coupled with the fact that we have seen a roughly 20% hike in the price of gas recently.
In this particular case, because I went outside of the city directly after filling the vehicle, I took the opportunity to refill the tank on my return, so what you're looking at is the fuel consumed on this particular trip, rather than seeing it mixed in with the usual short runs - the GDI IS capable of amazing economy on the open road.
Other out of the city trips have given 5.2 & 7.4 litres/100 km, however, I was not the driver on those occasions and can't comment on how the vehicle was used.
Natsterrr - tracking the consumption over longer periods does not give you more accurate data - it gives you an average - the average consumption over the past year is 11.1 km/100 litres
Accurate average
Natsterrr - tracking the consumption over longer periods does not give you more accurate data - it gives you an average - the average consumption over the past year is 11.1 km/100 litres
What I meant was, if you were to drive on the highway for a full tank of fuel, then you might get 800-1000km at this rate. If that were the case then you could take out a lot of variables resulting in more accurate data. The difference between 'filling' your tank with 4L or 8L could be to do with the angle of the car, the temperature, the angle you hold the pump, how fast you were filling etc.
Also, by graphing the data over a long period you can clearly see periods of higher consumption - ie. the difference between driving on 29" M/Ts and 27" A/Ts in my graph above and below. It is an average, but it is a lot more accurate than one small trip and one partial fill.
These GDI engines sound impressive. With the highway driving I'm doing now, it would be perfect!
Unfortunately
We don't have highways of any great length here - the longest single stretch of road in this country is probably about 70 miles or so - our entire asphalted road network runs east to west and spans only a part of the atlantic coast, and that is broken by three major rivers - we're now getting around to building bridges to cross those rivers, not easy when the river is 13 miles wide - the smaller rivers have been bridged, but not the main ones.
Even if we go north to south, there's only about 70 miles of asphalt, before the road turns into a laterite trail and that runs for maybe 60 miles or so before the first river crossing.
The name of the country, Guyana, is supposedly derived from an Amerindian (our indigenous people) word meaning "land of many waters" and that we certainly have.
Well there you go - quite a
Well there you go - quite a contrast to most of Australia! It sounds beautiful over there :)
I guess the good thing about not many roads of great distance is that you will use less fuel overall. Filling up twice a week at the moment is killing me!
Front springs
During my hunt for replacement springs, my local KYB dealer, who apparently cannot source KYB K-Flex springs as these are manufactured in Europe and he can only order from Japan, revealed that he can order OBK springs - Osaka Bane - I had previously come across the name & knew that I could find a part number for the iO springs, so I went hunting and discovered that Osaka Bane lists C4M-67061 as the replacement front spring for ALL 4WD Pajero iOs - the one number is used on both left & right sides and with both the high & low pan struts.
I would have assumed that the later models with the higher spring pan required a spring with either a shorter free length or a lower spring rate.
.
I would have assumed that the later models with the higher spring pan required a spring with either a shorter free length or a lower spring rate.
They did have different springs, NZIO got his front life from using the springs of a lower pan strut in his high pan struts. I also did the same before I changed them for dobinsons. Pretty sure I got about a inch from it.
Not necessarily.
Let's take a second look at that - as I understand it (and I went back to the various threads and re-read them) NZIO didn't fit "early springs" to a high pan strut equipped vehicle and see an increase in ride height, he fitted high pan struts, to a low pan strut equipped vehicle and got an increase in ride height - if you raise the bottom end of the spring, the top end of the spring will lift by the same amount - that is "un-argueable."
We KNOW from pictorial evidence using a tape measure as a reference that there are two different struts, and that using the high pan strut in place of the low pan strut will achieve greater height, but I'm not aware of anyone who did a spring swap using the early springs on the later vehicle and achieved an increase (feel free to correct me if that's what you have done).
The question that needs to be asked is " do the later model, high pan strut equipped vehicles have increased ride height (I don't think they do), and if they don't, where is the extra lift being accommodated - the possibilities are a different spring, a different strut mount, a change in the sheet metal or a combination of the three.
I've been doing a little "ride height research", see my ride height thread.
NZIO
Can you confirm that your lift was the KYB334405 struts on the older vehicle please.
Before this week end's discovery I was all set to get a pair of the 334405 struts and fit them and then possibly replace the springs at a later date, but, now, I'm not so certain - decisions, decisons, decisions...
KYB lift
Yes - 1999 5 door, fitted KYB334405s and used the standard springs, resulting in a 25mm (approx) lift.
Assuming you're wanting to keep standard ride height, is your problem that you can't source a set of early struts? They may not be easy to find - when I went to the shock specialist here to order the KYB334405s he said that according to his Mitsi catalogues the 334405s are standard fitment across the whole range and are the only part that he can get. Obviously we know these are not standard for early io's - does KYB even make a lower pan strut I wonder?
KYB does makes an early strut.
What I'm trying to do is correct a negative camber situation that I believe is caused by sagging springs - I fitted camber bolts as a temporary correction, but, as the struts are on their way out and will soon need to be replaced, I want to take this opportunity to make perhaps a permanent repair.
Depending on which KYB listing you're looking at, there are three different numbers for the iO struts - Europe lists only one strut, the 334813, which is a "low pan" strut, and Japan lists two, 334442, which is also low pan & 334405 which is high pan - my local dealer has 334442 and is supposed to be getting 334405, hopefully within the next few weeks.
my opinion...
...for what its worth - if the problem is sagging springs then you need to replace the springs. You're taking a gamble that a different strut will compensate for the springs, and if the springs collapse further or otherwise need replacing in future what will you do then?
I agree with you 100%
We're in full agreement there - see post #42 above - one of the reasons why I have not actually purchased anything for the front suspension yet, is this is also a quest to locate the correct spring/strut combination. If the same spring works with both struts, then I need to get the strut to match the sheet metal (at this point I'm assuming that's where the difference is) and if the springs are different then I need to get a matched spring/strut combination, preferably the high pan strut combination, since this will allow a wider range of tire options.
At this time the only strut available locally is one of the two low pan KYB ones.
Syndicate
Nice, id never seen that
Nice, id never seen that style grill before . Is that what all 98s are like?
Can you look at the back of your rear diff and see if it has a sticker saying it's a 5.11?
Be nice to confirm that the 1.8 autos are intact a 5.11. I NEED a 5.11 :-)
Yippy i-O
31s 245/75/16 BFGs(33s next) 5" lift Coilovers with 290mm stroke. - 5.29 diffs with Kaiser Lockers.