Mad_mike's iO
Well after spending my first day checking out my iO, I have taken lots of pics, sorted a few bits and pieces, and have some questions also.
My biggest discovery today is that I bought a 2litre iO, but I am 99% sure it is actually a 1.8!!
The plate on the bulkhead says 4G93. My understanding is the 2 litre should be 4G94?
I decided to remove the heat shield and the engine says G9GDI. Anybody shed some light please?
There is a label on the engine cover that says the timing belt was done at 90,000km.
The car now has 135,000, so I opened the top timing belt cover to visually inspect it and it seems in very good condition for now
Finally, here she is after a quick wash
Looking damn fine for a 13 year old car I reckon! 
whoa!
He is from Ireland, and yes what an unusual body kit, wild! Does your io have the transfer case? While looking great the front bumper may not be an advantage for 4 wheel driving. More picture,please, to see the whole body kit....
If you are not going to do some 4wd, this car would look great with bigger wheels and low profile tyres.
Happy io
Yup. From Ireland alright We
Yup. From Ireland alright
We get a lot of Japanese import cars here as they are right hand drive like ourselves
I know the plate says its a 1.8, but thought maybe there was a 2 litre engine put in at some stage, but I reckon the vehicle registration department didnt know what they were doing when registering this as the engine size is shown as 1990cc which is incorrect anyway for the 4G94
I have a couple of questions and I'll throw them out here now, but will move over to tech forums also
1. Terrible belt squeal at startup. Alternator or a/c? Belts look ok, but maybe needs adjustment?
2. Flashing light on 4 wheel drive and rear wheels never light up. I see this seems to be very common, so will follow some of the guides and see how I get on
3. I see an ECO light on the dash, but it never lights up at any stage?
4. When I go over bumps around town, I hear a heavy metal rattle in the rear. What could this be?
As for 4 wheel drive usage, I doubt it will get any at all. It will be mainly used around town. Here are some more pics for you guys
The belt squeal will most
The belt squeal will most likely be the alternator belt - the load is heaviest directly after startup as the alternator recharges the battery.
Let me know which of the 4WD lights flashes, and under what circumstances, and I'll see what I can do to assist. - it can be either the orange center diff light or a pair of green front wheel lights (one bulb for both front wheels) - the most common cause is a defective switch, but it can also becaused by loose vacuum hoses and in extreme cases front differential problems - the rear wheel lights not coming on is probably a defective bulb.
Remove the dash cluster - literally grab the bezel & pull to you, it should come free, and you'll see the screws (4) that hold the cluster, you may want to remove the dash behind the cluster (3 screws), to make it easier to get your hand behind there to unplug the harness.
Check all the bulbs one by one and replace any defective ones - hopefully the GDI ECO light problem is a blown bulb - otherwise it's going to cost you a pretty penny to get it sorted.
Rattles in the rear on bumps - get under there and check - loose muffler, defective shocks, worn bushes in the suspension ...
I belive I have the 5 door to your 3 door - same color, same 1.8 GDI 4G93, same AW4 automatic.
Belt Screeching Sorted
Well I assumed it was alternator and hadn't seen your post, so I attacked that
What should have been a 5 minute job, turned into a couple of hours! The actual adjusting bolt was so tight in the threaded block, it felt like it was welded! I tried WD40 spray but no luck, so I took the whole thing off, brought it inside and left it sitting on the gas flame on the cooker and then tried again, but still nothing. The problem at this point was I could feel that if I exerted a tiny bit more pressure, the bolt would shear! So I finally repeated all the steps above and through sheer persistence I eventually got the lock bolt to start turning. Tightened everything up and no more belt squealing at startup
Here is a picture taken BEFORE I attacked it. Slight bit of rust there!!!
Moving swiftly on.....
Due to this taking up so much time, I had to leave everything else to check tomorrow. I did however find that the spare wheel had a better tyre than any of the 4 which are on it, so I swapped it with the worst one which is quite bad. All 4 tyres are showing lots of perished cracks, so looks like I'm going to have to address these soon. I will try all positions of 4 wheel drive tomorrow and post back, but I think the 2H just flashes diff (orange light), then the 4H will flash orange for diff again and also shows 2 solid greens for the front wheels. Then from memory, the last 2 positions (4HLc & 4LLc) have a solid orange diff light and solid green for the 2 fronts, so I'd say you are right regarding the bulb for the rears. Will check that also.
While I am in there, I will also check the GDI ECO bulb and hopefully that solves that! You said if it's not a bulb, it's an expensive fix? I assume all it's fixing is making the light show when driving economically, and not the ACTUAL consumption?
Last thing is the rattle. Drove it around town again this evening, and to be fair, it doesn't even take big bumps to show up, but the noise is there with any type of imperfection in the road surface. This is something I really want to address, as it's not just a rattle. It's a heavy metallic sound. The best way I can describe it and I believe this is accurate, is it sounds like I have just drove over a steel/cast iron manhole cover! It is definitely a heavy sound and something that needs investigation.
On a side note, anybody else ever notice if you try to reply to a post made by Claud, when you hit the save or preview button, it always goes to his build thread and your message is gone? It must be something to do with the signature being still open
You have a GDI or Gasolene Direct Injection engine
Most fuel injected engines spray the fuel into the intake manifold, GDI engines inject the fuel directly into the combustion chamber, in a process very similar to that of a diesel engine - in fact you can consider it to be a sort of hybrid between a diesel & a gasolene engine, and Mitsubishi describes it as having the power of a gasolene engine and the efficiency of a diesel
It's a fairly complex design and these vehicles have the early versions and quite a few known problems, one of which is "coking" of the intake manifolds - by the way, they do require high octane, low sulphur gasolene.
One of the features of a GDI engine is stratified charge ultra lean burn and that is when the ECO light turns on - I believe it should be on in a "key on/engine off" situation (I'll confirm tomorrow) and with the engine at idle, it will go off under heavy acceleration and at wider throttle openings as the ECU switches to a richer fuel mixture to deliver the power required.
Regarding the 4WD do not attempt to drive it in 4HLc or 4LLc on a hard dry surface, you can damage the transfer case and/or differentials that way - you don't really need to drive it go through the light tests, short backward & forward movements will typically allow the various bits to negage & disengage, and as long as the front wheels are in a straight ahead position, you should be ok.
On a side note, anybody else
On a side note, anybody else ever notice if you try to reply to a post made by Claud, when you hit the save or preview button, it always goes to his build thread and your message is gone? It must be something to do with the signature being still open
Yes, I noticed the same, I thought that it was doing in to me only, but it doesn't seem to be!! No idea why! I found that it does it to the first time, then it does work fine...
I am glad you fixed that belt noise. For the rear noise, try to bounce the car while parked, that will check part of the suspension. Shake the exhaust, you may have a damage/missing rubber fixation. Noise can be hard to locate, so if it make lots of it, it is much easier to find!!
Happy io
Sound not from toolkit either
I'll state the obvious just in case - have you checked its not something rattling around in the toolkit compartment under the carpet?
Cheers for the suggestion. Afraid it's nothing there. Didn't get to do anything on it today, but noise is still there as I was driving it for a few hours today.
Regarding the 4wd, when in 2H, the orange diff light blinks on and off at a steady pace, but I noticed when on motorway today and driving at around 120kmh, when I would accelerate, the orange light ALMOST stayed solid, but was flashing very rapidly and randomly, almost like you'd expect with a loose connection. The minute I would ease off on the pedal, the light returned to blink on/off at an even pace again
VCU lock
The flashing orange light indicates a "mismatch" between the VCU lock "settings" - in the transfer case, there is a viscous coupling which links the front & rear drive shafts, this coupling can be locked to allow 4WD operation (as different from AWD), there are two switches, one that senses the position of the transfer case shifter and the other senses the actual "lock" state of the VCU
If the lever switch senses a "non-lock" selection and the VCU switch reports a "non-lock" status, the orange light will be OFF
if the lever switch senses a lock selection and the VCU switch reports a lock status, the orange light will be ON
for any other combination, lever on & VCU off or lever off & VCU on, the orange light will flash.
Your problem can be a defective switch (fairly common), a broken wire, a defective light controller or an actual problem in the transfer case.
There's a manual in the resource section that documents the location of switches and provides the details on how to test them.
Ok, another update.... Took
Ok, another update....
Took out car stereo as it's a Japanese one and only goes to 90 on FM. Irish channels are 88-108. Went to put in a spare one I had here, but loom has different connector, so I need to try track one down, but at least the new one is now in place.
Removed the dash cluster and got in at the bulbs. Seems a few are gone. Tried one from SRS in GDI ECO and it still doesn't light, although when I put it back in SRS it lights? Should the GDI ECO light come on at ignition? I didn't try starting the car. Duh! That would be just TOO simple!!
Front spotlight was gone, so I replaced H3 55W bulb and that's working fine now
Blinking diff light....Had a look underneath and see a few switches etc, but not terrible sure what I am looking at, so need to read the manual again and see what to check. I noticed Claud asked me if I had a transfer case? Do they not all have that or what exactly should I be looking for?
Finally, the noise when driving. This is actually starting to freak me out now. Had a good look around underneath and the exhaust hangers are all fine, good and tight with no broken ones etc. Tried shaking all bits I could reach easily and everything seems dead tight. Drove down the road and can hear it again. Parked back up, opened back door and jumped up and down on the rear bumper (much to Mrs Mad's laughter) and not a single sound from it!!!! Then I jacked it up at the rear and tried again and nothing and tried shaking wheels etc and still no noise!!! The only thing I have found, and meant to say this the other day when I changed the spare wheel onto the drivers front... the drivers rear wheel sounds like there is a stone INSIDE the tyre when I rotate it? The fron one was the same when I changed it the other day!
As for the transfer case, diff, whatever, I will crawl in under, take some pics and stick them up here in the hope of some more guidance 
You have a transfer case
If you have 4WD, there will be a transfercase bolted to the back of the transmission - it's what "splits" the drive to the front & rear axles - and yes the GDI light should come on with the ignition switch before the engine starts, and should be on at idle.
transfer case
Mitsubishi have made some io without them being 4wd, hence not having a transfer case. So yours being the 4wd model you do have the tranfer case!
Something in one tyre can make some noise, but depending what it is, the noise should go away with a bit of speed. If you can find a place where the noise would be present every time, just go again and again to try to locate it, get Mrs Mad! (hum! Mrs Mad, doesn't sound too nice...lol...) to drive, and get in the rear. If the noise does happen at very low speed, you could try to stay on the outside, or open the door slightly (be very careful here!, walking pace only). Or you could try to go over, a bump, in gear, then in neutral, to see if it changes something. If you still can't find it, you could try to get a quote to fix it (a quick diagnostic is usually free, at least here, in Canberra)
Happy io.
Sorry everybody. I've been
Sorry everybody. I've been away for couple of weeks and just back
I need to try sort any other issues mentioned above
Also, in the last 2 weeks driving I have found another few things
The tappets (hydraulic valve lifters) are very noisy. This doesn't surprise me as I have previously owned a Mitsi SpaceWagon and a Galant. I tried some of that additive crap, but it was useless, so I am going to do an oil change and see if that helps. In the meantime, I will be back tomorrow to post underside pics in the hope I can sort this flashing 4wd light.
I have also noticed 2 other things
1. Seem to have a wheel bearing hum somewhere? Need to investigate and make sure it's certainly wheel bearing
2. Very odd one!!! I sit at a constant 100km/h and suddenly I feel like I have taken foot from accelerator and placed back on?? Very odd sensation. It's like the engine is working perfect, then misses every 20 or 30 seconds, slows slightly, and then returns to full revs again??
Two possible issues.
2. Very odd one!!! I sit at a constant 100km/h and suddenly I feel like I have taken foot from accelerator and placed back on?? Very odd sensation. It's like the engine is working perfect, then misses every 20 or 30 seconds, slows slightly, and then returns to full revs again??
I can think of two possibilities - the first being an actual misfire and the second being a torque converter lockup issue.
If it's a misfire, it should also occur at other points in the rpm range, say when doing a constant 80 km/h or 120 km/h (I don't know what the speed limit is in your neck of the woods), and possibly even at idle - when I first got my iO, it did have a curious hestitation/misfire, but it was at idle only, and I really can't tell you when it went away, but it's no longer there - I've been told that the GDI engines can be quite finicky about the plugs, and that using the wrong plug can cause such a hesitation.
Torque converter lockup.
First a question - when the hesitation occurs are you using overdrive or not? Is the orange OD OFF light on the dash on or off?
iOs with automatic transmissions use a 4 speed (3 + overdrive) electronically shifted Aisin Warner AW4 automatic transmission, with a lockable torque converter - the torque converter replaces the clutch on a manual transmission and uses a fluid coupling to transmit power from the engine to the transmission - one of the reasons automatics are less fuel efficient than manuals is that the torque converters always have some slip, and more modern automatics have a feature that "locks" the converter input & output shafts together, eliminating this slip and increasing fuel efficiency.
Torque converter lockup is done by the transmission controller via a solenoid valve and it locks & unlocks automatically depending on road speed, gradient, throttle position etc., it's possible for the system to have an intermittent fault (eg. a broken wire that makes occasional contact) that can cause the converter to lock/unlock, it's also possible for the lock/unlock to be caused by road conditions.
To determine if the converter is locking up normally, find a straight level road with minimal traffic - depress the OD OFF button (on the shift lever) so the orange OD OFF light is off and accelerate gently from a standstill and watch the tachometer - you should see a gradual rise in rpms as the vehicle accelerates, followed by distinct drop as the transmission shifts, you should see it shift from 1~2, 2~3 & 3~4, watch closely after the 3~4 upshift and you should see the tach drop slightly (say 300~400 rpms - and within 20~30 seconds) - that's the converter locking up.
To determine if the hesitation is a converter lockup problem - I'm assuming here that you were driving with overdrive - note the rpm at 60 km/h and then depress the OD OFF button so that the orange OD OFF light is on and then match the rpms and hold it there - if it's an engine misfire, I would think it'll occur because you're at roughly the same rpms as when it was happening, if it's a converter lockup issue, it won't occur because the converter won't lockup because of the OD OFF setting.
Well it's been so long, and
Well it's been so long, and so much going on here!
Finally I got to attack all issues again
The brilliant news at this stage!!!! I discovered the source of the noise!!
It was actually so bad I had grown to dislike driving the car. Even around town it was constantly making noise when I hit rough surfaces, potholes, speed bumps etc. So last night I started and continued until almost midnight and eventually discovered an item referred to as a "dynamic damper"! It would appear this is a steel bracket which is held on with 4 bolts and inside, there is a large steel plate (approx 25mm thick)
I decided to remove it, and instantly, the noise totally disappeared!
It seems this thick steel plate is normally bonded to the steel carrier frame with rubber on both sides, and mine appears to have lost adhesion, so every time I hit a rough surface, I have a steel plate of approx 25mm thickness, bouncing around and clattering in a steel frame!!
Moving swiftly on.... The
Moving swiftly on....
The flashing orange light...
I lay under the jeep last night scratching my head, trying to figure out where this noise was from, and at one stage I started to wonder if it was a sound from the diff or a wheel hub that was not engaged correctly, so that led me back to the transfer case. I located 5 switches and plugs on the case, and eventually discovered that the brown connectors relate to the orange light. There is one brown on the bottom, and one on top.
When I disconnected the top plug, the orange blinking light finally disappeared. As it was so late at this stage, and I was trying to see all of this while using the flash light on my mobile phone, I finally left it. I assume at this stage that the bottom brown one is the issue as when it was unplugged, it made no difference??
Any help or guidance to figuring out this issue would be appreciated. By the way, I don't know if it was just too late, tiredness, using a mobile phone as a light, or stupidity, but I cannot see any vacuum pipes anywhere?? Maybe I need to raise the jeep higher? Maybe drop the transfer case??
So, today.....
I opened the guard underneath the engine which is held on by 8 bolts
One of the bolts sheared as I was trying to remove it, but the other 7 all came out without any issues. I then changed the oil and oil filter which has certainly helped the valve lifter ticking noise, although it is certainly not gone.
I also noticed that the middle box on the exhaust had a slight hole, about 2 or 3mm in diameter, and the pipe from there to the back has one section that is visibly thinner and has a hairline crack. I used some exhaust repair and that has quietened the exhaust down for the time being until I can replace that section.
Finally, for now, the revs as described in my post about 3 posts back, it would appear that this is definitely a misfire
I need to have a look at th the spark plugs etc and that is my next job. This car certainly doesnt seem to be too simple just to get access to the spark plugs!
well done
Well done...I don't seem to have that bracket on my car....the good thing is that you persevere and got it done! The spark plug take a bit of time but they are not that bad. The GDI engine tend to have dirty spark plug, hopefully that would fix the problem, if not it is always good to put a new set anyway.
Good luck...
Happy io
Vacuum lines
There are NO vacuum lines connected to the transfer case - it is the front axle freewheel mechanism that uses vacuum, so if you don't have an issue with the green "front wheel" lights flashing - then don't touch the vacuum lines.
There are two switches that relate to the amber "center diff" light - one senses the lever position, the other senses lock engagement - the two must match or the light flashes. start by checking the switches with a meter to make sure they work.
Flashing Orange Light
There are NO vacuum lines connected to the transfer case - it is the front axle freewheel mechanism that uses vacuum, so if you don't have an issue with the green "front wheel" lights flashing - then don't touch the vacuum lines.
There are two switches that relate to the amber "center diff" light - one senses the lever position, the other senses lock engagement - the two must match or the light flashes. start by checking the switches with a meter to make sure they work.
Thanks for that Fordem
I now know at least that it's just down to the switches. I need to dig out my service manual and see what readings a multimeter should give me and then try it again. Will post back with results
Heavy noise removal
YOU'RE MY HERO! i have the exact same noise problem you described.. well lets hope this weekend when i remove that peice it's what's causing it!
I hope it solves your problem! It was totally wrecking my head.
I had visions of huge jobs such as removing gearbox, diff etc and damaged hubs and all sorts!!
Let me know if this solves it for you
Flashing lights
I also had the same issue with the flashing orange light but read some where its my vacuum hose, so i bought a bit of hydraulic hose but havent fitted it yet. Then the other day my front green lights also started flashing so now i really have to clim underneath and get it sorted out. But somehing bothers me now as you are saying that the green lights is caused by the vacuum?.? I had it the other way around as when i looked one of my hoses was cracked when i had the orange light flashing? So the only thing i can do now is to check both the plugs and hoses and replace what is needed. Im affraid to buy the plugs as i would only get it from the agents AGAIN only!,!
Different lights, different faults.
The orange lights are for the center locking differential, which is NOT vaccum controlled, the front green lights are for the front axle freewheel which IS vacuum controlled.
If you have flashing orange lights the problem is either a problem internal to the transfer case, a defective switch, or wiring related (broken or shorted)
If you have flashing green lights, it can be a problem internal to the front axle, defective switches and/or wiring, a defective vacuum actuator, defective or loose vacuum hoses or vacuum switching valves.
Center diff orange lights...
Hi there, i have a problem where whenever I engage 4HLc or 4LLc, the two front green lights come on but the orange light never comes on.
Could this be a burned bulb or something more serious?
Newbie here, so sorry for the lack of knowledge haha. I recently bought a 1999 4G93 1.8L iO M/T.
Syndicate
It is a 1.8
The 4G93 is a 1.8 litre engine, the V4AW4 is a 4 speed Aisin Warner automatic transmission - it appears like it might have been lowered and fitted with some sort of a body kit.