Fordem's iO

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bob_oz
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yes

yes - you are correct with your theory.

 

it also works wonders on sludged up lifters

.

Claude io
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Same...

Same thing with engine flush...even worse....but the seal have to be on their way out already

Happy io

fordem
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Well...

I have all the seals - front crank, rear crank, plus the cam & valve seals - the one I suspect is leaking is actually an O-ring that sits between the pump & the block - it's just that the location makes it quite a job to get to - on the Lancers you can drop the oil pan and remove the pump, with the engine in the vehicle - on the iO, the cross member is below the pan, and that is what supports the engine and the suspension.

Mitsubishi has a special tool that straddles the engine bay and you hang the engine from it - maybe I should check the dealer see if they have it - and let them replace the O ring.

I'll check with them, but this is not going to happen this year, I have just too much going on right now.

fordem
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High Mileage Oil.

Most oil companies have an oil specially formulated for older cars with high mileage engines - a high detergent oil, to help clean up the sludge that may have built up, and special seal conditioner additives to combat leaking seals

A few years back the only "High Mileage" oil available locally was a ridiculously thick (something like 25W70) Castrol product, but things have changed, and in January, when I discovered that my local lube shop had Valvoline 10W40 High Mileage oil, I decided to give it a try, starting as a top up to replenish lost oil -  the first week, I went through the usual quart; second week, another quart; third week, half a quart, today is the end of the fourth week - less than half a quart, and the spots on the driveway are noticeably smaller.

The next oil change is due in early March, and if the reducing consumption trend continues I will switch to a "fresh fill" of the high mileage oil - it's a little more expensive (around 25% more), but, it looks like it could reduce the consumption enough to pay for itself, and possibly allow me to leave the engine alone for awhile longer - it's my understanding that I have to continue using the oil, or the leaks will reappear, but I think I can live with that.

Claude io
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oil

Good to know, I have seen these oil but never tried them and thought that they were just a bit thicker and more an advertising thing than the real stuff...

Happy io

fordem
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The "lift project" is well and truly committed.

After many months of deliberation I guess you could say I am now committed to lifting my iO - I've just ordered front & rear Dobinson springs from Dobinson USA - the actual lift is still some months away as the springs have to be shipped from Australia to the US, and then from the US to Guyana - yes - I could have shipped directly from Australia to Guyana, but, it's a lot less expensive to do it this way.  A pair of the high pan KYB 334405 struts has been purchased and the piston rods from the OE Mitsubishi struts have been dropped off at the machine shop to be converted into strut extenders, camber bolts are also sitting on the shelf in case they are needed.

fordem
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Wish me luck!!

With my son in New York for a few weeks, my iO is temporarily "unneeded" - it's just my wife & I and we have two cars besides the iO - so I decided to take the opportunity to fix the "oil leak from hell".

It took us three full days to get the engine out and on to the stand - Mitsubishi did not make this vehicle "mechanic friendly" - you have to unbolt the torque converter entirely by feel, the intake has to be removed, before the starter can be removed, before the bell housing can be unbolted - and the list goes on...

Enough negatives - there were no unpleasant surprises when we dropped the oil pan - the oil pump has been removed, and sure enough the O-ring behind it was as hard as a rock - it looked like a thick metal washer and actually broke when I tried to flex it.  Tthe bottom end of the engine has been cleaned up and reassembled, and tomorrow we tackle the top end.

Claude io
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engine repair

Good luck, I hope you get good result.

Happy io

fordem
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Car is back together ...

I pick it up from the mechanic in the morning.

We've replaced all the various oil seals (front & rear crank and cam seals) and O-rings (oil pump - this is where the leak was - cam position sensor, GDI pump) - all of the smaller coolant hoses have been replaced, including the one that runs behind the cylinder head, the EGR port has been blanked and everything has been given a thorough cleaning - I tell you this engine has not been this clean in all the time I've owned this car.

We opted not to pull the head, so the valve seals have not been touched - when the exhaust manifold was removed there was a heavy - almost 6mm - build up of carbon in the #2 exhaust port suggesting that there maybe a problem with the oil rings in that cylinder, and since the engine runs reasonably well I decided to let well alone for now - the strange thing about the build-up is that it was in the form of a ridge right where the head meets the manifold and the actual port itself and the valves were fairly clean - I'm curious as to why the build up and even more so as to why it took the form that it did - but not curious enough to actually tear it part knowing that the parts to do a proper rebuild are not readily available.

One of the things that has concerned me about this car is the relatively small "oil pan" capacity - it takes just about four litres of oil as compared to, for example, the six litres that my 2.0 litre Grand Vitara takes - something which my mechanic also commented on.  Now one of the things I've noticed is that if the car is on the slightest of slopes it has a noticeable impact on the level shown on the dipstick, and this has been a concern because it would theoretically be possible, if the oil were just slightly low, and the vehicle were on a slope (which is not unusual when off road), for the level to fall even lower - whilst disassembling the engine we were discussing the possibility of increasing the pan capacity by welding in a section and lowering the pickup - what we discovered is that there is quite a bit of "unused capacity" in the existing pan - there is quite a bit of clearance between the crank and where the level would be at the full mark on the stick - enough to safely "overfill" the pan by another litre or two (my mechanic thinks it can take another gallon - I would be happy with half that).

The car will be parked for about a week after I bring it home tomorrow, as I have to go on a trip, but I'll be using it daily once I get back and will report more then.

Future work that I hope to get done this month - installation of new speakers in the front doors - which shouldn't take long, and the installation of a transmission temperature gauge - this one requires the pan to be removed and a bung welded in for the gauge sender so it involves the car being off the road for a day or so.

Claude io
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well done

What I noticed on the spare engine I had (not GDI) is that the exhaust manifold doesn't fully match the head outlet, this could explain why a deposit will develop there.

Well done, I hope that you will have good result....

Happy io

fordem
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There is some degree of mismatch by design.

If I remember correctly, it is common practice to have the manifold port a tiny bit larger that the port in the head - say about 1mm all around - it's done to prevent "reversion" and boosts low end torque - it's just very strange.

Anyway - I've picked up the car - starts & runs well, and that "customary" film of oil on the front of the oil pan is not there, so we're looking good.

simmo777
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Good News!

That's good news to hear Fordem! Glad everything seems to have turned out okay. Interesting point about the oil pan. Would hate to think all the angles driving combined with hard off road with the oil moving around and possibly not lubricating everything would be reducing the engine life noticeably.

2002 5dr Pajero IO QA 2.0L Auto - Lifted, Locked!! 1.925 Low Range - Muddies (205/80/16) - Redback Extractors to 200cell cat to dump at diff Exhaust 

Claude io
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oil pan

simmo777 wrote:

That's good news to hear Fordem! Glad everything seems to have turned out okay. Interesting point about the oil pan. Would hate to think all the angles driving combined with hard off road with the oil moving around and possibly not lubricating everything would be reducing the engine life noticeably.

Maybe the GDI oil pan is different than ours, my io have seen some pretty long steep hills, maybe not Simmo (lol), and I never have any engine problem or heard of them related to this.

Happy io

fordem
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The pans appear to be different ...

Looking at the shop manual, the SOHC engines use a conventional pan with a baffle or windage tray that would keep the oil around the pickup, the DOHC MPI engine uses a different pan, also with a windage tray, and for the DOHC GDI engines, there are two more pans, neither of which have the tray - I have no idea why Mitsubishi would have gone this route.

fordem
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Strut extenders are finally complete...

I got a phone call from the machine shop guy this morning - after many months he has finally gotten around to working on my strut extenders - basically taking the top of the strut rods from a pair of OEM Mitsubishi struts, cutting them to length and then drilling & tapping them to screw onto one another - or the top of new strut rods - and I was able to pick them up after lunch.

The local KYB dealer also has the KYB 343408 rear shocks in stock (just in case I decide to toss the Monroes that I currently have), so the only things missing for the lift are the Dobinsons springs, which have been ordered and which I hope to have soon.

fordem
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I received good news this weekend...

My Dobinson's springs have finally landed in Miami - they should get to my sister within the next few days and then it's onto Guyana - if all goes well I will have them in mid August and then I have to find the time to install - fitting the rears is the easy part, the fronts - well - I have a number of "iterations" planned.

First - I think should be the low pan struts with the Dobinsons springs and no strut extenders - see how much lift I get and also how much droop, and get an idea of what the ride is like.

Second - if I'm happy with the ride - will be the Dobinsons springs with the high pan struts - whether or not the strut extenders get fitted at this point will depend on the lift & droop measurements obtained in the first iteration.  If I'm not happy with the ride, I might try the OE low pan springs with the high pan struts.

The general idea is to do a mild lift to get more clearance for larger tyres, the high pan struts will be fitted and the lift matched front & rear, and also improve the ride some - the stiffer springs should reduce the body roll and also the dive when braking.  The Dobinsons are advertised as 30~35mm lift, but depending on the struts that could end up being closer to 55 mm, we might need a spacer at the rear to even it out, but we could also go the other way and swap out the Dobinsons front coils for one with a lower rate, all depends on how it rides.

fordem
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The Dobinsons are now supposedly in transit to Guyana

The Dobinsons springs arrived in Miami and were mailed to my sister where I picked them up and repackaged them and then dropped them off at the freight forwarder for shipment to Guyana - I'm now impatiently awaiting their arrival here - I did briefly consider packing them in my luggage, but, the 23 lbs weight shown on the UPS shipping documents was actually 40 lbs and as I was already pushing the envelope I shipped them via ocean freight - so another two to three weeks.

On a different front - the starter on a GDI engined iO has to rank as one of the most difficult to remove - you can either go from below and remove drive shaft and cross-member plus a host of other bits & pieces, or go from above and remove the intake and a host of other bits & pieces - the only good part is that the solenoid died in the drive way and not in the trail we were about to leave for - that would have required a flatbed to recover the car and get it back to town - strike one black mark for automatic transmissions in 4WDs.

fordem
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After many months ...

My Dobinsons springs have finally made to Guyana

 

On the right, C43-240 front springs; on the left, C43-115 rear springs - yes, the fronts are right/left and the rears left/right.

 

The front springs alongside an old set of OEM Mitsubishi "low pan" springs.

Next weekend should be a three day weekend, so I guess that is when I'll be installing them - give myself enough time to remove & reinstall the front springs with both low & high pan struts and with/without strut extenders to find the optimum configuration - hopefully I won't have to go back to Dobinsons to resolve any ride height issues.

Claude io
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lift

I thought that you will never lift that io....what took you so long wink

Happy io....soon anyway !

fordem
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Plans (and needs) change Claude ;)

I've installed the Dobinsons springs - did the rears yesterday afternoon when I got home from work, and the fronts today, I also fitted new strut boots.

What we have currently are C43-240 springs with the existing KYB low pan struts in front, and C43-115 springs with the existing Monroe Adventure D7002 shocks in back.

I took a short test drive yesterday evening with just the rear springs fitted and immediately got the feeling that the rear end was underdamped, especially on the rebound, something that was not entirely unexpected - I may swap the Monroes out for KYBs.  After the front springs went in I took a slightly longer test drive, the car felt much more balanced with no trace of the struts topping out on speed bumps, which had been a concern.

Eyeballing it, the camber looks good, I'll probably take it in for an alignment on Monday, see whether or not I need to fit camber bolts, but more because I suspect the toe will be out after the lift and incorrect toe can do a number on the tires in a relatively short distance, and then drive it "as-is" for a few weeks - see if it settles, see how I feel about the ride, and also figure out what to do with regard the installation of the KYB high pan struts - one option being to ask Dobinsons about a different spring with less lift.

At this point I'm fairly happy with it, that may change when I start looking for tires as I would like to go to a slightly larger tire - maybe a 225/75R16, which will require the high pan struts.

I'll post the before & after numbers later - the install sheet is in the car and I'm too lazy to get it - from memory the front came up just about 30mm, and the rear, which should have been 35mm was closer to 60.

fordem
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I figured it out ...

After a couple of days and a couple of hundred kilometers, I remeasured the height, which hasn't changed, and then realized there's only 10mm difference in height between the right & left rear corners, so it's not that the right rear has been lifted by 60mm as much as the entire right side of the car was stitting close to 10mm lower than the left, and that has now been corrected.

Before - LF:657mm, RF:649mm, LR:674mm, RR:666mm

After    - LF:690mm, RF:686mm, LR:715mm, RR:725mm

Claude io
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new lift

That seems to be a good level. That probably giving you a good handling. 

Happy io

simmo777
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At last a lift!

Good to see you finally got your hands on some springs and lift!

Eager to hear your comments after some more driving.

Any pictures of before and after?

2002 5dr Pajero IO QA 2.0L Auto - Lifted, Locked!! 1.925 Low Range - Muddies (205/80/16) - Redback Extractors to 200cell cat to dump at diff Exhaust 

fordem
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Handling is actually pretty good...

The OE spings on the iO are just way too soft - with the new springs, body roll in a turn is vastly reduced, as is the "nose dive" that was very noticeable under braking - my one concern at this point is the damping or what appears to be a lack thereof, especially noticeable when coming off a speed bump - as much as I want a shock with adjustable rebound damping, I don't know that I'm willing to spring for a set of Konis

Claude io
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lift

If I understood you still have the original strut, maybe changing them will help ? The KYB strut do not stay at 100% for very long. 

Could also be a good idea to "play" with tyre pressure....

Happy io

fordem
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I'd say the struts are in reasonable shape...

One of the first things to go when a strut fails is the gas charge, these had no trouble staying extended during the installation of the springs.

I do have a pair of new struts, but they are high pan and as you know, those are likely to create their own set of issues.

fordem
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I had the car aligned today...

Prior to the lift installation I had noticed that there was once again some amount of negative camber on the front tires which disappeared when I installed the springs - when we put the car up on the rack it was surprisingly enough still within spec. on caster & camber, and just barely out on the toe - which has now been corrected.

I find I'm enjoying the ride more & more, and beginning to think these are the springs Mitsubishi should have used from the get go.

I still haven't decided how to approach the high pan/low pan issue, it's very clear that the Dobinsons were designed for the low pan struts, and whilst I want the additional clearance that the high pan struts can provide, I'm not keen of lifting any higher (other than the minimal lift the larger tire will provide), or reducing the suspension droop any further.

I think I'll start a discussion with the good folks at Dobinsons and see if they are interested/willing to do another spring with the same rate but less lift, failing which I can consider their "standard height" front spring.

 

.

bob_oz
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dobinsons for high pan

fordem wrote:

Prior to the lift installation I had noticed that there was once again some amount of negative camber on the front tires which disappeared when I installed the springs - when we put the car up on the rack it was surprisingly enough still within spec. on caster & camber, and just barely out on the toe - which has now been corrected.

I find I'm enjoying the ride more & more, and beginning to think these are the springs Mitsubishi should have used from the get go.

I still haven't decided how to approach the high pan/low pan issue, it's very clear that the Dobinsons were designed for the low pan struts, and whilst I want the additional clearance that the high pan struts can provide, I'm not keen of lifting any higher (other than the minimal lift the larger tire will provide), or reducing the suspension droop any further.

I think I'll start a discussion with the good folks at Dobinsons and see if they are interested/willing to do another spring with the same rate but less lift, failing which I can consider their "standard height" front spring.

they make them - same part number but with some letters at the end of the number

.

Claude io
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before & after - sort of...

 

I had to go up to the local Caterpillar agents today, so I took this opportunity to get a side by side, sort of before & after shot, of my car along side a standard ride height iO - both cars are wearing the same size rubber, but mine (on the right of the picture) has more room in the arches.  Something else I observed is that my car has noticeably more "rake" or "front to back" slope (front is lower) - this makes me more inclined to lift the front a further 25mm, by fitting the pair of high pan struts that I have sitting on a shelf.  I fully expect this to cause the struts to "top out", also on the shelf are a pair of strut rod extenders made to deal with that scenario.

I've also decided that the time has come to deal with the erratic & frequently excessive oil consumption, now that I have successfully dealt with the leaks, it is obvious that the oil that is being used is being burned, and it really is too much to be the valve seals, so it's more than likely the oil control rings.  By the end of this month I will have acquired all the parts that can be purchased for a rebuild without actually tearing the engine apart, I know where to source the required bearings locally, but will most likely need to special order the pistons, if a rebore is deemed necessary - for some strange reason, rings are available locally, but not pistons.

fordem
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Looks like another year has "sneaked" by...

And I still haven't gotten around to pulling the engine out - just been driving it & adding oil as required - the challenge here has been vehicle availability - kids moving out, other kids moving back in, and, well, it just never happened - maybe in the new year.  The old girl has been chugging along, with the usual lifter clatter coming & going, not quite turn the key reliable (I did have to replace the ignition switch & get the starter redone), but other than that no issues.

What has been done is routine maintenance, set of new tires  - Bridgestone Dueller ATs in the OEM 215/70R16 size - nice aggressive looking tread pattern - and rather than pay through the nose for a genuine key with remote, I fitted an after market alarm system with keyless entry, which led me through a whole new series of challenges and ended with me having to pull the ETACS module from under the dash, open it, and add connections to support the after market system - the circuitry was all there, just not the connections to the wiring harness.

I did find along the way, that Febest parts don't have a particularly long service life - left side ball joint has gone in less than three years - but since I know which other vehicles use the same Febest part, I have been able to source AC-Delco parts that should fit and last longer - rack boots have also failed "prematurely", and I'm going to need to replace some of the rear suspension bushings again. 

fordem
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We're now well in 2019 ...

and the engine is finally out and apart - the excessive oil consumption is the result of stuck/siezed oil control rings on all four pistons - compression rings are in reasonable shape, no scored bores, no appreciable wear ridge on the bores - I'm waiting on the measurements from the machinist to decide whether a rebore is a must or I can get away with just hone & re-ring - boring will mean having to order pistons & rings in from Japan at considerable expense, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a re-ring is a possibility...

fordem
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The motor is finally back together and in the car.

What was done is essentially a "re-ring" -  clean up the ring grooves, drill out the carbon clogging the oil drain holes behind the oil ring grooves, fit new standard rings & bearings, hone the bores to break the glaze, and fit the bottom end back together.  The head was stripped, cleaned & reassembled, valve seats cut, new stem seals etc., and then mated with the block, using new gaskets seals, etc.

A new timing belt, tensioner & idler pulleys were fitted, even though the ones on there have at most a few thousand kilometers on them, along with a new water pump, as I have no intention of opening this motor up again any time soon.

A couple of parts had to be sourced out of Japan, so that delayed reassembly by several weeks, and then we ran into some issues with coolant hoses - never use fuel hose for coolant, the ethylene glycol in the coolant will make the hose stiff & brittle in a short space of time - I could not find 10mm bulk "heater hose" here, so that had to be special ordered, adding to the delay.

I've had the car back less than a week, put maybe 50 clicks or so on it, and it seems to me that with each day she pulls stronger, harder, faster - I'm guessing improved compression as the rings seat, or maybe as the ECU "relearns" what's going on.

Lifter clatter is gone, oil consumption is definitely reduced - there has been "no detectable drop" in the level on the dipstick, which might sound like an odd statement, given the low mileage driven, but this is an motor that was going through half a liter of oil in a week, and that does show up as a noticeable drop on the dipstick, and the oil has remained "clean & clear", which is also markedly different to what I experienced previously - oil darkened rapidly in this engine.

For now, I'm happy with how she runs - going to put a thousand or so clicks on her and then do an oil & filter change, try to guage how much oil she has burned in that period, maybe pull the plugs and see what they look like, and then get back to sorting out the little things that need sorting - like do I want to fit the high pan front struts with the strut extenders that are sitting on the shelf.

Claude io
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rebuild

Well done, that took a while but good thing doesn't happen overnight !! I hope that it will last you a long time....

yes

Happy io

fordem
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Two weeks after the rebuild ...

and 270 kms later, I'm very happy with the work done, there has been no discernable drop in the level shown on the dipstick, and the oil is only now starting to darken.  Most of these kms have been done in the city, but I did get to make one "out of town" run (to the international airport), which would have been 40 kms, each way.

I've had to deal with minor cooling system issues, a "weep" where one of the heater hoses attaches to the core, and a hairline crack on the overflow reservoir cap hose connects, preventing the system from drawing the overflow back to the radiator.

Not previously mentioned, some time back I fitted a transmission temperature gauge (really a coolant temperature gauge that I had on hand) - the sender is located in a tee plumbed into the transmission cooler line so that it displays the temperature of the fluid as it leaves the transmission, what I have learned from this is that the transmissions on these cars are very lightly loaded and in little danger of overheating, much of the heat energy is actually transferred from the engine coolant to the transmission fluid rather than the other way around.

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nice one, glad you have

nice one, glad you have sorted the engine out now yes

fordem
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3000 kms after the rebuild...

We've now done some 3000 kms since the rebuild, without having to add a drop of oil, and no apparent change in level on the dipstick, so that's one issue resolved, however another one has reared it's head - I think the transmission control unit has developed a problem.

For quite a while I've had an intermittent problem whee the transmission would not shift up to fourth gear - the fault code indicates a 32 (output shaft speed sensor error) - cycling the power to the controller usually resolves it, until the next time.  It's gone from once every 2~3 months, to more recently 2~3 times a day, and now it's a "hard" error - I've had the problem before and traced it to wiring harness so that was checked as step one, the sensor itself passes the tests in the service manual so that leaves the controller as the primary suspect.

Local used part places do not have any controllers, but I found a reasonably priced one on ebay, and I'm waiting on that to get here.

fordem
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Not the TCU

I got the replacement TCU several weeks back and installed it - with no change in symptoms.

Digging a little deeper I realised that there are actually three speed sensors on the vehicle - the input shaft speed sensor and the output shaft speed sensor, both mounted on the transmission, and the vehicle speed sensor, mounted on the transfer case reading the rear output shaft - and all the time I had been looking at the vehicle speed sensor, and not the transmission output shaft speed sensor - not that it made much of a difference, the tests performed were valid and being done at the TCU connector.

The problem appears to have been electrical noise being picked up by the sensor wiring and I have added additional foil sheilding which seems to have fixed it, at least for now - I have not seen the error in the last six weeks or so.

fordem
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Another year has gone by.

It was an uneventful year, due to the pandemic not a lot was done, when I was out & around I was using the iO, oil consumption has proven to be neglegible, and the only issue I've had has been the "non-return" of coolant from the overflow reservoir, which I know is caused by the overflow reservoir cap.  I did get around to ordering and fitting a replacement ABS wheel speed sensor on the right front wheel (I got the car with it broken), and it's been completely refinished in the original colors.

pebre
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Hello Fordem excellent report

Hello Fordem excellent report on this car that you seem to appreciate a lot.

It is true that this car is very endearing, I have a lot of fun with mine which is quite reliable, because at 170mkm, no worries to be deplored, yet it is mainly used off-road.

I think we'll keep them for a long time.

Hello to Guyana.

fordem
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A brief update ...

This car is now destined to be a daily driver for one of my daughters, I've pulled the Dobinsons springs out and put back the OEM Mitsubishi, along with new KYB struts & shocks - the ride is actually much more refined without the Dobinsons - if you're going to run a stiffer spring you really do need shocks & struts to match them - it's also been re-upholstered, which was badly needed and new headlights fitted, also badly needed - looks all shiny & new now.

There are a couple of odds & ends that need to be sorted - a heavy vibration at idle that I'm told is the transmission mount (it already has new engine mounts), so that's been ordered and is due to arrive any day now, one of the front freewheel VSVs seems to have died (it's not disengaging the front axle), so I'm driving it in 4H - I may just leave it that way because driving as an AWD vehicle tames the inclination of the rear end to misbehave in the wet.

GT Tuners
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 Hello FOREDEM, I am from

 

Hello FORDEM, I am from Guyana as well. below are some pics of my iO. There is alot of work left to done, engine rebuilt in February this year.

 

 

 

fordem
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Well folks, this will probably be my last update

as well as maybe my last post here - my iO has been sold - I think she's gone to a good home.

I enjoyed driving this car immensely, we had fun times together, and even though my ownership was not troublefree, she always got me (and my kids) home safely.  We've travelled the length & breadth of the roads along the coast together and occasionally off pavement in the Timehri/Madewini trails where she proved to be very capable in loose sand.

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