Interesting to note how it has no badges on the outside, except the one 4x4 on the gate. Wonder if it's been resprayed.

Cam bore seals... as in a possible source of the oil leak. Check the back ends of the heads. There's a cover that fails times. Shouldn't be too hard to remedy.

'de-badged' = someone took the stickers off. Who knows why. Kids do it around here a lot - guess they think it's 'cool'. Sigh.

Parts may have been repainted and they couldn't get the stickers or didn't bother. Sign of a crap discount paint shop trying to save a buck. Unlikely they did the whole truck because the gold pin strip is still there. A lot of paint shops usually skip that and just paint a solid panel. It's easier and faster. Missing the front 'Montero Sport' makes me wonder, though. If you're thinking of buying this make sure you check and see if it's been in an accident and make sure you find out where it came from.

If I remember correctly, my X's said 'Limited' across the right bottom corner of the hatch.

The ones that usually leak are the cam bore seals on the back of the heads. Hard to check without a flashlight and a mirror. But, if there are no visible oil leaks elsewhere and the oil seems to be coming from the rear of the engine, that's almost a guarantee.

Doesn't matter too much. If you plan on buying it you really should do the whole timing belt, tune up, plugs, wires, valve cover seals, plug boots, etc. While that's being done is an excellent time to do the cam bore seals.

How many miles?

Edward

thanks for all that good info, it has 168K

Oh, one more thing...this rear cam leak, any consequence to not fixing it, other then burning oil?

Then it's due for the timing belt and stuff anyway. That's about every 80K. Like I said. Do it all and then you won't have to worry about creating a giant door stop on the side of the highway. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I strongly sugest you have someone independent go through this thing before you buy. Preferably a Mitsu mechanic. Looking at the pictures again - that thing just doesn't give me a warm fuzzy.

Edward

Doesn't burn, it leaks. It'll get worse. My friend's '98 has been leaking for about 8 months. Leaks like a sieve. Her's dumps a quart a month, easy.

Edward

lol, well then this MS is also burnng oil as well, as it smokes when driven too <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Dang.:( That's a BAD sign. There is no way a Mitsu with 170K should be smoking. My '97 3.0L had 530K+ and the only time it smoked was when I got it off camber - replaced the valve stem seals three years ago and that was it. That vehicle has been abused - which means there are almost certainly other problems you're not aware of yet.

Unless you're ready to dump at least several thousand dollars into this thing I'd steer clear. If I were going to buy it (which I wouldn't) I'd budget between 5K and 6K in addition to the purchase price - but that's just me.

Edward

after searching a little here, the oil burning from the exhaust could likely be the PCV allowing oil leakage into the intake

Wives tale.

A PCV valve is just a one way valve. That valve is there to prevent back-flow from the manifold back into the crank case. Otherwise, you'd just have a hose and no valve. It's mostly a piece of (VERY old tech) emissions equipment. Instead of venting crank case fumes to the atmosphere, they're routed to and burned in the combustion chambers. To a lesser extent, it's also there to create negative pressure in the crank case to help the rings seal. Mostly, though, it's just for emissions.

The valve doesn't prevent anything from 'leaking'. The second negative pressure is applied to the intake manifold side, that valve is open. Period. If there's positive pressure in the intake the valve is closed. EVEN if the valve is stuck open, positive pressure in the intake prevents anything from flowing from the crank case to the intake manifold.

There are only two reasons for oil smoke where the PCV would be in the chain. Excessive blow-by past the rings or the crank case has been over filled with oil - or both.

Figure out when it smokes. At idle? Under hard acceleration? Deceleration? Off camber? Cruise? Just plain all the time? Figuring out these questions will give you an idea of where and what the problem actually is.

Common causes of oil smoke coming out the exhaust:

Valve stem seal(s)
Oil ring(s)
Compression ring(s)

Uncommon (some may not apply to Mitsus):

Blown head gasket
Cracked cylinder head
Cracked block
Blown intake gasket

If it's blowing oil smoke and it's been doing it for a while you'll be replacing O2 sensors and maybe a CAT, so put those on your list as well.

IMHO, I know this seems like a good deal, but unless you're going to do all the work yourself and you're looking for a project, it's not. I wouldn't give more than $1000 if I were planning on this being a driver. Too many red flags. There's a reason it's listed so cheap. My dad always says, 'if it sounds or looks too good to be true, then it is'.

Edward

Really? This is our first V6 Mitsu (had a Galant for awhile a long time ago) and my opinion of the 6G72 is that they are all oil burning monsters.

My choices for the truck were the Montero, Discovery II, and La Forza. Montero won because they are plentiful and they don't seem to have alot of mechanical issues - except for smoking.

Maybe the 6G72s I see on the road have half a million miles - I'm hoping my opinion is wrong. My truck just got new gaskets - including valve stem seals, so I'm hoping she doesn't smoke.