Hello all. I am new here, but I've been watching and learning from the board for a while. My name is Brian and I'm in Seattle. I've always been a Land Rover guy, but I am making a switch to Monteros (I think). I don't know a ton about Monteros so Im here seeking advice. I can turn a wrench and have rebuilt VWs and Land Rovers.

So here's whats going on. I have found a pretty solid 1991 Montero LS 5spd in the Maroon color with a kind of unique interior color (at least from what I've seen).

I went and looked at it today and here is the skinny on it.

CONS
1. Blown head gasket (smokey tail pipe and milky oil).

2. Some strange rattling/knocking under the truck when driving (yes I took it for a SUPER short drive). It seems to be mid truck drivers side, but not 100% it's def not in the engine compartment. Maybe catalytic converter? Any help here would be AWESOME.

2. A leak coming in from somewhere under the dash. The passenger side floorboard carpet was SOAKED.

3. Drivers side floorboard was damp.

4. Paint on hood and top faded and clear coat peeling.

GOOD
1. $500 bucks

2. Paint on rest of vehicle nice and shiny.

3. No rust from what I could see and the truck looks overall clean (doesn't look beat all to hell off road).


So I've priced what I perceive to be needed to do a top end rebuild. Is it even worth it? Should I hold out for one that I don't have to sink $1500 + right out the gate?

I would post a pic, but not sure how to...

Yea - I can't get the images to display either but the urls below can be cut and pasted into browser.

Image 1
[img]http://1drv.ms/1CqSFd4[/img]

Image 2
[img]http://1drv.ms/1CqSu1q[/img]

Image 3
[img]http://1drv.ms/1CqSWwQ[/img]

My 2 cents...

Short answer - yes - buy it.

long answer. if you put $1500 into it for $2k you have a serious vehicle that will go anywhere. it seems LWBs here in Ca are getting fewer, and harder to find a decent one. If you can wrench on VWs and Land Rovers, MItsus are easy. You can download the service manual, and the tech knowledge around here will get you thru anything.

fwiw - i looked for awhile before narrowing it down to toyota, and mitsubishi as my final options. In the end I went this way because the right vehicle came up. Its been nearly 3 years and i still think i made the right choice.

the water leak is most likely coming in around the windshield - behind the gasket.

knocking underneath? maybe a loose skid plate?i'm guessing you'd feel it if it were in the drive line.

good luck!

1. Blown head gasket (smokey tail pipe and milky oil).

a) Head gasket set, head machine work (straighten, mill, new valve guides and stem seals), timing belt, water pump, timing belt tensioner idler, front main seal, timing belt crank sprocket, new crank pulley bolt and washer, new accessory belt(s). Under a grand if you do the labor, two solid days for an average skill mechanic working alone. Multiple writeups on here. Mitsubishilinks.com for a factory manual for an 89, which will work fine for a head job - 91 manual on the same site is much less helpful.

2. Some strange rattling/knocking under the truck when driving (yes I took it for a SUPER short drive). It seems to be mid truck drivers side, but not 100% it's def not in the engine compartment. Maybe catalytic converter? Any help here would be AWESOME.

a) as previously noted, plus there is a roll stopper appliance on the dside inner frame which couples to the tcase case dside outer end. One side is a bracket with thru bolt, and the other side is a bracket with a steel hole lined with a rubber doughnut which has a lot of clearance on the thru bolt. It's to limit engine/tranny/tcase deflection under heavy torque. The donut can rot out, and with a misfiring engine, can rattle against the bare steel while pulling or decelling hard.

2. A leak coming in from somewhere under the dash. The passenger side floorboard carpet was SOAKED.

a) as noted, plus clean the drain(s) for the cowl air intake bucket, under the plastic grill. In fact, the whole hood to windshield base unscrews with engine compartment screws and removes. the drains are rubber pipe cut on the slant with a filled end with the lower ends free and a vertical slit. Crud makes it thru the plastic grill and clogs up the drains, and the air bucket fills up in heavy rain and overflows the interior air inlet sill and flows into the truck via heat vents.

3. Drivers side floorboard was damp.

4. Paint on hood and top faded and clear coat peeling.

GOOD
1. $500 bucks

2. Paint on rest of vehicle nice and shiny.

3. No rust from what I could see and the truck looks overall clean (doesn't look beat all to hell off road).

Further thoughts. Does it have the offroad kit? Headlight washers and an lsd rear diff, for which there will be a lubricant additive orange warning label on the driver's door jamb, rear side. Great trucks with all the want it's from the gen1. The 5spd is very tough, a true truck tranny.

One more necessary immediate do item, You MUST remove the radiator and take to a rad shop and have it rodded out, tanks removed and boiled out, leak tested, and put back together. Under $200. These tiny radiator flues clog up, and you get a long term chronic mild overheat. Any fairly minor overheat event or low coolant level, can make the head bow up, stretch the head bolts, and lose the head seal and blow the gasket. Buy new head bolts.

Replace the fan clutch, too, unless it's very stiff at room temps (VERY stiff).

The LS model usually had the offroad kit, power windows/locks.

You all are great! Thanks so much for the help and thoughts. I appreciate that. I will keep you all posted on what I do etc.

For $140 I would throw in some "steel-seal". I've used it on 3 engines and they are all still working.

check for loose harmonic balancer and if so take it off and make sure the crank snout, and esp. the keyway isn't widered/hammered. The bottom end is tough, this is the only real problem with the bottom. Heads were plentiful as the Chrysler 3.0 heads are the same. You can only plane/resurface once as to much removal of metal make head too thin and all kinds of problems result.
I 've spent the last year with all these problems. But my location and fixed income made the problem worse just for me personally. These are tougher than L.R.s and they won't brake a T case when your out in back of beyond.
Welcome to the forum <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Cheers <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

I like the contrast between the posts here and on Exportal, welcome to the Wire!

I wonder if this is the one that GVR4 guy left on the side of the highway last month. Can't find the thread, but be bought it, did some basic maintenance, then started out across country with it. Want to say it [censored] the bed on him somewhere in Washington and he just left the keys in it and walked away.

Once running, I suspect it will be more reliable than a Landy, less common, and all the fun you hoped it would be.