Hello Mitsubishi fans,<BR>I have a Mitsubishi SUV Montero Turbo Diesiel 2800 of the year 1995 and it has a problem that I cannot figure out the real problem. The engine does not overheat when the truck run fast on the flat road at 140 km/h for a long time with the A/C on. Hovewer, when the truck climbs for a long slope with a full speed (around 120 km/h and POWER train switch on and A/C on too. The temperature indicator starts to level reaching to the max level HOT. This also happens when the truck climbs a long slope of a sand dessert. So, when the temperature level is HOT, I stopped the truck but with the engine ralling and the temperature lowers to normal levels in less than 5 minutes. I have chequed if the electric fan runs when the engine is hot, yes it worked. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img] <P>Hope to hear your good advice!<BR>Thanks from Peru,<BR>Rodolfo

Rudolfo,<P> All vehicles regardless of make will get hot when climbing long slops and hills. There are some things you can do to slow the process. Add a product called water wetter from Redline Racing. It is available on line at performance race stores. Change the thermostat in the cooling system to one that opens at a lower temperature (170C ). Do not use the air conditioning when climbing hills. your truck won't warm up that fast inside. If it is still doing the near to overheat after making htese few modifications get your cooling system checked by a professional. I have a few other suggestions but I do not know your mechanical skills so I am not sure if I should suggest them.<P>Gord

Rodolfo,<P>Gord and I rarely differ on things, but I'll disagree with putting in a thermostat that has a different temperature rating than called for by the factory.<P>I'm going to assume you're familiar with what this truck should and should not do, so I'll assume something is wrong with your cooling system. (This means I assume the engine is in good running order, not having fuel delivery problems). I suspect your radiator may be partially blocked either on the inside or the outside. Have the radiator removed and professionally cleaned on the inside. If it's partly blocked on the inside, an auto parts store flush will not clean it. Here in the US what you need would be to have the radiator "rodded" which literally means the use of thin rods to open up clogged passages.<P>While the radiator is out, you should put a new thermostat in if its age is unknown.<P>Also, be sure your transmission fluid is fresh as the transmission probably has an oil cooler that can heat up the radiator.<P>DougM

It is great to have this forum where many are interested to discuss my problem. I am not mechanic but I am rather well knowledge about the mechanic of truck. I have left the at the Mitsubishi truck shop. What he has told me : Maybe, the problem is that the radiador is not clean enough and also to tune the engine so that the idle point is right. Not yet I have tried the truck. <P>Well, I will ask you a very intelligent question: An example, lately, I went off road with others trucks of different maker, I realized that my truck is not in good shape after the engine got hot soon after a very long and hard climbing over sand dessert and the others aren't as hot as mine. The question is that the Montero Turbo Diesiel is usually have the engine gets hotter than the ones with unleaded gas?<P>Thanks!!!<P>Rodolfo [img]images/icons/grin.gif" border="0[/img]

Rudolpho,<P>No, your diesel should not get hot before a petrol engine would. Diesels are made for harder work than petrol engines and yours should stay cooler under heavy loads than their trucks. Let us know what the dealer finds when they remove the radiator for cleaning.<P>DougM

Boost = Horsepower = Heat<BR>The radiators job is to transfer heat to the air stream moving through the radiator. Are all the shields in place in front of and around the radiator?. Is the boost stock or turned up?. stock tires or larger?. lightly loaded(normal) or heavy load (pulling a trailer)?<BR>Long grades require boost and that makes more power/heat.<BR>If not fixed this could damage pieces.<BR>Kary

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><HR><BR>If not fixed this could damage pieces.<BR>Kary[/QB]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>And your bank account!<P>KC

Today I took my truck from the car shop. The chief of mechanics, told me that he has checked the following points of the truck: <BR>1) Thermostat : Good (opens at 80 Centigrades)<BR>2) A/T oil : ok (it is fresh and its level)<BR>3) Engine is already well tuned (uses 50% of air and 50% diesiel)<BR>4) The radiador : Bad (It is already clogged so the mechanic performed the cleaning by rodding it.<BR>5) The electric fan worked fine and at the needed time.<BR>6) The engine fan, was somewhat stucked when the engine was hot and the mechanic has resolved this problem.<BR>After this cleaning, I took a hard climibing slope test (the first time, the mechanic took my truck to test the radiator and found it raising the temperature at the end of the climbing. The third time (the second time was a test with a new thermostat in order to test the hipothesis of malfunction of it, at the end of climbing, the temperature has raised), the mechanic and I went to the same climbing test site with the radiator cleaned "rodded" and the thermostat remains cool at the end of the climbing. Ufff. Anyway, I am very satisfied to have your support with your many different advises and I learned them a lot. <P>Many thanks to the Mitsubishi Fans! [img]images/icons/grin.gif" border="0[/img] <P>Rodolfo Neuhaus

DougM,<P> The reason that you would use a lower opening thermostat in an offroad vehicle is that the OEM requirement is for on road use in the country of manufacture. Mitsu is from Japan and most of the offroading is done on trails that are like fire cuts so the engine will not work as hard and not heat up as fast. The lower thermostat rating is for the opening time of the cooling system. Yes it may be a little harder on the fuel mileage rating but the safety margin on a working engine is increased. I know you don't agree with me but I have experienced an improvement in engine life with a lower temp thermostat. BTW in the trucking industry it is common practice to run a thermostat 10 degrees cooler in trucks that run over the Rockies on a regular basis. They haven't gone boom because of it. Also if Rudolfo runs coolant (ethylene glycol or antifreeze) in his rad as well as water he will notice the engine doesn't get as hot. It seems though his main issue was with a bad rad. It might be a good idea to make sure that he uses distilled water as it is common for the regular untreated tap water to contain minerals that will "scale" the rad. Also to be on the safe side he can get additives to prevent scaling that go in the rad or he can buy coolant that has these additives in them already.

As the owner of a 95 diesel, one other thing to check is that the intercooler fan is working. It is poorly designed and when I bought the vehicle I found that it was seized up solid.<BR>The temp gauge on mine never wavers from normal even when in low range all day crossing sand dunes.<BR>Back to thermostats - my belief is that the thermostat only serves to warm the engine up quickly and does not affect the running temp once warmed up. Thus putting in a thermostat with a different temp will only serve to lengthen or shorten the warm up period.<BR>Darryl