Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Well first off, glad your making good use of your both your Deli and your property Adam.

Have you removed both your fan shroud; for good access to check belt tension, and your skid plate; better access to the tensioning nut on your alternator. With that plastic shroud the alternator is way hidden. My alternators tensioning bolt broke suddenly, a few months ago, and sounded similar with no tension at all. If there wasn't a ferry in the way I'd be right over to try and help.

Good Luck,
Kevin

Adam,

I suspect your alternator is is cooked. It is an easy rebuild with parts about $100 to $150 for a voltage regulator and bearings. It also sounds like one of your batteries has died and is drawing the other down. When I first picked up my dead-deli it had similar symptoms, would start with a boost but die shortly after driving away. It turned out it was the batteries and the alternator. Also, there are a couple of components somewhere in the van the require constant power to keep it running - they will not run with dead batteries and a bad alternator - tried it.

You can drive a long ways on battery power alone. I drove from Hinton to Williams Lake (about 600 km's) without an alternator, but two new batteries. No lights, no heat, no radio, no turning it off. It would not start when I turned it off in the driveway as the batteries were too drawn down.

James

Hi Adam,
I think you have 2 separator issues: alternator/battery versus water pump/thermostat.

Try charging the battery overnight, to determine if alternator or battery problem. Just jumpstarting is NOT recharging the battery. Also if your battery has run down too much (very likely in this case) you may find it can't recharge. Borrow a good battery out of someone else's car to check (in summer deli will start fine on a single little 24 series car batteries, as long as you don't have big WVO preheater running also.

The dashboard lights fading on and off while engine running (even when they are not having a problem) is exactly the same symptom I had, which indicates worn alternator problem, needs rewinding the wiring inside alternator, the dimming is a pre-set failure indicator by mitsubishi I heard. But when mine died, I had no overheating issue, so I think you may have 2 different issues (I still vote for seized water pump).

I drove without alternator as long as I charged battery overnight with battery charger, and used minimal accessories, but I did keep a "portable jumper / camping power" units in the car in case. Portable power units: Need 600 amp cold cranking power to start when cold, don't get the cheap 300 amp one, wasnt strong enuf to start my deli when I killed the battery.

You saw Green1 reply also saying don't drive it hot, he knows whereof he speaks ...see his posts asking anyone got a spare engine he can buy due to cracked head ... ouch, listen to him.

Good Luck, Christine.

BCDelica wrote:Have you removed both your fan shroud; for good access to check belt tension, and your skid plate; better access to the tensioning nut on your alternator. With that plastic shroud the alternator is way hidden. My alternators tensioning bolt broke suddenly, a few months ago, and sounded similar with no tension at all. If there wasn't a ferry in the way I'd be right over to try and help.

Thanks for the offer Kevin It'd be great to have some in person technical assistance, but lacking that the forum suggestions are really helping. It looks like the tension is out on the alternator belts, and I found a sheared off bolt when I removed my skid plate, check it out:


Sorry about the terrible picture on the 2nd video, I should get some lights under there, hopefully you can see how much play is in the alternator.

Well I think I found out where the sheared off bolt is supposed to go. It looks like it is supposed to secure the alternator to the tension bolt slider (btw I'm just making up these terms as I go). Here's a shot of what it looks like: OK, just got off the phone with Kevin and he had the same problem. He told me I can drop the alternator from underneath by removing the pivot bolt and disconnecting the wires. Then I can dig out the other 1/2 of the bolt from the alternator. Here goes....

Good luck! I will continue to anxiously watch this thread and hope for your success!

Hey KonaDog. You like the unfolding drama of my disabled Deli, eh Sure is nice to get real time advice on what to look for, thanks again for the forum Mark.

So, do you think I need to unscrew what looks like and oil pump from the alternator before I can pull it out? Otherwise it looks like I need to disconnect some oil hoses which could be messy. Here's a shot of the screws I think I need to remove to separate the black oil pump (??) from the alternator. Any suggestions?

Oh yeah, there's more then those two 10mm bolts holding it on. You can drop it with the alternator, plugging and undoing the oil lines. I just unbolted it and pulled it straight out carefully, wrapping it in a clean rag to protect it. The shaft for the oil pump goes into the alternator, and surprisingly not much oil drained out with it.

Forgot to mention that.

Kev

Actually, if it's just your alternator you can drive (no lights, so you can't drive at night). Japanoid David's son drove from waaay up north to Vancouver with no alternator working. He had to get a jump every morning, but then was able to drive. However, in your case it sounds like there's more than jsut the alternator giving problems.

you would have to charge the battery over night. or you wont get far.
at some kind of minimum voltage the ignition system just kicks out.
they dont run forever.

at some kind of minimum voltage the ignition system just kicks out.

on diesel engines the ignition system doesn't require voltage... however the fuel shutoff solenoid may require voltage to hold it open...

Fixed it. Thanks for everyones help, especially Kevin for having the same problem previously and knowing how to fix it I finally disconnected all the oil hoses going to the pump and pulled the alternator out to remove the sheared off bolt. Here's what it looked like: Finally I have validation that I bought the correct version of the VegTherm. The Mega, which I bought, requires 90A, but at the time I made the purchase there was a debate as to whether the Super Exceed had a 75A or a 90A alternator. I guess I made the right choice (thankfully).

Great news!! (Love the mug of beer in the background ) Well played Adam, Kev, and the others who offered help. The Delica Canada web forum chalks up yet another victory!!

Just wondering if the pc atached to the block ,for the altinator was worn also ,meaning was the bolt loose for a while boreing out that hole,I say this because mine was and the play in it was the cause of two sheared bolts vibrating so much,i had to make a sleave to fit in the worn part. Its good to see fixter up.

Rich

The piece attached to the block for the alternator looks fine, no wear that I can tell. I think my bolt failed in a particularly jarring of our primitive road/driveway that we are building on our new lot. The squeaking came immediately after the 4x4ing excursion, luckily we were close to home.