Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hi all, new owner from Edmonton..Just picked up a 91 L300 Starwagon, 4x4, diesel, 5 speed.

Looks like I got a good solid Van but she is a bit of a mess inside. This van was imported around 2008 with 80k kilometers. Also, (if true) the van has gone largely trouble free till now to 118, 650 kilometers on the clock. It don't seem to be beat up at all mechanically and the body and under carriage is as good as it gets...solid with very minimal surface rust. At first I was suspicious of mileage but the more I look at things and drive it, the more I've become pretty confident that the Odo is accurate.

So after looking things over this is what I find...

It smokes quite a bit on cold start and Idles rough. Once it worms up it seems to run pretty decent with a small puff of black smoke here and there.
Under the engine department things look decent aside from oil cap leaking.
Sticker on the timing cover says belt done in 08 at 82,700 kilometres and is good till 160k.
Rad looks in good condition and the owner just did an oil change with oil and air filters. Says he didn't think they ever replaced the fuel filter.
Brakes work good, clutch and shifting all feels good.
Exhaust system is pretty much done.

I'd like to do a compression test first to see how good the motor is before I start throwing bunch of money at it.
Anyone in Edmonton that works on these that can be trusted?
What's the best place to deal with in BC for parts and work?

Thanks Guys..

Welcome! Nice Delica. The '91s are the best.

It's fairly normal for a cold diesel to idle roughly and puff black smoke, you should set the idle speed a bit higher until it warms up.

I'm going to presume you're not familiar with the idle speed setting. Forgive me if you already know this: The idle speed control is on the dash to the left of the steering column. Hold the accelerator to bring the engine up to about 1000rpm, pull the idle speed control out until you feel it hit the accelerator pedal, then turn the control to the right to lock it. Once the engine is warm, turn the control to the left and it'll pop back to normal.

Yes I'm aware of this, thank you.
It smokes white/gray and runs rough on start up but black only shows up some under heavy acceleration when it's warmed up.
Looks like the list will be long lol..

GLOW PLUGS. Glow Plugs. glowplugs.

Make sure your glow plug system is working tip top. That should take care of the rough/smokey start. Do it before it gets much below 5c or you'll really be in trouble.

I've had pretty good luck either finding parts on ebay, or cross referencing with monteros/mightly max's and ordering off rock auto. If you don't want to put in the legwork, rocky mountain imports is tough to beat for parts and service.

Honestly, buy an awesome ratchet set and read your service manuals. These vans are not complicated to work on by yourself, and it's nice to do things pre-emptively than to be stuck waiting for overnight parts from Japan.

Thanks for the heads up Feds!
Yea I'll be doing most of the work myself. I'm a pretty good wrench but just not familiar with Delicas or diesels.

What's this I hear about switching to direct power to glow plugs and bypassing the ecu? Is this the better way to go?

Whats best oil for trany, dif, rear end and motor? Is synthetic the way to go?

Thanks

Ah. Smoke colour is important: white is cold combustion (Glow plugs, as Feds says), black is a lack of air- usually a clogged air filter in a Delica.

The factory computer-controlled flow system is awesome. Fast starts at any temperature, and smoother running when cold thanks to the glow assist. The computers do fail (corroded traces on the circuit board, easily fixed) and they do need genuine Mitsubishi glow plugs to work- but worth it, in my opinion. Switching to a manual glow plug button is fairly easy if you're stuck in a country that doesn't appreciate fine Japanese engineering.