Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

I bought my 1991 L300 a month ago, the previous owner said it started every time, however it had been neglected and was only used for camping in the summers. Shortly after this it started blowing white smoke and stopped running or turning over.

So we replaced the cylinder head, head gasket, fuel injectors and batteries. I haven't done a compression test but it is turning over fine, just not starting...
Then a mislabeled jerry can with 20 year old gas was fueled into her. This was clued in after priming the fuel filter and a couple hours spent trying to start the engine. To fix the issue the fuel tank has been dropped and pumped out as well as the fuel filter rinsed with diesel. The glow plugs were taken out and bags put under the injecter hoses to run out the bad gas. The van still wont start and I'm stumped, I'm going to test the compression this week and see what that says. I am also going to test the glow plugs (Even though there wasn't a problem with them before, the last time it was started it was a lot warmer out).
Does anyone have any guidance on what I should do next?

Injection pump timing or air in fuel?

Check the ground that attaches to the head under the glow plugs. If the head was off that could have easily been missed. Also check for voltage on the glow plug rail to see if your actually getting power to them.

I would go over all the timing basics again after you confirm fuel to injection pump and its shutoff solenoid or relay ok not stuck. Check camshaft timing, inj.pump gear timing mark. make sure everything is turning, sheared cam gear 1 possibility of many. Hopefully something simple not too serious.

Wait, where did my previous answer go? Basically what John Clem says: Line up the cam and injection pump sprockets with their pointers, check that the crankshaft pulley mark is now at TDC, then check that both valves on cylinder 1 (at the front) are closed. If one of the valves are open, and the valves on cylinder 4 are closed, then you've timed it 180 degrees out. Easily done in the excitement of installing a new head.

It turns out it was a timing issue and there was a broken rocker arm. It has been dealt with and was starting fine. However, I've driven 2400km from home and the fuel issue is coming back. It is been hard to start and takes a lot of gas pedal/priming/turning over. I'm worried I'm going to burn out the starter. The back injector is leaking a bit of diesel, I'm going to try and tighten it tomorrow. Any advice on where the fuel issue could be? The base of the filter is dry and the bleed screw is tight.

I would check all the fuel line connections to see if they are tight and you're not sucking in air. Definitely tighten that leaking injector or replace the crush washer and stop the leak.

Ralph in Winnipeg

Also check the rocker arms again. If one was broken it's possible another one was damaged, but didn't break immediately.