Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

I'm gutted. Was picking up my new Delica yesterday to finally take home after a 4 month wait. It had just had it's pre-delivery service. Long story short, there was a big oops that ended up killing my engine.
I have to weigh my options now, a full refund from my importer, or an engine swap from another low mileage deli that should arrive in Calgary in a month or so.
Had to cancel the sale of my blue Delica, (sorry Kyle) and looks like I'll have to pull out of the meet too so I can save my pennies. (No Bruce, my wife won't let me sell her car :lol: ) Looks like you folks going to the meet will have to wait until next time to taste my famous squirrel-kabobs. :P

Jon,

What happened, that was like a 26K engine wasn't?? That was the cleanest Delica I'd ever seen!! :( :(

I feel for ya buddy!!

Jungle Jon wrote:I'm gutted. Was picking up my new Delica yesterday to finally take home after a 4 month wait. It had just had it's pre-delivery service. Long story short, there was a big oops that ended up killing my engine. :P

What happened? Filled tank with gas? No coolant? No oil? Inquiring minds want to know (so it doesn't happen to us!)

Oil, or lack thereof. Dumb mistake, but an honest mistake, got distracted/pulled away in the middle of a job.

my condolences,everybody's worst nightmare! made my share of stupid mistakes[maybe more ] hope you don't come out of it to badly.
bryan

ouch! I'm really sorry to hear about that, it was such a nice vehicle too! you must be absolutely devastated...

What happened to Jon’s Delica is embarrassing.

So here is what happened:
I had almost finished the pre-prep of Jon’s van and drained the oil, changed the filter and was coming back up when the phone rang. The call was a long drawn out discussion about a couple of the issues that IVOAC is fighting and my mind as not focused on the work at hand. Once the call was finished I changed out the fuel filter and went on to the pyrometer install.
The van was moved to the other side of the garage before I was able to do a final once over to make sure all the pre-prep was completed properly. The damage was done.
That is when Jon showed up to learn how to change out the auto hubs for locking hubs. I was instructing him how to do the swap and at the same time working on another project.
Jon went to pull out of the garage the next day and the low oil sensor kept shutting the van down. A grinding later and the “no oil” discovery was made.

In the 25 years of working on vehicles, I have never had such an embarrassing occurrence happen.

I have offered to replace the engine with one out of a 40,000 km unit plus the balance and timing belts and tensioners OR refund his $15,000 in full plus headlights and interior clean.

Jon emailed his requests tonight and I am considering them.

As of this terribly expensive and frustrating result of inattention I have learned a few valuable lessons,
First, stop answering the phone when working on a unit.
Second, no more allowing people to work in my garage.
Third, under no circumstances do I fire up a unit without doing a once over.

Crushers,

I admire someone that openly admits mistakes and works to correct them. After 25 years in the aviation business I can personally state that I've made mistakes that dwarf your monementary oversight (in the 250K range). If we didn't make errors we wouldn't be human.
8) 8)

I really hope the engine get replaced and I get to see that beautiful vehicle at an upcoming Meet!!

Cheers Wayne!!! :D :D :D

Hey Fanny,

Just wondering what you do in the aviation industry and who do you work for?

Fishtank,

I run IMP Aerospace's Comox operation. We do all the support work on the Cormorant Search and Rescue Helicopters (all the Maintenance, Training, Logistics, Program Management, Engineering, etc, etc). The military just fly'em we do everything else.

It's great to have access to all our support shops , you should see what the underside of my Deli looks like -- it puts the Mystery Machine to shame (just kidding Bruce 8) 8) ). Although a lot of my employees are getting tired of working on deli parts!!

Were you in the Commercial Rotary end before? Personally, I'm an Ex- NMH, VIH Driver. Just wondering if we've crossed paths before.

Sorry for the thread Hijack Jungle Jon.

Fishtank,

No before IMP, I was a Maintenance Flight Commander mostly in the Anti-Submarine Warfare world (Auroras/P3s). Did a couple of helo tours, 444 Sqn in Lahr (Kiowas) during the late 80's and I was the Detachment Commander on the first EH-101 contract in the UK before the Liberals got elected in '93 and screwed up my posting (this was in Dorset, Bruce and Mark's area).

Thanks for your condolences everyone, not the end of the world though. I'll see you at the next meet with a new engine. 8)

Wayne, thanks for standing up for your mistake and making it good. It was an honest mistake, and sorry if I was hard on you. There are some in this industry that could take lessons from you on standing behind what they sell.

That is a horrible thing to happen (to buyer and seller both), but I admire the way that crushers has admitted to the mishap and has corrected it. That is a class act in my opinion 8)

Ouch!! After having recently had the engine in my BJ41 explode I feel your pain!

Jonathan Colvin
Galiano Island