Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hi
I will be needing a new starter soon.
Mine is spinning on occasion. There is one from an automatic
tranny L300 here. Is it compatible with the one on my Manual tranny
L300?
Thanks
James

Hi James Firesong, sorry no one has answered you yet, the postings were a bit congested lately.

My comment is that Glen at CC Autos (during our recent Show&Tell Day) says they VERY RARELY have starter problems, and that starter symptoms actually are from some other cause. Now I am trying to remember what the usual "other cause" was, vaguely I think there was some vacuum or electronic part that needed to activate prior to the starter starting. Can you email a PM to "ccautos" for Glen to respond.

I know you live far away from the usual Delica repair shops. Can you get a little old man in an alternator shop to check the starter, apparently it is a very basic model. I don't know of anyone else in our local meets who has had starter issues, so it just does not come up as frequent topic.

If there is anything I can do for you (contact names and numbers, pick-up & ship parts) just PM us, always glad to help.

Cheers, Christine.

If it only spins occasionally on start attempts the likely culprit is a few broken teeth on the flywheel. The starter attempts to engage the flywheel which in turn turns over the engine, but the teeth are missing and it spins. My old Deli had that problem - Josh has a good embarrassing story about my van. When the motor was removed and I got to look at the flywheel there were two spots exactly opposite each other that has about 5 teeth completely stripped. This is not really an easy fix, but I lived with mine for a couple years and a lot of miles. Unfortunately I tossed the flywheel before I thought of taking pictures.

docsavage wrote:Josh has a good embarrassing story about my van.

It sure couldn't have been worse timing...

Josh

Thanks for the comments
Isn't it usually the starter and not the flywheel that will have the spots on
them? I thought the flywheel was usually a harder composition than the other.

Hmm not sure if I should bother with this starter then.
Decisions Decisions.

Well here's another question. If you were thinking your turbo
might be heading down the hill would you buy a used turbo out
of a wrecked L300 for $300? (No way of knowing the shape of
it although he will take it back if it's not working)

Whatcha think?

J

Firesong, I agree with the previous posts, likely your starter is OK, but your flywheel teeth have some bald spots. I have a 92 Pajero and I know I have some bald spots on my ring gear right now, but can live with it. The trick is to just "tap" the starter and avoid grinding the gears. Doing this will make your gear last longer if it is the problem. To be sure you can just pull the starter out and rotate the engine and inspect the ring gear.

Why do you think your turbo is on it's way out?

- Nick

Turbo:
I can hear the turbo's normal whine. It's not always that strong.
I also get this weird 'cricket' sound out of it too.
I have a small leak in the turbo area (not sure if it's before or after)
Just a feeling it could be better.
I go a lot by feel.
Weird hey
J

starter is same for auto and manual. we have new starters for $250 in case you need them