Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Just entering the third week of owning a 94 L300, and who better to ask a couple of questions than the long time owners on this web site! Question 1: Do these diesel engines transmit a fair bit of vibration when at idle? ( This van has had a full tune up, with the timing belt, pump, filters etc, with a 100,000 klms on the clock) This being my first diesel, I have nothing to compare it to.
Number 2: I know this is something that has been knocked around a bit on this site but, I find I'm constantly kicking down the auto tranny to keep up with traffic, I'm a bit surprised at how leisurely these otherwise amazing beasts accelerate. Basically, did a bit of acclimatization have to happen with most new owners?
Thanks.

The diesel will defintively vibrate considerably more than a gasoline engine... when driving and rpm's at above 1'500 it is hardly noticeable... but idling (especially with an auto-transmission engaged in drive, which will bog down the idle speed in comparison to running it in "P" or "N") will make it shake and rattle (it's the good vibrations...)

I was really quite nerved at how easily my van always kicked down on the highway or sometimes even at city speeds. The worst - in my opinion - was the shift-back from overdrive (around 70 km/h) into the next lower gear. I only had to look at the gas-pedal and the van would already kick down a gear.... I dealt with this by adjusting the kick-down-cable (there is a post on the forum somewhere)... now my van is shifting back a bit later... i.e. if you just gently want to speed up a bit, it will do it now without gearing down...

But beware: running the van at low rpm's with a wide open throttle will increase the exhaust gas temperature which can lead to premature wear or damage to the intake-portion of your van (turbo, intake valves, cylinder head) - plus it will make your van blow black smoke out the tailpipe... therefore, if you go up a hill or need to accelerate hard (whatever Delica drivers mean, when they talk about "hard acceleration") it is well advisable to let it shift back, disengage the overdrive button (auto-transmission) or gear back (manual transmission)...

Cheers,
Chris

Hey thanks Chris, your reply was comforting in its shared experience, its sounds like exactly what I'm dealing with is the normal Delica vibe. I'm just going to drive it at what it seems comfortable, keep the fluids fresh, and enjoy it. I am looking forward to the next local meeting, so I can meet some fellow deli owners in person.
Thanks, Graham

analogkid wrote:Hey thanks Chris, your reply was comforting in its shared experience, its sounds like exactly what I'm dealing with is the normal Delica vibe. I'm just going to drive it at what it seems comfortable, keep the fluids fresh, and enjoy it. I am looking forward to the next local meeting, so I can meet some fellow deli owners in person.
Thanks, Graham

BTW, your profile says you have a spacewagon, there is no such thing, unless you have a van that is half an L300 welded to half an L400 .

L300 = Star Wagon
L400 = Space Gear

:D

Yikes, can't even get the name of my vehicle right! Yes, its a STAR wagon. Space, star, planet, earth its all so confusing.

I find I'm constantly kicking down the auto tranny to keep up with traffic

This is adjustable to personal taste, I took a long highway drive with a wrench and pulled over every 5 mins to adjust the kickdown cable until I was happy that it did it exactly when I wanted to, once done the driving was much more enjoyable. It's the cable on the top of the engine that has the red rubber cover on it.

Yea , I adjusted the cable very slightly when I purchased it, to shorten the shift a bit, it seemed to be taking a bit to long. Apparently a improperly adjusted kickdown is not uncommon with the new imports. (from what I've read on this site)
Graham

Its not uncommon in these vans (L300's) for the motor mounts to be squashed to the point where there is metal to metal contact in the
mount. This translates into more vibration at idle than normal. It can be pretty annoying in gear with the auto tranny and then smooth
out as soon as you accelerate. I had to replace these as well as the tranny mounts in mine and all were in bad shape. It made a noticeable difference but was not cheap. The mounts (4) cost me 300 bucks and a couple hours to install. Good luck with it.
Andy Wilson