Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hi,

We've been having some issues for some time now with our 1999 L400/Chamonix/S2.

Unfortunately the issues come and go and currently we're again having issues which are as following:

The temperatures have just started to drop a bit to about 2-5c in the mornings and upon start up the delica blows black smoke again and is noticeably running rough/shaking. It's best to start driving as it feels it could stall out which is what it feels like every stop I make in the first 5-20 min of driving around town. I learned that putting it in park or neutral takes a bit of the edge off the engine or pressing down on the gas pedal at a traffic light keeps the car going with it sometimes bumping out a patch of black smoke (this is not consistent though). If I turn off the car after 10 min or so of driving it around and start it up again it sometimes seems to have fixed itself and it's running better, although still a bit jerky (especially when I'm turning for some weird reason).

So I have read most of the blog posts related to this issue and we have replaced our injection pump seal which resolved a similar issue two years ago. We just replaced all our glow plugs which resolved some other start up issues and our mechanic suspects it's the fuel injection pump but he's not certain. We use a fuel conditioner now which seems to have helped for some time, but clearly has not addressed the core issue.

It's also to note that we sometimes lose power going up hill which makes the engine light come on, this happens randomly and sometimes it doesn't happen for months, so super unpredictable.

I'm not a car expert and find this blog super helpful so I'm wondering if there's anything else we could ask our mechanic to check, I was reading some posts about the EGR and filter changes.

Thank you!

I have the same year/model and had similar issues with black smoke. There's a few places to start before you rebuild the injection pump.

MAP sensor filter - orange plastic screw in filter attached to your intake manifold. Has a black vacuum hose attached to it that runs up to the MAP sensor. Buy some MAF/MAP sensor cleaner from Lordco and spray it out.

Throttle body solenoid - pull the vacuum hose off of the throttle body and plug it with a screw. Note if this makes any improvements. If so, order a new solenoid pack from Amayama.

EGR - if it's not removed and blocked, buy an egr blanking plates of eBay and blank it. Also remove the EGR cooler while you're at it. They are known to fail and start leaking coolant.

Injectors - I had glow plugs failing way too quickly. Ended up the injectors were shot. Had them rebuilt and helped with black smoke and no more glow plugs burning out prematurely.

I suspect your throttle body solenoid is gone. Common issue with the series 2 L400. Would be nice to get that code that's tossed when you lose power up hill. I'm almost certain it will point to that throttle solenoid pack. Are you in Vancouver? I have a makeshift code reader we could get that code and I could help you trouble shoot.

Thanks for your reply. Well the black smoke was resolved after a big clean of the fuel injectors and the diligent use of fuel conditioner. But we’re still dealing with loss of power going up hills, the engine light coming on at times and it not wanting to jump in the next gear. You can feel it struggle until it all of a sudden jumps and drives fine until we stop and idle for a while. Our mechanic thinks we need a new or rebuild the fuel pump, but I’m hoping to troubleshoot a few more things before committing to this big job. Thanks for any further suggestions!

I have same problem. Engine loses power (if i floor it, engine is very slow to respond and tops out in the 2500rpm range with associated engine light). Two fault codes 12 and 41. Replaced ECU, MAP no joy. Different shops i take it to are at a loss..

It's your throttle control solenoid, I can almost guarantee it. You can bypass it on the early 1999 series 2, but need to replace it on the later 1999 series 2. Temporarily you can bypass the later 1999, but the codes won't go away until you do. Black smoke will go away and power will come back though until you get the part. I'm happy to help you out if I can. Send a pic of the top of your engine and I can tell you if it's early or later 1999 and we can go from there.

A very late reply, but just wanted to confirm that it was indeed the solenoids which we got replaced last August. Thanks so much!

claudiadh wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 7:49 pm A very late reply, but just wanted to confirm that it was indeed the solenoids which we got replaced last August. Thanks so much!

That's great news and thank you for the update. It really does help the community when solutions are reported.