Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hi Everyone:

I recently became registered here, and would like to ask some of you members a few questions.

Do most Delicas smoke when you accelerate heavily? The reason I ask is I drove one the other day for the first time, and it smoked heavily when I was increasing the rpm to shift gears. I looked in the rear view and saw this trail of black smoke behind the van. The sales person said that most Mitsubishi diesels smoke. Is that so?

The other thing I would like to know is, besides the Chamonix camper special, are there any
Delicas that are ready to sleep in and go outdoors with, or do you have to rig them up yourself?

I own an 85 Westfalia in real fine shape, and like the idea of diesel 4 wheel drive. I live in Saskatchewan, so I park the Westy in the winter. Would the Deli be able to start alright, and not smoke too much, even when cold?

If and when parts are needed, how long does it take to get them?

On average, how many miles to the gallon does one get in a Deli?

I hope some of you can give me the answers I am looking for.

Frank in Saskatoon

1saskwatch wrote:
Do most Delicas smoke when you accelerate heavily? The reason I ask is I drove one the other day for the first time, and it smoked heavily when I was increasing the rpm to shift gears. I looked in the rear view and saw this trail of black smoke behind the van. The sales person said that most Mitsubishi diesels smoke. Is that so?

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=800&hilit=black+smoke

1saskwatch wrote: The other thing I would like to know is, besides the Chamonix camper special, are there any
Delicas that are ready to sleep in and go outdoors with, or do you have to rig them up yourself?

Scroll down to mystery machines post on the difference in models here viewtopic.php?f=9&t=309&hilit=exceed+su ... d+chamonix

There are no common camper models, not even the chamonix as you will discover by reading mystery machines post, there is however this camper for sale viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1079 These are very rare and hard to come by.

1saskwatch wrote: I own an 85 Westfalia in real fine shape, and like the idea of diesel 4 wheel drive. I live in Saskatchewan, so I park the Westy in the winter. Would the Deli be able to start alright, and not smoke too much, even when cold?

This is the best thread on winterizing options that I have found viewtopic.php?f=9&t=100&hilit=block+heater

searching for block heater will give you a couple other places it is mentioned as well.

but to answer your question, yes it will smoke a lot, and feel a bit rough, but it will start in -30 (from personal experience) if you have enough cranking power and something to heat your engine block

1saskwatch wrote: If and when parts are needed, how long does it take to get them?

Those answers are around. Parts are available, at most i would say any part is a month out, at the very most (by boat, from japan, with dealers here having containers coming in all the time), but many dealers have parts vans now and parts can be cross referenced with the mitsubishi montero as well a the van wagon that was sold in the us. My U joint was in stock at lordco, along with many other things i've needed.

1saskwatch wrote: On average, how many miles to the gallon does one get in a Deli?

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=968&p=6518&hilit=fuel+economy#p6518

Hope this helps. Take a look around, the search tool is your friend.

Welcome, and hope you have one soon, they are worth it.

You can sleep in any Delica - the seats fold down into a kind of flat-ish bed that you can throw a full sheet of plywood on and and mattress for full luxurious sleeping or just sleep on the seats as they are, I've done it and it's actually not bad at all.




You should not have a big trail of smoke except when really gunning it, and even then it should only really be visible at night with bright headlights behind you. Either the injection pump timing needs to be checked and set or the EGR is gummed up and needs cleaning.

The Chamonix has 2 batteries and a bigger alternator, apparently for colder climates, so you may want to consider that. Other models could have that as an option, but you'd have to check.

You can see in my signature my average US MPG and if you click you can see a chart of actual tanks. I'm hoping it will improve once I get the injection timing tuned up, but since I live up a big hill I'm gonna be using more fuel than most Delicas will, so consider my average to be on the low side of fuel economy (or high side of fuel consumption... right now my average is 11.22 L/100km).

All diesels smoke sooner or later. Mostly it is a function of maintenance and driving. It is not the same as a gas engine and requires more throttle control - not just for on and off like most gas drivers:).

Sleeping on the seats just folded as shown is OK in a pinch, but at 6'3" I find them hard to match up my curves. I just take out the bench seat and sleep on the floor.

They do start in very cold weather with a lot of coaxing. I have started mine at -39 with a block heater, space heater, blanket, and boosting battery. I do have the 2 battery option and have converted to a 100 amp Delco alternator.

Fuel economy seems to be directly related to speed. At 90 kmh or less (which is what the Delica is really comfortable at) I use about 12 l per 100 km. At higher speeds I use a lot more - 15 l per 100 km. I even ran out on the climb out of the Fraser on the way back from a fishing trip at the 500 km mark confident I had lots left - speed and extra weight I think conspired aginst me. (only had another km befor it broke back down hill to, damn)

Oh and parts are not really much of a problem, couple days at most for common items.

James,