Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hi all,

For the sake of my sanity I really need a hand here. I have an 1993 L300 2.5l diesel. I'm about 24 hrs (over 3 weeks) in after 4 attempts at a block heater install on my L300. I'm hoping for some advice. I've installed block heaters before with no trouble, so this is perplexing. I've bought my block heater from Riding Sun in Van. Had it shipped up to Tumbler Ridge.

The image attached shows information buddy gave me after I called him asking a bunch of questions. The Chinese gentleman was quite helpful. I've been attempting the install on the location label as the "Best location" with a 40mm heater he provided. My issue is that it's not sitting in the frost plug hole flush or nice. It's quite strange. I've wrestled with it numerous time,, had the starter off now 5 times, but every time I install it and fill'r up with coolant I get a leak. So it's not creating a seal, and to the very best of my knowledge I have the right location (just behind the starter and engine oil dipstick (annoying!!)) and right size plug... I'm hoping someone that has installed a block heater in the same location on the same rig and can provide and insight? I've tested the fit without the O-ring and it sits pretty flush.. and then when I throw the O-ring back on I have a really hard time getting it in the hole.. and when it's more or less in It's not sitting 100% flush.. after struggling with it to push it down flush, I've hoped that screwing the nut would suck it in, but of course that doesn't work. I've tried using a slightly smaller O-ring.. that helped sit it a bit better but it still dripped once installed.. I'm going to attempt now to take it all off again and with a bit of scotch bright give the inner surface of the hole a light sand and clean...

It's been in my driveway now for 3 weeks.. every chance I've had to fix I haven't been able to make it work.. having no garage in northern BC is killing me.. ha!

Thanks for any help.

Ben

The easiest spot i've found was...took me 1/2h is to crawl under behind the DVR wheel. look up the exhaust and you'll see the grey coolant pipe running to the rear... unbolt that line from behind and rear of IP (2x12mm) which will give you just enough space to pull the first frosh plug out and insert the block heater. Voila!!! Drain the coolant first... The other way is to have it behind the IP but it makes a hell of a hard time getting down there!

Oh i see sorry.... humm sounds like you're not installing it correctly. They never sit flush. the pull V-sleeve should make the o-ring snug. The reasons why I think its leaking is if you knick the edge of the hole when you removed the frost plug... or your block heater is warped?

..hmm ya as far as location goes I'm pretty committed.. and to be honest I've seen other people post briefly mentioning that was the location they use..

also, inside of the hole is smooth and undamaged.. as a far as my fingers can tell..

It sits real nice without the O-ring on there, which makes me think it isn't warped.

Ya I recall the frost plug location you are referring to.. I may try that if I can't get this to work..

I've attached a photo of what my plug looked like plugged in.. You can see kind of the bottle area isn't sitting 100% flush.. it's got just about a finger nails worth of room. I'm considering heating the block a little bit to expand the hole slightly (being careful not to over heat!), but I think that might be silly. It's -15 now and snowing.. fun times!!

Thanks for the help. Will let you know how it goes.

Ben

Braps11 wrote:..hmm ya as far as location goes I'm pretty committed.. and to be honest I've seen other people post briefly mentioning that was the location they use..

also, inside of the hole is smooth and undamaged.. as a far as my fingers can tell..

It sits real nice without the O-ring on there, which makes me think it isn't warped.

Ya I recall the frost plug location you are referring to.. I may try that if I can't get this to work..

I've attached a photo of what my plug looked like plugged in.. You can see kind of the bottle area isn't sitting 100% flush.. it's got just about a finger nails worth of room. I'm considering heating the block a little bit to expand the hole slightly (being careful not to over heat!), but I think that might be silly. It's -15 now and snowing.. fun times!!

Thanks for the help. Will let you know how it goes.

Ben

I feel your pain. This my first winter with the Delica in Northern BC and I’m trying to work out kinks in two feet of snow.
I decided to go with the magnetic block heater that sticks to the oil pan. I didn’t want to get into your predicament. $69 at Canada Tire. Works like a hot damn though -13 is coldest it’s seen. You are supposed to pull it on and off but you could rig it to stay in place.
If you can get a frost plug of some kind back in you can sort in the spring.
You might check if the heater sent was correct and not too deep. Once the screw is tightened it may be deflecting just enough to push plate out.
Canada Tire carries the made in Winterpeg brand and might have a shallower version.
Best of luck.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This my first winter with the Delica in Northern BC and I’m trying to work out kinks in two feet of snow.
I decided to go with the magnetic block heater that sticks to the oil pan. I didn’t want to get into your predicament. $69 at Canada Tire. Works like a hot damn though -13 is coldest it’s seen. You are supposed to pull it on and off but you could rig it to stay in place.
If you can get a frost plug of some kind back in you can sort in the spring.
You might check if the heater sent was correct and not too deep. Once the screw is tightened it may be deflecting just enough to push plate out.
Canada Tire carries the made in Winterpeg brand and might have a shallower version.
Best of luck.

I did end up figuring it all out. Works well.. It was the right size after all. If you or anyone else wants to know I can go into detail about the process. Gladly save someone some time.. really wasn't that bad, I just made a few simple mistakes.

Ben

Hi there,

could you go into details with what your mistake was and what you fixed to get the seal tight?

Also do you recall the brand of block heater you used?

I guess any generic 40 mm would be ok.


Thanks,
Adam

Yes, could you please post how you ended up doing this job successfully. I have the magnetic block heater on mine, and although it helps for cold starts, it's not great. When it's really cold out, I have to plug the thing in when the engine is still warm and leave it plugged in all night. The cost for electricity in Ontario is crazy expensive, and I've been toying with doing this frost plug heater install.

Cheers,

Phil