Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hi, I joined the club recently, and now delica joined me.
I got a humble but wonderful 92 low roof, standard, grey exceed.
Maybe astral van, or astral voyager.
I started scraping of the Castrol lettering on the side,, and once the C was gone i thought, maybe just a mod would be good...
Anyways, as I get to know her, questions start piling up:
1. In the inspection they snipped the wires for the fog lights, cause it didn't have covers. Is the law just for the city or everywhere? I just wanna hook them up again, seems silly not to be able to use them. ?
2. When I go into 4H green lights come on: "wheel lock" and the 4wd symbol.
When I go back to 2H, the "wheel lock" light stays on. Whats that all about?
3.What is the cute throttle pull button for. If you have one too few feet, like on a hill? High Idle?
4. I was told to idle and let the turbo cool down after a sporty drive. How long, does it depend on outside temp, When....?
5. When I check my freshly changed oil, it's really dark black stuff on the stick. Is that just the way diesel motor oil looks (it is obvious, I'm new in the world of diesel)?
6. Is there a spot where jack and wrench are hiding, or are they not on board yet.

I will search other posts for answers, but I would very much appreciate some replies to my questions.

Blessings and Gratitude to all, happy spring,

Christian

1. In the inspection they snipped the wires for the fog lights, cause it didn't have covers. Is the law just for the city or everywhere? I just wanna hook them up again, seems silly not to be able to use them?

Law for everywhere, but that's a tough inspection you had. Most overlook it. I'm using mine as supplement to the terrible low beams that exist on most of deli's - but mine are white driving lights, not fogs.

2. When I go into 4H green lights come on: "wheel lock" and the 4wd symbol.
When I go back to 2H, the "wheel lock" light stays on. Whats that all about?

That is normal. It allows you to shift from 2High to 4High and back on the fly. Once you are sure you don't need 4WD again, just stop the deli, put it in reverse, and back up for about 20 feet - autolocks should go off along with dash light.

3.What is the cute throttle pull button for. If you have one too few feet, like on a hill? High Idle?
Correct - it is just a throttle control, not a choke. Good to keep the revs up when warming - I don't use i much..but nice in the really cold weather.

4. I was told to idle and let the turbo cool down after a sporty drive. How long, does it depend on outside temp, When....?
This is totally related to RPM. If you just puttered down to the local Video store...then don't worry about it. If you were revving the engine for any time at all - then good to let it idle a bit before shutting down. The engine has an oil pump driven off the alternator which put oil to the turbo for cooling so a minute or two after normal driving is a good idea. Heard on rule was one minute for every hour driving at speed on the highway. I commute 25 minutes home every day with some highway driving and generally let the deli idle for 30-60 sec before shutting down. You can buy a Turbo Timer to take care of this - or a Pyrometer which will tell you the exhaust gas temp (and therefore turbo temp) and give you the exact knowledge when safe to shut the engine off.

5. When I check my freshly changed oil, it's really dark black stuff on the stick. Is that just the way diesel motor oil looks (it is obvious, I'm new in the world of diesel)?
In short....Yes. Just was with the exhaust - Diesel produces "soot" - and that also finds its way into the oil. It's not a bad thing...with a diesel anyway. Just keep changing the oil every 5000K (some say 4K, but I'm a 5K guy..!!!:-)) - and you'll be fine.

6. Is there a spot where jack and wrench are hiding, or are they not on board yet?
jack and wrench should be located in rear left hand side compartment immediately adjacent to the rear tailgate.

Good luck!!!!!

Fog lights aren't illegal.

They have to be located below headlights level (center of lights?) which they are 'cause for sure they aren't above! So they had no business to damage your vehicle by cutting wires. Beside, you could always put covers if you wish but that's only required if above headlights. I can send you the exact wording from the Motor Vehicle Regulation (or just google it)...

Anyway, I'd get them to fix it at their cost.

#3 throttle button; it's for cold start operation. Search this site for "cold weather starting" and you'll find the exact procedure.

Enjoy your bus!

Hi Christian Blissy, Congrats on getting the delica. Have you found the jack yet, the little door flap hides on the inside left wall beside the back door. If you live in the lower mainland would be happy to see you on a local mini meets, and we can all show you the Neat Delica stuff. Have you found out where to refill the windshield washer fluid yet, now that is even more hidden. Cheers, christine and Jay of the Tardis Deli.

Thanks everyone
and yes I think the windshield stuff is at the passengers left foot, but how do you get it out. And I think I'm missing jack and cross. Grr

There's a filling reservoir thread on here somewhere with photos, but in a nutshell the whole plastic reservoir slides straight out backwards (pull it in a straight line in the direction of the back of the vehicle, not to the side). It may take a bit of muscle to get it to pop out, once it does come free there will still be a hose attached, so don't pull too far! The rest will be obvious. There is another reservoir for the rear sprayer on the driver's (right) side at the back when you have the tailgate lifted. Pretty pitiful capacity in both of them if you live in a place like the interior of BC where you're giving a squirt every 20 seconds some days... I think combined the two reservoirs hold about 1/2 of a jug of fluid!

Blissy wrote:1. In the inspection they snipped the wires for the fog lights, cause it didn't have covers. Is the law just for the city or everywhere? I just wanna hook them up again, seems silly not to be able to use them. ?Christian

Very good questions, most of which have been answered quite well. I just want to address the first one again.

True, fog lamps are legal, they should be mounted lower than the headlamps, and they are usually obvious yellow in colour. I don't know about the legality of white fog lamps, but the practicality of yellow over white is obvious if you've ever driven with white fog lamps - they don't work as well.

Are your fog lamps white lensed (that is, obviously not yellow)? The 'problem' it sounds like you had is the inspector thought they were spotlights or bush lights and just 'saved you the effort' of having to worry about covering them. This was not necessary in my estimation, because even those are allowed - off road. They must be covered otherwise (for on-coming traffic safety, so you don't blind the driver).

True, fog lamps are legal, they should be mounted lower than the headlamps, and they are usually obvious yellow in colour. I don't know about the legality of white fog lamps, but the practicality of yellow over white is obvious if you've ever driven with white fog lamps - they don't work as well.

From a legal stand point the colour is irrelevant, and from a practical stand point as well. what matters is positioning, the fog lamps on the Delica are too high up to be of much practical use, fog lamps should be as low as possible (though for inspection not more than 30cm below the headlights)

The only thing I have noticed about the fog lights that would make them illegal is that they can be operated without the headlights (this is a much safer setup then we find in north america, however our law is a bit backwards here.)

I can't really speak for BC law in this regard, however in Alberta the law is written such that the driver is allowed to operate fog lights without headlights "if the conditions warrant it" HOWEVER it is illegal to have a vehicle that will allow that (go figure!)

Most likely the inspector misinterpreted their purpose and assumed they were off-road lights rather than fog lights (they do kinda look like it) which are illegal if not covered, however he could also have noticed that they operate independent of the headlights and disconnected them for that reason.

Hey, great questions and congrats on the new ride. I as well just got my new delica on thurs Mar 20th and love it. Its a 91 Exceed with high/crystal lite roof and mod stereo.

I have a question relating to this post. Is the turbo always on in a Delica? Becuase I have a small red button that protrudes from the carpet near the emergency break and I followed the wires and they lead to the battery and to what appears to be the air intake. Does this turn on the Turbo chager?

Thanks!

most likely that button is a manual glow plug button, many mechanics put those in instead of properly repairing the glow plug circuit, pushing it will connect the battery to the glow plugs to warm them up before you start the engine... use just before starting but for no more than a few seconds.