Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

It would be a great motor to swap...however I would not want to have the only version of this motor in North America....


NA deseils not to many options:

OM617 (or 616 easier to fit) tough to fit but great motor big money to make a bell housing adaptor


Really Gas motor would be the best solution to go fast....reality newer small block is the way to go fast....

that is a pretty drastic set of options to gain a little power.

wouldnt a rebuilt head, better headgasket and head bolts, increasing the cooling performance and capacity and exhaust flow go a longer way, bang for buck to be able to increase performance. then you can crank up the fuel and boost to gain your extra power.

or am i missing something and there is a specific casting issue with the head that is the cause of so many issues?

The head is weak and the motor is underpowered.

Larger exhaust, re&re stock cooling and tuning helps a great deal. A pyrometer is an L300's best friend.

For most, this is not an issue as the drivers give the cooling system a refresh when they get it and then adapt to the limitations of pushing the engine too hot up hills, headwinds, etc..

For some, it becomes a money pit nightmare.

If you speak to the head mech shops that have been working on L300's since their inception in Canada, you will be surprised at the large amount of cracked heads.

Most people who frequent this forum find this out by reading and then learning from other people's mistakes. Some people just simply do not realize what happens if you just drive up a long hill for too long. When the temp light comes on, often it's too late and the damage is done.

If Mitsu dropped in the 2/3rd gen 4D56T's (CRD), the above would not happen.

Just the way it is. The good news most anyone who owns a delica has either heard or come across this forum by googling 'delica' and then learning of the adjustments needed to make to extend the life of their L300. That's one of the huge benefits of this forum.

what part of the head is cracking commonly?

I would like to know more about cracked heads...

the way I see it is most L300 that have head problems that have been pushed too hard or no coolant system maintenance..

With the rad low in the L300 any low fluid in the radiator means the head will have air pockets first.

Aluminum heads on diesels are not the recipe for long lasting...

Please post info on location of head failures....

I doubt the position of the rad has anything to do with this and the head will not have air pockets based on thie rad being lower.
the water pump should pull water from the bottom of the rad through the block to the head and back to the rad. you need to have a pretty drained radiator to start getting air pockets.

lots of diesel brands out there with aluminium heads and they do not suffer from this issue.
has the delica head issue been blown out of proportion by a few repeated examples posted on the internet, with the number of damaged heads due to overworking the engine compared to the number of L300's on the road, or is it an actual problem...?

There are also lots of aluminum head diesels that are prone to cracked heads on the market as well. I have overheated a OM617 cast motor until the piston hot seized in the motor (it happened real fast and I could not pull over or stop) and once cooled fired right up (I thought for sure it was done). I do not know of a mixed metal diesel that can take that abuse.

As for the rad that is what I am talking about a half filled radiator means the head will be low....People tend not to check their fluids enough...and I think the engine under the seat lowers the amount that people check levels (??).

More than just a handful and this is only on the forums. Between 3 shops the average has been 12 or so a year. Most are due to the combination of poor cooling system and driver pushing the van past it's limit. The 'limit' is unknown unless there is monitoring equipment like a pyro/oil pressure gauges. Idiot lights are almost always 'too late' warnings on these rigs.

http://www.delica.ca/forum/l300-pajero- ... 11760.html

Even if your cooling system and engine is brand spanking factory new, you can overheat and crack the head by going hard against a headwind or lugging it up a long pass/hill. Not quite as bad reputation, but nearly up there with the Toyota 2LT's in Canada.

Both Toyota and Mitsubishi fixed this problem by putting on a better head. Toyo went to the 3L with larger cooling passages. Mitsu went with the DOC cooler head for the same block 4D456.

EGT/pyro gauge should have been mandatory on these rigs. It certainly gives the driver a healthy dose of what's happening on the hot side of the engine while pressing down on the gas pedal.

jfarsang wrote: Both Toyota and Mitsubishi fixed this problem by putting on a better head. Toyo went to the 3L with larger cooling passages. Mitsu went with the DOC cooler head for the same block 4D456.

Are these new heads available here? I haven't heard of anyone replacing theirs with one.

a few of those you mentioned were caused by timing belt issues and inadequate or improperly functioning coolant system. so if we take those out of the picture the numbers drop quite a bit.

also where are the heads prone to cracking?

I'll get more data the next few days and post it up but it's still variable as there are X amount of owners that are not members/do not know about this forum and have had heads blow.

Craigslist searching brings up a lot if you look at cached ad's.

A few here a few there over the years you can see happening but when it's more than 1 per month/annum that is only published, plus more outside of this forum, the numbers do add up to a 'take notice'.

somebody in parksville is selling Dodge colt engines for $200 on Craigslist. those are slightly more powerful and cheaper. but do run on gas.