Need Help in Sudbury

abeere · Post by **abeere** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 4:30 pm

Hello,

I'm new and this is my first post (I will post an proper introduction later, but as you will see below I have urgent question to ask).

I am a new Delica ('92 L300) owner. How new? I bought the vehicle on Thursday. I'm in the midst of bringing it back to my home town (Ottawa) where I intend my mechanic to give it a thorough going over. However, not everything has gone according to plan. I broke down outside of Sudbury. As such, I'm looking for a good place to have it repaired. The tow-truck driver left it in the parking lot of the Mid North Mitsubishi dealership. However I'm not sure this is the best place as how often do they work on a diesel?

In any case, any advice on where I can get my wee-beastie repaired in Sudbury (at least well enough to limp the 500km back to Ottawa) would be greatly appreciated. Please email me directly if possible as I'm in a motel and don't know when I'll next be on-line (send to abeere at pobox.com).

In case anyone is interested in the breakdown itself, I was going down the highway at 90km/h when:
- she suddenly overheated (overflow from the rad)
- she stalled
- won't start again (even after cooling down) though the engine does turn over
- leaked a fair bit of oil

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Sincerely,

Andrew

Post by **FalcoColumbarius** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 4:50 pm

Have you checked your oil cap or your timing belt?

thedjjack · Post by **thedjjack** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 6:54 pm

Sounds bad..

My key board guess is Head Gasket or Cylinder Head (Pressure in the Radiator)...

You should do the timing belt, Balance belt, water pump, cooling system while you are in there...

If it was me and I had a good mechanic I would rent a trailer and borrow rent a truck and take to your mechanic...

No idea about who is good up there by a dealership does not sound like the place I would start....

Wish you the best of luck...It can be fixed, it will be worth it in the end.

Is this a private sale or a dealer (it would be worth contacting the dealer if it was a dealer)...

Diesels can make serious heat being a diesel (you cannot just hold the accelerator to the floor on big hills without an EGT gauge (they can melt pistons/heads ect...)

All the best....

Post by **nxski** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 8:32 pm

Get a quote on the repair job before they start work, if you're getting close to the $3000 mark it may be worth it to buy a brand spanking new engine and have many trouble free years. Hopefully the fix won't be so extensive but the little things start to add up so try to take a look at the big picture before diving in.
Good luck...

konadog · Post by **konadog** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 10:38 pm

Sorry to hear of your trouble.
I like the suggestion you get it home to your mechanic - the guy whose going to be taking care of it in the future, after all. Good luck. Hope you get sorted without too much trouble and expense and that you have lots of trouble free adventures ahead.

jessef · Post by **jessef** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 10:51 pm

Sudbury to Ottawa is a long trek. Am alternative $ option if you can swing is to rent a flatbed or trailer and bring it to your mechanic instead of paying to have it towed.

vixentd · Post by **vixentd** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:02 am

Give this company a call for a tow. They are very reasonable and I have used them in Ontario. 613 764 6629 Walthier transport. I paid $350 from Ottawa to Toronto.

RichD · Post by **RichD** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:54 am

I would bring it back to the seller and seek a refund. Check your provincial law on private sales. Less than 7 days still...

And if you buy another L300, slow down.

abeere · Post by **abeere** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:37 pm

Thanks for all the comments.

My current plan is to organize shipping tomorrow with renting a U-haul (truck and car transporter) as a back up (albeit more expensive) plan.

Andrew
P.S. In response to the "slow down" comment, we were driving at about 90km/h. We thought that a reasonable speed for the van (and incidentally the speed limit). Was that a bad assumption?

Post by **nxski** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:54 pm

Not a bad assumption unless you were going up a hill or in too low of a gear. Definitely get yourself a pyro and you can avoid having this happen again.

thedjjack · Post by **thedjjack** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:48 pm

just depends 90km/h is too fast on a steep climb sometimes...

With a diesel the more you give throttle at some point it stops adding speed and instead the fuel starts making heat and lots of heat....you can melt pistons, valves, heads, and blow gaskets.....

A EGT gauge lets you see this. (google EGT or Pyro on here and on web)...

It is hard to know what was the cause at this point as it is only speculation on what has failed..for all we know the radiator was half empty, blew a hose, or had a bad head gasket or something...

Good you are towing it to someone you trust...this will get sorted and you will be happy...sorry for your problems...

Zeroduty · Post by **Zeroduty** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 5:59 pm

The odds of a melt down because of high egt at this time of the year are probably slim to none. Probably the same odds of finding grade out there that would make the engine even work up a sweat.

abeere · Post by **abeere** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:41 pm

I'll definitely look into the EGT (in order to avoid any future issues). Thanks.

In case anyone is interested, both the vehicle and I have arrived in Ottawa. My mechanic will be going over it tomorrow ... we'll see how bad the damage is.

Andrew
P.S. I was doing 90km/h on flat, level ground (outside temperature of -10 C) with revs somewhere around 3000 when this happened.

Raule Duke · Post by **Raule Duke** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:15 pm

Zeroduty wrote:The odds of a melt down because of high egt at this time of the year are probably slim to none. Probably the same odds of finding grade out there that would make the engine even work up a sweat.

What? On what kind of vehicle? An l300 could over heat climbing a a small hill in Antarctica if you drove it to hard

thedjjack · Post by **thedjjack** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:42 pm

Raule Duke wrote:
Zeroduty wrote:The odds of a melt down because of high egt at this time of the year are probably slim to none. Probably the same odds of finding grade out there that would make the engine even work up a sweat.

What? On what kind of vehicle? An l300 could over heat climbing a a small hill in Antarctica if you drove it to hard

Also you can build some heat on flats....(edit: head wind)

We really do not know what failed it is all keyboard diagnostics...looking forward to details about what blew up or failed or broke.

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