Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hi there,
Im new on the block and have been pouring over the forums in excitement anticipating the day my wife and I can finally have our Delica. Well my chance has arrived and im in a bit of a pickle and was hoping I could get some technical advice and also wondering what shops the other Delica owners here in lethbridge (only 1 that im aware of on this site) and in calgary take there vans to, mecanics that they trust etc? (good to have more than one mechanic you can call)

A friend of mine brought this van over from japan 4-5 years ago, I was a detailer at the time and I cleaned/drooled over his van and have been in contact with him ever since. I trust that hes not going to sell me a lemon, I used the same mechanic he did when I had my lj78 landcruiser and I trust his judgement . Hes giving me a very good deal but with a catch, no matter how warm it is outside it has to be plugged in for a few minutes or it cold starts pretty bad from what im told, BUT if its plugged in 5mins before driving it runs perfect. The Mechanic did alot of diagnosing and could not figure it out, hes confident its not glowplugs or injectors and thinks it could possibly carbon build up in the combustion chamber? but hes even unsure if that is the problem. We really aren't sure what it is so im bringing it to you guys to see what you guys think.

Im taking a look at it and test driving it this week sometime and I will post more information about the van and maybe some pics too.

Thanks for taking the time to read my lengthy intro/help me post and appreciate any help/advice I can get

Welcome to the forum. You have described an interesting problem.

Personally I rarely need to plug in my Delica in winter and when its warm like it is now my Delica will fire up without a pre-heat and run quite well.

Has the injector pump(IP) ever been rebuilt? They can be finicky. When their timing is off...even a little...they can make life interesting for your delica. A poorly timed IP will cause poor start conditions, cause incomplete fuel burn and you get lots of white smoke.....and some get loads of black smoke. Ask about the IP.

There are not many techs in Alberta that have stepped up and claimed they know how to rebuild an IP on a Delica and the best techs for these rides are in the Vancouver/Victoria areas. Little consolation I know.

Sounds like the timing may be off. Any diesel leaks?

If it was carbon build up what would warming up the coolant for 5 minutes with a block heater have to do with that. Mech sounds like an idiot. 5 minutes on a block heater wouldn't even warm teh coolant up that much so that is extra weird. I'd double check the glow plug relay is working first (I bet it isn't because the mitsu unit is a hunk of crap)...then double check the glow plugs themselves.

I believe there is also a coolant temp sensor that is used as a control input by the system...if it isn't working that could be giving bad data and messing up some cold start related settings such as whether to continue to have the glowplugs on/off and for how longs after startup (ie when cold glowplugs should stay on for an extra 2 minutes, when warm they do not). *Sometimes I confuse details between my Hilux with an electic IP and the L400 Delica with a mechanical IP so this may not be correct...but I'm 74.8% positive it is true

So I went and talked to the mechanic and took it for a test drive, it has had its head replaced and a manual glow plug switch installed as well as a circulating heater, with that plugged in for about 7 minutes he started it up (with glow plugs on) and it smoked black for a while with a rough idle and as it warmed up it slowly smoothed out, black smoke to whiteish and after a few minutes it idled totally fine. He said that he normally leaves it plugged in for about 15 minutes and it starts and idles normal. Took it for a spin and it had good power, it slightly hesitates off the line for a split second like when slowing down for a yield but other than that it really did run quite smooth, felt better than my pathfinder on the highway for sure. I brought up the IP timing and he said that he doesnt think so because it runs perfect when its warm and has the power its had before these problems came up.

He believes that with the manual glow plug switch installed that the owner burnt out the glow plugs prematurely and kept trying to run the van as if the glow plugs worked fine thus not preheating enough for proper combustion, do that enough times and it gunks up the combustion chamber inhibiting proper preheat and proper combustion causing a rough start and running fine when warm, makes sense to me but im an amateur mechanic at best.

If you send a quick note to Butch at CVI Automotive in richmond BC he would be able to tell you if the story you are being told is true or not.

Delica's can be finicky with the various sensors and sensitivity of the IP. We have provided you with our perspectives and the choice to buy is yours.

My own L400 ran/started horribly when it landed in Canada. It popped, farted, puffed white and black smoke until it warmed up....then it would run right.

I had CVI rebuild the IP and set the timing on the pump...what a difference! You decide what you wanna do from here.

With the price that I can get it for its probably my best shot at owning a delica and probably worth it even if I have to get the IP rebuilt or whatever else it needs. I really appreciate the input you guys gave me, thanks alot.

The average for an IP rebuild is between 650 and 800 all in. I had mine done 2 yrs ago along several other bits of service. All worth having an experienced Mitsubishi tech work on your Delica.

Lethbridge is a short hop to Richmond, make an appointment and git'r-done!