Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Once the weather gets frosty, my 94 Super Exceed- dual battery- does not want to start. It is complicated though. Here is the story.

In the fall, I was losing power. The van was not starting. I replaced the alternator. It still didn't hold a charge. It turned out that the batteries were dry (should have thought of that earlier). I refilled the batteries. Ta da, it starts. Then the sub-zero weather comes (I am on the coast- we're talking -2 or -3). It takes 3, 4 or 5 cranks to get it going. Twice the battery died before I could get it going.

James at Japanoid has tested the whole system and says that everything checks out fine. It should have enough cranking power. The charging system is fine. But this was on an above zero day.

The other thing is that when I do get it going, the plume of black smoke is horrifying. It looks like a scene out of Afghanistan.

The only thing that changed at the same time is that I started using a diesel conditioner (the one in the silver jug that everyone here uses).

Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

hi, your car need to do fine tuning.
i dont know if they know how to do it.
pls call me if need help
cheers;

Replace your batteries.

Review cold-weather starting procedures. For a 4D56T engine, anything below 15 degrees is cold. Some smoke on cold starts is to be expected.

Fully-charged batteries have enough capacity to crank the engine for half an hour. You have to have good batteries to start one of these babies.

...laura

Thanks for the post.

I am afraid that this might be the only solution. My only hesitation here is that James did a load test and said that it has more than enough cranking amps.

Maybe I should get a second opinion locally. However, if I go to enough places, someone will sell me batteries.

Right now, I can get it up the mountains and back, if I return the same day. I plan a couple of overnight, high altitude trips though, and do not want to get stuck.

The batteries that come over from Japan are always regarded with suspicion. For good reason. If you don't know they're brand new, they're not.

I got one winter out of Gumdrop's Japanese (actually Korean) batteries. Toward the end the starter sounded like a 1940s 6 volt starter. Then I got new batteries and the starter spins the engine like crazy. I bought mine at Polar Battery, who are familiar with Delicas, though any remotely competent car parts place can sell you what you need. The Delica won't be in their parts book, but popping the engine hatch, pointing and telling them "I need two of these, please!" works every time.

I topped up the electrolyte and gave them a good charge over the weekend before I installed them - easy, but a bit fiddly, and a strong back is a plus. The difference was dramatic.

It takes muscle to crank a diesel. Your batteries must be 100%.

...laura

Fully-charged batteries have enough capacity to crank the engine for half an hour.

half an hour? I know I advocate cranking till the batteries are dead... but that is certainly a limit I don't ever want to reach!

Green1 wrote:

Fully-charged batteries have enough capacity to crank the engine for half an hour.

half an hour? I know I advocate cranking till the batteries are dead... but that is certainly a limit I don't ever want to reach!

I know. You'll have fried the starter long before that.

...laura

I finally changed engine oil weight and brands last week to Kendal 10W40 instead of Penzoil 15W40 and it made a noticeable difference in starting when cold...in a good way. The engine turns over way easier now and runs smooth pretty much right away.

If you haven't changed to 10W40 I would suggest it...probably change your batteries too!

-Mark

G'day,

-3 isn't cold enough yet to really impact your van the way you're describing it. Your battery won't make your van puff huge black smoke... Sounds like tune up like Mardy suggested. You also have the quick glow plug, they usually work pretty good but you could try to turn your ignition key on, let the glowplug dashlight go off then turn key off and right away key on and start (just trying to really heat those glow plugs) but again, tune up!

Cheers!

Not all Japanese batteries suck. Mine are still the ones that came with it 2 1/2 years ago. When I'd had it a couple of weeks, I didn't close the sliding door right, so the dome lights (fluorescent, step light, rear dome) were on for 14 hours. The Deli still started. Okay it was 20 degrees out, but still.

Last winter I was having leaking injection pump and glow plug issues, and no block heater. Those batteries would crank for ages.

Two weeks ago the Deli started at -16 with no heaters, with 15W40 oil, and it has sat for 3 days. Took over a minute of starter-assisted running to settle down.

So I'd say my batteries are amazing. Too bad there are no markings of any sort on them, so I could say what they are and maybe how old they are.

marsgal42 wrote:

Green1 wrote:

Fully-charged batteries have enough capacity to crank the engine for half an hour.

half an hour? I know I advocate cranking till the batteries are dead... but that is certainly a limit I don't ever want to reach!

I know. You'll have fried the starter long before that.

I don't know... the starter runs fine for more than 3 full minutes with no signs of stopping... never taken more than that for the engine to take over... and I really don't want to try! (of course, on the L400, the longest I've had to crank was about 10-15 seconds...)

Today I've officially had my 92 Delica for one week. Every morning it started like a champ even at -30. It was plugged in for sure but it never struggled a bit. Never had any black smoke just the usual grey until it ran a few minutes. Just wondering if anyone east of the rockies uses anything other than the standard block heater?

Jsq wrote:Today I've officially had my 92 Delica for one week. Every morning it started like a champ even at -30. It was plugged in for sure but it never struggled a bit. Never had any black smoke just the usual grey until it ran a few minutes. Just wondering if anyone east of the rockies uses anything other than the standard block heater?

Some people use in line or oil pan heaters, however those are not as good as a block heater. Erebus uses both an in line heater AND a block heater.
I know someone out here had a Webasto circulating diesel coolant heater installed, but I don't remember who. This is of course the ultimate way to warm the engine, (and no plugins required!) however it does come with a pretty steep price tag.

Hi - We sell a pad heater if you just need some engine heating they are fine. I use one on my van. But yes they are only 250W (that's about all you can put on a small oil pan and not fry the oil or worse). They are easy to install compared to a block heater. A block heater is often 750W or 1000W. So if you are where it gets really cold in winter and you want to plug in and not have it running too long (on a timer, save hydro), then use one of those.

Also, use synthetic oil, the extended drain interval pays for itself (I change oil at 10,000 km now). I use Petro-Canada's full synthetic.

As for battery, I put in an Optima, sideways, one of them. I gained space for storage of filters, tools, etc., and now have a battery that starts the van easily at -20C.

I also put on our MFT timer relay, to extend the "on" time for the first part of the glow plug cycle a bit. Seems to help. Now, instead of the very short first stage cycle, they just come on and stay on longer than stock (now about 10 seconds) so I get some more heat in the combustion chamber prior to attempting a start. Time will tell if I burn them out early but these are pretty tough glow plugs I think. We'll see.

For the WVO people, I wanted to mention that we have an excellent coolant circulation pump available. These can be obtained in either 12V or 115V and you can use them to pump warmed coolant all through the WVO system, and start out in the morning with a pre-heated engine, lines, filter, and tank of vegoil. The 115 VAC model can be on the same timer as your block heater or pad heater.

We've sold them to the military, they have a 50,000 rating, very low energy usage, adjustable flow rate. Set on low, they work great.

Merry Christmas to all you Delica folks - time for a bit of a winter trip to the hot springs, in the Delica!